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After barely hanging on to a tightly-contested Game 1 victory on Friday, Iowa baseball (26-11, 16-4 Big Ten) claimed its seventh conference series of the season as the Hawkeyes won by a score of 3-2 vs. Michigan (23-16, 8-9) on Saturday afternoon from Ray Fisher Stadium at the Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Junior right-hander Aaron Savary (6-0, 3.67 ERA) got the start and the win for Iowa on Saturday as he threw seven innings, allowing one earned run on five hits while walking two batters and striking out seven.
“Aaron Savary came out and pitched an outstanding game,” said head coach Rick Heller. “What a bounce back for us. It was something we really needed today after we had to go to the bullpen three times yesterday. Aaron was lights out.”
Senior righty Chas Wheatley (2-0, 1 SV, 1.88 ERA) came out of the bullpen for the final 1 2/3 innings to earn the save, which saw him give up just one hit and strike out three Wolverines.
“Chas Wheatley came in during a tough spot in the eighth and pitched great to get out of it,” said Heller. “Then he closed it out for us in the ninth. Really good effort by our pitchers holding a very good Michigan offense down like we did today.”
According to the boxscore, Michigan would outhit Iowa by a 9-6 margin, but the Wolverines stranded eight base-runners throughout the game compared to the Hawkeyes’ four.
Unlike Game 1 of the series, Michigan would jump out to an early lead as the Wolverines took advantage of a first-inning solo home run. The Hawkeyes tied the game in the fourth when Ben Wilmes hit an RBI sac fly.
Iowa took a 3-1 lead in the fifth frame after Daniel Rogers laid a perfectly placed RBI sacrifice squeeze bunt down the third base line and Kooper Schulte ripped a 108 MPH RBI single up the middle.
The Wolverines cut their deficit to one with an RBI SAC fly in the eighth and posed a serious scoring threat until a diving catch by Miles Risley in center field bailed the Hawkeyes out and kept Iowa in the lead.
Offensively, Ben Swails was the lone Hawkeye to have a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.
“Offensively, I thought we had some good at-bats in the first three or four innings,” said Heller. “Unfortunately, we had some bad ones mixed in. Even though we jumped out to a lead, it could have been more. We left some runs, at least two runs, on the table with some bad execution. But, hey, we found a way to get it done and toughed out another one today. Really happy with our guys’ effort.”
Iowa will look to sweep the three-game series vs. Michigan today as Reece Bueter (4-0, 4.35 ERA) is expected to take the mound for the Hawkeyes in Game 3.
Today’s game, with a tentative first pitch of noon CT, will stream on Big Ten Plus (subscription required). Fans can also follow along through the Hawkeyes Radio Network alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans.
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