Iowa baseball makes miraculous comeback
Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller was noticeably confident heading into the Big Ten Tournament despite having the lowest-seeded team.
He liked how his players had fought through adversity and that they never lost confidence or hope during a regular season that was filled with numerous peaks and valleys.
Those feelings are even stronger after the 5-4 miracle comeback that Iowa pulled off Friday against Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament.
Trailing 4-0 heading into their final at bat, the Hawkeyes rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extra innings at Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
Mason McCoy then drove in Tyler Peyton with the winning run on a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
“Just put the ball in play,” McCoy said on the Big Ten Network about his approach at the plate in the 10th inning. “We had Tyler at third base and he’s a great base runner. I knew if I put something in play that good things were going to happen.
“I got a pitch that I could drive to the outfield and just ended it that way.”
The eight-seeded Hawkeyes improved to 29-25 and will face Maryland at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Iowa is now just two wins away from winning the conference tournament.
“Some balls started to fall for us,” Heller said on the Big Ten Network when asked to explain the comeback, which earned him his 100th victory as the Iowa coach. “We had some quality at bats in the first fove or six inning, but just couldn’t get anything to show.
“They just kept plugging away, and then we had some guys step up big.”
Among those who stepped up was seldom-used outfielder Devin Pickett, who tied the game at 4-4 with a single in the ninth inning. It was Pickett’s first RBI for the season.
“I’m real happy for Devin Pickett,” Heller said. “It was a big hit. And I just couldn’t be prouder of our team.”
Iowa’s bats were mostly silent through the first eight innings against Buckeye southpaw John Havird. He left the game after allowing just two hits over eight innings and with a four-run cushion.
Ohio State’s bullpen proved to be a disaster, though, as Seth Kinker surrendered hits to the first four batters that he faced.
Iowa kept chipping away until Pickett, a fourth-year junior from Flossmoor, Ill., finally tied the score with the biggest hit of his career.
Friday’s come-from-behind victory was the latest accomplishment for the Hawkeyes, who had to win their final two series in the regular season against Michigan State and Penn State just to make the conference tournament.
The situation looked bleak with Havird in control on the mound for the Buckeyes, who are seeded fourth in the eight-team field. But the Hawkeyes stayed patient and came through when it mattered the most.
“We knew it was going to come eventually,” McCoy said of the offense. “It just so happened that after they made a (pitching) change it all went down.”