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Hawkeyes hold off a late Illini push, clinch the series

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann05/02/26HuesmannKyle

The Hawkeyes are heating up, and the timing couldn’t be better. After a 5-10 start in Big Ten play, they’ve turned things around, winning seven of their last eight, including a 6-5 win over Illinois on Saturday afternoon to clinch their third straight series win.

“The results. Everything’s been going pretty well, and I think guys kind of started to just let loose,” said Gable Mitchell on what has changed lately. “Just playing for each other and I feel like we’ve done a good job of that all year. We’re just getting some more results, and we hope to see that carry the rest of the way.”

The Illini rallied late with a pair of runs in the 8th inning but were unable to plate the tying run. In the ninth, Rick Heller turned to closer Joe Husak, and he was quick with his work, retiring the Illinois lineup 1-2-3 on five pitches. The decision to go from Jaron Bleeker to Husak paid off and they may both still be on the board for Sunday.

“We were going back and forth, Wes (Obermueller) and I were, on what to do in the ninth, with Bleeker or Husak,” said Heller. “Joe (Husak) had come close to getting hot in case we had to use him in the inning before (8th) and that’s his job. He’s our closer and we just said, let’s just go with it. We can’t worry about tomorrow.”

That 8th inning Illinois rally, it ended with a big-time play from the Iowa defense. Illinois head man Dan Hartleb tried to out-Hellerball the Hawkeyes to tie it. Iowa, known for their ability to scratch across runs in unique ways, wasn’t going to let that happen. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Illini went with some first-and-third trickery.

The runner on first, Nick Groves, took off for second base on a steal attempt, but stopped short, attempting to get in a rundown to allow JR Nelson to race home from third. It didn’t take the same shape as it does when the Hawkeyes do it. Nelson took off for the plate, but Caleb Wulf stopped chasing Groves, pivoted and threw home. Matthew Delgado was waiting for the throw and applied the tag to Nelson.

“We have instinctual players,” said Mitchell. “I don’t know if we actually designed the play to be like that, but Caleb stepped up, got the ball, made a good throw and we got the out. That was obviously a big play.”

“I’m glad it worked out for us. We didn’t execute it exactly the way we draw it up in practice each week, but it worked out for us in the end,” said Heller.

The scoring got underway with a couple of multi-run innings from the Hawkeyes in the early innings. A last second add to the lineup, Jaixen Frost found himself at the plate with two in scoring position in the second inning. After two quick outs, a walk and single brought Frost up. It’s been a frustrating season for the redshirt sophomore, but Jaixen delivered his biggest swing of the season. A three-run home run over the wall in left-center put the Hawkeyes in front.

“I had told Sam (Basler) we were just going to go with Swails because he can play, but his knee’s just stiff and has a hard time bending it,” said Heller. “The more I thought about it, if he (Ben) came up and was talking about it, maybe today’s Jaixen’s day and thank goodness we flipped it. He steps up and hits a big home run.”

In the third, the lead grew larger. A team that has struggled at times this season with two outs or with runners in scoring position, came through in another big spot. With bases loaded and two outs, Matthew Delgado drove a two-run single up the middle to make it 5-0 through three innings.

On the mound, Maddux Frese was strong again. His outing wasn’t as efficient as his past two starts, tossing a season-high 108 pitches over 6.0 innings, but the result was the same. When he exited the game, the Hawkeyes were in front and in line to get a win. Frese allowed three runs on five hits over 6.0 innings, including three strikeouts to two walks. The lone blemish was a three-run home run from Will Johannes in his final inning of work. Maddux has gone 6.0+ innings in four of his five starts since entering the rotation.

“I thought Maddux gave us another great start. We were pushing him, if that (6th) inning would have been clean (to go out for the 7th). Unfortunately, Kooper doesn’t make errors, but he made an error that extended that inning,” said Heller. “If we get out of that clean, then he might have been able to sneak another inning, but it was a great start. Unfortunately, (Johannes) was sitting first pitch breaking ball and hits a home run. To shut them out for that long, I thought he pitched really well today.”

Up Next: The Hawkeyes will look to record a sweep for the second consecutive weekend, with Logan Runde on the mound, while Illinois is expected to throw Aidan Flinn. First pitch is set for 1:02pm CT on BTN+.

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