Kellen Strohmeyer had prepared for the biggest hit of his college career. He just needed the opportunity to deliver.
That chance came in the 13th inning of Iowa’s game against Northwestern on Sunday at Duane Banks Field, and Strohmeyer came up with the big hit.
Strohmeyer’s single to left-center field scored Michael Seegers with the winning run as the Hawkeyes won, 6-5, to sweep the weekend series.
Strohmeyer, a redshirt freshman, had just two hits in 16 at-bats coming into the game — this was his first at-bat in a Big Ten game — but dumped the third pitch he saw from losing pitcher Justin Doyle over shortstop Tony Livermore. Seegers, on second base after a two-out double, raced home, beating the throw from left fielder Preston Knott.
Strohmeyer had entered the game after left fielder Will Mulflur was replaced by a pinch-runner in the 12th inning. He had been told by associate head coach Marty Sutherland earlier in the game to be ready in case Mulflur came out of the game.
“It’s kind of been that kind of year for me, sitting around a lot,” Strohmeyer said. “But with that, you’ve got to stay focused, because you never know when stuff like that is going to happen. It’s always just trusting it, the work we do all week, the batting practice and stuff.
“Just prepare for situations like that — even though they don’t come a lot, you always have to take advantage of them.”
“He was ready, and that was great to see,” Iowa coach Rick Heller said. “Stroh hasn’t played in a long time — he hadn’t played in probably over a month. He’s been working hard at trying to drive the ball to the opposite field. And then he gets the game-winning hit on a ball that he stays on, goes the other way. That was awesome to see, because he’s been working really hard at it.”
The game, which lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes, looked like it could be headed for a 14th inning after Doyle got the first two outs of the 13th. Then Seegers drilled a double into the right-center field gap.
Doyle got ahead of Strohmeyer with a strike, then missed on his second pitch.
“I just needed to simplify,” Strohmeyer said. “Mike did a great job getting a double, getting to second base. I knew it wouldn’t take much, just get something. I had a feeling he was going to score (on a hit).”
Strohmeyer was chased down by his teammates and had water dumped on him after Seegers scored.
“They got me,” he said. “It actually felt good, though. It was a little humid out here.
“Felt great. Loved it.”
Northwestern had tied the game with two runs in the seventh innings, then the bullpens of both teams started putting up zeros.
Northwestern’s Garrett Shearer, who gave up one of Iowa’s three sixth-inning runs, pitched the next 5 ⅓ innings without giving up a run. Ganon Archer, Jack Young, Aaron Savary and Chas Wheatley (1-0) combined for seven scoreless innings for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes had been squandering scoring opportunities all day — they left 16 baserunners — and Heller had been around the sport long enough to know how those kinds of games can end.
“I had a feeling it was going to happen like that, how it was going to end either way, because we had the right guys up there and it didn’t happen,” he said. “We still had opportunities, and we didn’t execute well today.”
Instead the Hawkeyes (29-18 overall, 13-8 Big Ten) kept themselves in good position to get a spot in the eight-team conference tournament. Iowa, in fifth place in the conference, is tied with Illinois for most league wins, but has just one weekend series left in the conference next weekend against the Illini.
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May 06, 2024 at 10:06PM
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Hawkeyes Complete Sweep of Northwestern - Sports Illustrated
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