Keaton Anthony powers Iowa baseball at the plate in victory over Nebraska

IOWA CITY — There has been no sophomore slump for the University of Iowa’s Keaton Anthony.

His production is similar to last season that garnered Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-America honors from multiple groups. The Hawkeyes’ sophomore has been so good that he earned a spot on the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award watch list.

Anthony’s performance in Iowa’s 11-6 triumph over Nebraska Friday night at Duane Banks Field was indicative of his overall season thus far. He batted 4-for-4 with a three-run home run and four RBIs to power the Hawkeyes past the Big Ten Conference leader in the three-game series opener.

Anthony finished a triple short of the cycle, contributing to five-run innings with a home run in the second and an RBI single in the seventh.

“Keaton continues to swing a super hot bat,” Iowa Coach Rick Heller said. “He had a great night tonight. He had a big home run in that inning.”

The bomb over the right-field fence was a major boost set up by two-out hits. After Michael Seegers’ sacrifice bunt scored Kyle Huckstorf for the game’s first run, Cade Moss and Ben Wilmes extended the inning with back-to-back singles. They did something similar in the seventh that led to Anthony’s RBI single.

Iowa had seven two-out RBIs. Anthony, who hit in the No. 2 spot, praised teammates getting on in front of him.

“It gives me a chance to come in and drive in some runs,” said Anthony, who tallied his 34th RBI this year. “That’s what wins games for us.”

The cold wind blew from left to right field early. The elements played well to his ability to hit to the opposite field. He just a fastball on his first swing and sat on off-speed pitches. He got one to drive and capitalized.

“I knew he probably wasn’t going to come at me with a fastball,” Anthony said. “Obviously, he left a slider over the outside part of the plate and with the wind blowing today it was a great pitch for me to go the other way with it. I just got my best swing on it and tried to drive it that way.”

Numbers are eerily similar to last season. Anthony is leading Iowa with a .388 batting average, 54 hits, 21 doubles and eight home runs through 37 games. Compare that to .361, 73 hits, 22 doubles and 14 home runs in a 53-game season a year ago.

“He’s a really good hitter,” Heller said. “He’s really confident. He has a really solid plan every time he goes up there. He doesn’t deviate from it very often.”

Heller mentioned predicting how high school hitters will adapt to college pitching. The process of grading batters is hard on coaches, but Anthony has been able to execute and adjust. Heller also noted that Anthony has “amazing” hand-eye coordination and places the bat on the ball.

“Keaton has a knack for doing that naturally,” Heller said. “He’s really put in the work, especially in the weight room compared to the skinny kid he was when he showed up.

“He can get the barrel to the ball in more parts of the strike zone than the majority of the hitters out there. He can hit really good fastballs and his timing is really good that he’s able to hit changeups and breaking balls, sliders. There isn’t a pitch he can’t handle.”

The biggest change isn’t technical or physical, but mental. Anthony maintains a regular routine and if he experiences an at-bat he has a short memory and resets for the next. He tries to build on the positive, like reaching base all five plate appearances against Nebraska.

“I feel like I’ve been really good at that this year,” said Anthony, who had a double, home run, a walk and two singles. “If something goes wrong, just wiping it away and just going up for my next at-bat with the same approach I’ve had going into the game.”

“I like to ride momentum with those (good at-bats). Just keep the energy and same approach when I’m up there. Just try to hit the ball hard.”

The Hawkeyes (27-10, 5-5) recorded nine hits and improved to 14-0 after scoring at least 10 runs in a game this season. Raider Tello and Seegers each drove in two runs, while Wilmes scored three times.

“I think it was great,” Heller said. “They came out and fought hard. I thought our at-bats were really good most of the night.”

Brody Brecht pitched into the fifth inning. He struggled with command but offset seven walks and a hit batsman with seven strikeouts, limiting the Cornhuskers to two hits.

Iowa pitchers fanned 15 Nebraska batters. Jack Whitlock pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, striking out five to earn the win. Luke Llewellyn also went 2 1/3 innings, getting an inning-ending double play against the first batter he faced to end a threat in the seventh.

“The turning point for me in that game was when Jack Whitlock came in,” said Heller. “Tough situation and minimized the damage and gave us two innings of scoreless work. That was big and at that point in the game it could have gone either way.”

Nebraska entered the season in first place and dropped to 21-12-1 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten. The series resumes Saturday at 2:05 p.m.

“An intense game,” Heller said. “A great crowd. An awesome crowd coming out to support us on a cold night. It was a great way to start the series.”