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Offense rallies, Hawkeyes take the series opener from Purdue

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann05/15/26HuesmannKyle

It’s been a season full of ups and downs for the Iowa Baseball team. Throughout it all, Rick Heller’s squad has never stopped fighting or shown signs of giving up. Their mental fortitude was tested again on Thursday night. Up against a regional caliber opponent, the Hawkeyes fell behind Purdue 5-0 in the second inning. They didn’t lay down or even falter. Instead, the offense ignited and carried the torch in what ended up being a 10-7 series opening win over the Boilermakers at Principal Park in Des Moines.

“We’re a really resilient team,” said Joey Nerat. “We’ve had games where we’ve been behind and then we came back. We just keep playing ball, keep playing the game. We don’t really care what the score is, we’re going to keep doing our jobs and have each other’s back.”

“Really the last four or five weekends, we’ve really fought hard on offense,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Didn’t focus on the score, just the next pitch and the next at-bat and that gives you a chance to come back in those games. It’s good to see us growing even though it’s late in the year.”

Whether it’s been out of the bullpen or in the starting rotation, for much of the season, Maddux Frese has been there to carry his team. Going into last weekend’s series against Nebraska, Frese was third in the conference with a 2.56 ERA. The Boilermakers showed why they are a team worthy of making a regional, plating five runs in the first two innings, including a two-run triple from Avery Moore to make it 5-0 lead. If the Hawkeyes were going to win, they were going to need the offense to pick up Frese.

Still, for the offense to have a chance, they needed some stability on the mound to get a chance to whittle into the deficit. Stability came in the form of Justin Hackett. He gave up a solo home run to Brandon Rogers, but got six outs for the pitching staff, including three strikeouts. It was just enough to settle the game down and the Hawkeye offense did the rest.

“They jumped on us early and you could see why they are where they are (in the standings). They can really swing it,” said Heller. “Hackett coming into that game and calming it down was really big. He came in and slowed things down a little bit for us and gave us a chance to fight back (on offense). That’s what I told Justin. It’s what turned the game around.”

At the plate, the Hawkeyes were able to chip into the lead with a pair of two-out knocks. In the 2nd inning, it was Ben Swails driving an RBI single back up the middle to get Iowa on the board. Then, in the 3rd, Caleb Wulf hooked an RBI double into the right field corner.

The real fireworks came in the following innings. Trailing 6-2, a pair of crooked numbers flipped the momentum of the game entirely. Back-to-back home runs from Joey Nerat (two-run) and Kooper Schulte (solo) got the Principal Park crowd energized, while a Miles Risley sac fly gave Iowa the lead during a five-run 4th inning. The Boilermakers starter, Cole Van Assen, after tossing a scoreless 1st inning, was tagged for seven runs on ten hits over 3.1 innings.

“We did a really nice job of getting the ball up. (Van Assen) sinks it in there and there were a couple of times in the first three innings when we had a chance to maybe get something going that we chased down,” said Heller. “In the inning that we scored five runs, guys were super disciplined and they were on the pitches that were up and got their best swing off and they didn’t miss it. That was great to see.”

The biggest swing of the night came an inning later in the 5th. A couple of singles set the table for Joey Nerat who came to plate with runners on the corners and just one out. With a home run already on his stat line, a single would have sufficed and extended the lead. Nerat instead took the 1-0 offering from Purdue reliever Thomas Howard and hit a towering three-run shot that might have found its way to the Des Moines River. An eight spot over the span of two innings put the Hawkeyes in front, leading 10-6 as the game worked its way into the later stages.

“I was just trying to get my best swing off. Trying to attack and do damage, just knowing my zone, trying to own the zone and swing at strikes, not swinging at balls. That’s what we preach here,” said Nerat. “When you recognize your pitch, when you get your pitch in your zone, capitalize on it and do damage. That’s what Coach Heller preaches, what Coach Sutherland preaches and that’s just what we do one through nine.”

The offense had done its job, and it was time for the pitching staff to step back up to close the game out. Rick Heller turned to Kyle Alivo and the redshirt freshman was tremendous. Purdue got an RBI double from Trey Swiderski in the 7th inning, but that was all they could muster in terms of a comeback effort.

Alivo tossed the final 5.0 innings of the game, allowing just one run on four hits, while he struck out a season-high nine batters and didn’t give up a single walk. In the 9th, Kyle gave up a double, but struck out three Boilermaker hitters, letting out a roar in the direction of their dugout after striking out pinch-hitter Quincy Malbrough to end the game.

“It’s just exciting. We’ve practiced all season and this is a big setting,” said Alivo. “Everyone circled this date on the calendar when the year started and just to be able to go out there and throw up zeros and get the win, I’m just filled with happiness. It was fun.”

“I felt like what made it really special for him tonight was that when he didn’t have his fastball command early, he found a way to get through it. He just kept at it and finally got it figured out, maybe trying a little less instead of trying a little more,” said Heller. “I just thought he took some steps tonight in becoming a real pitcher and not just sometimes throwing it, falling behind and getting the pitch count crazy high. I liked how he made adjustments throughout his outing.”

Up Next: The Hawkeyes will look to clinch the series on Friday night with Tyler Guerin on the mound, while it will be Zach Erdman for the Boilermakers. First pitch is set for 6:32pm CT on BTN+.

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