By Hawkeyesports.com

MOBILE, Alabama – The University of Iowa baseball team took home the South Alabama Invitational title defeating Pepperdine University on Sunday afternoon, 10-1.

“Really happy with how we played this weekend,” said head coach Rick Heller. “We played hard all three days. Third weekend in a row on the road, thought our guys showed perseverance and toughness. Quick turnaround today after an intense game last night and they handled it well.

The win improves Iowa’s record to 9-1 — the program’s best start since 2015 when the team started the year 9-1.

“Really proud of the guys to this point,” said Heller. “We still have a lot of things to clean up and work on, but we are making progress and are headed in the right direction. It makes it a lot more fun, and a lot easier to work on those things when you’re winning games. Really pleased with how we handled things this weekend.”

The Hawkeyes completed the weekend sweep scoring two runs in the third, one in the fifth, five in the eighth, and two in the ninth.

Brody Brecht got the start for Iowa throwing four innings striking out six and allowing three hits and one run. Zach Voelker threw the final five innings allowing one hit and striking out two on his way to earning the win.

“Brody Brecht gave us a good start which is what we were hoping for,” said Heller. “Zach Voelker came in and was really good out of the bullpen again and closed the game out. The pitching was outstanding today.”

Eight different Hawkeyes tallied hits in contest with two players notching multi-hit games. Michael Seegers was 4-for-6 with 2 RBIs and a home run. Sam Petersen was 2-for-4 with with an RBI.

Keaton Anthony and Sam Hojnar also had multi-RBI games for Iowa. Anthony was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and Hojnar was 1-for-4 with three RBIs with a home run.

“Offensively, they switched pitchers about 15 minutes before the game,” said Heller. “I thought our guys handled it well. Tight game for a while, we had some line drives that were caught in middle innings, some bad luck. I just thought it was a professional patient approach by our offense, just kept at it and kept at it, and finally broke through.”

Of Note

• Iowa has now started the season 9-1 for the first time since 2015. The Hawkeyes have only started better than 9-1 four times in school history: 1934 (10-1), 1936 (11-1), 1940 (10-1-1), 1942 (12-1-1).
• The Hawkeyes hit .365 (15-of-41) and tallied 23 RBIs with two outs on the weekend.
• Keaton Anthony extended his on base streak to 26 games dating back to last season.
• The Hawkeyes have now scored 10+ runs in four games this season.
• Michael Seegers hit .600 with a 1.200 slugging percentage in the three contests. He had two home runs, a triple, six RBIs, and six runs scored.

Up Next

Iowa (9-1) returns home for a midweek contest with Coe College on Tuesday at 4:05 p.m.