Iowa baseball falls just short of making history
Even in defeat, the Iowa baseball team found yet another way to inspire its fans on Sunday.
The Hawkeyes fell just short of accomplishing a goal that just two weeks ago seemed beyond their reach as Ohio State rallied for an 8-7 victory in the Big Ten championship game.
It was more a case that Ohio State won the game after trailing 4-0 than Iowa lost it, considering how well the Hawkeyes executed and how they refused to quit.
“I have no regrets, really,” said Iowa coach Rick Heller. “We had no walks in the game, no errors in the game. We needed to get a lead early.”
The Hawkeyes could’ve easily packed it in when Ohio State scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 7-4 lead at Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
But there was no quit in this Iowa team because the seniors wouldn’t allow for that to happen on their watch. The seniors were on a mission to go where no Iowa team had gone before and they gave it everything they had both physically and mentally.
Sunday’s game almost was a replay of Friday’s game against Ohio State when Iowa rallied from a four-run deficit in the ninth inning before prevailing 5-4 in 10 innings.
“I never doubted that we were in this game,” said senior first baseman/pitcher Tyler Peyton. “You saw a couple days ago what we did against Ohio State. There was never any doubt. We fight until the end.”
Iowa fans showed their appreciation by showing up in large numbers on Sunday. The official attendance was listed at 10,350, and it’s probably fair to estimate that 75 percent of them were dressed in black and gold.
“We couldn’t ask for any better support from our fans,” Peyton said. “It was incredible. I had never seen an Iowa crowd like that before. They were energetic. They were in it for the whole game.”
The circumstances were ripe for a celebration on Sunday that didn’t happen.
Iowa was trying to win its first Big Ten title in any sport since the men’s track and field team won the outdoor title in 2011.
The Hawkeyes (30-26) also needed to win the conference tournament for the first time in order to make the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
Now comes the tough part of saying goodbye to a senior class that includes center fielder Joel Booker, shortstop Nick Roscetti, catcher Daniel Aaron Moriel, pitcher Calvin Mathews and Peyton among others.
They’ll be missed as players and as a teammates. But they leave behind a proud legacy of winning.
That legacy was in danger of taking a hit this season until the Hawkeyes rallied during the final two weeks of the regular season, winning five of their last six games to barely make the eight-team conference tournament as the lowest seed.
Heller was confident heading into the conference tournament, even with his team as the lowest seed.
And now we know why.
Hawkeye fans not surprisingly were frustrated with the circumstance surrounding Sunday’s loss from a tournament structure standpoint. Iowa also defeated Ohio State in the tournament and both teams finished with just one loss, and yet, the Buckeyes still were crowned champion.
The Big Ten Tournament uses a double-elimination format until the championship game. Iowa had an advantage heading into Sunday’s title game because it had played fewer innings than the Buckeyes to get there.
The problem with playing a true double-elimination tournament besides that it would take too long is the strain that it would put on the pitchers’ arms.
It would make more sense, and create more drama, to use a single-elimination format. You know, lose and you cruise, just like the NCAA Basketball Tournament does.
Why does baseball feel the need to drag everything out for so long?
Speaking of tired arms, we saw a career end on Sunday as Mathews pitched in his final game. The fact that he pitched in the first place was a victory in itself.
Mathews has been hobbled by a nagging shoulder throughout the season. He can only throw so many pitches before the pain becomes intolerable.
He lasted through the first three innings on Sunday, holding the Buckeyes scoreless and striking out four batters.
Booker reached base in each of his last 15 games and he had 13 hits during the conference tournament. If the tournament was an audition for professional baseball, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Booker likely got the part.
“To put it in perspective, obviously, blessed as the eighth seed going to the championship and having a chance to win it and lose by one run,” Booker said. “I don’t think anyone saw that coming.”
They might not have seen it coming. But a lot of Iowa fans saw the action unfold on Sunday.
They rallied behind a team that deserved it.