Iowa’s season ends with loss to Missouri State

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Iowa senior closer Nick Hibbing has been dominant on the mound all season. He was just as dominant during the NCAA Springfield Region all weekend.

With his Hawkeyes facing elimination in the early game on Sunday against Oregon, he bailed his team out with clutch pitching in extra innings. With Iowa on the ropes in the late game against host Missouri State University, he gave his Hawkeyes five more dominant innings, but it wasn't enough.

Missouri State used a two-run seventh inning to win 3-2 and claim its first NCAA regional title since 2003 in front of 5,656.

Junior Connor Grant got the start on the mound for the Hawkeyes against Missouri State in the nightcap, but had a short leash as Iowa coach Rick Heller pulled him with one out and the bases loaded in the first inning.

In came senior closer Nick Hibbing, and he kept the Bears at bay for over five innings. Missouri State finally scored a run off Hibbing in the seventh, and then gave way to junior Tyler Radtke. Radtke faced three batters and gave up a run and the Bears led 3-0 with two innings to play.

'We were hoping that we could get the win (against Oregon) without using Hibbing and then start Nick, but we weren't able to do that,' Heller said between games. '(We were hoping) Conner would give us a good start.'

Hibbing went 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run off one hit and struck out eight.

The Bears (48-10) led 3-0 when Iowa started the top of the eighth inning with three-consecutive hits. Junior shortstop Nick Roscetti got a single then scored on a fielder's choice groundout to the pitcher. Senior designated hitter Dan Potempa singled and later scored on a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to one, 3-2, but the Hawkeyes (41-18) couldn't get any closer.

• Iowa 2, Oregon 1 (11 innings): Facing the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, Iowa was staring elimination right in the face. That's when Heller turned to his reliable closer Hibbing and gave him simple instructions.

'It's a dire strait situation and Nick did just what I told him, I said, 'strike the guy out and get a double play and that's what happened' Heller said. 'We were pretty fortunate, but we knew that Nick was capable of getting the strikeout. Then to get the double play, it was great pitching by Nick and a good job by our middle infielders to turn it.'

Hibbing struck out Oregon designated hitter Brandon Cuddy for the first out with Iowa left fielder Kris Goodman playing a fifth-infielder position up the middle. Goodman moved back to left, and Hibbing induced a 6-4-3 double play to keep the Hawkeyes alive.

'I'm sure everyone was pretty nervous in that situation, but Nick has pitched well for us all year long,' junior starter Calvin Mathews said. 'Whenever he got that strikeout, we all knew that we could get a double play if he executed his pitches and he did. It was an outstanding job by Nick out there.'

Hibbing pitched three innings from the bullpen, didn't allow a hit, struck out three and only threw 20 pitches to get the victory in relief of junior reliever Luke Vandermaten. Mathews went six innings, gave up one unearned run and allowed just two hits.

In the top of the 11th, Roscetti reached on a fielder's choice, was balked to second base and then scored on a single to center by junior catcher Daniel Moriel to give Iowa a 2-1 lead.

'He has been big for us down the stretch,' Heller said. 'He has had a lot of big hits for us, with a clutch hit yesterday, too. I can't say enough about the way he has played for us.'

Moriel went 1-for-4 with a walk and the game winning RBI, Toole finished 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored and Roscetti was 1-for-5 with a run scored.

The Hawkeyes scored their first run of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Senior center fielder Eric Toole singled to center field, was sacrificed to second senior second baseman Jake Mangler and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 1-1.

The Hawkeyes squandered a scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh, putting four runners on base without scoring a run. Sophomore Corbin Woods, pinch running for junior pinch hitter Taylor Kaufman who reached on a fielder's choice, was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a single to left by Nick Day.

Oregon (38-25) scored its only run of the game on an infield single up the middle by sophomore Austin Grebeck, scoring sophomore Mark Karaviotis from third. Roscetti made a diving stop on the grounder up the middle, but couldn't throw Grebeck out at first as the run scored.