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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa records first NCAA baseball tournament win in 43 years
By Don Abernathy, correspondent
May. 29, 2015 9:44 pm
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - University of Iowa junior Tyler Peyton gave the Hawkeyes exactly what they needed against the University of Oregon on Friday: a dominating start on the mound and their first NCAA tournament win in 43 years.
Peyton and the Hawkeyes battled both the Ducks and Mother Nature in the opening round of the NCAA regional opener to earn a 3-1 victory in front of 1,963.
'We've won a lot of games like that,” Iowa Coach Rick Heller said. 'We got great pitching, we needed a great start out of Tyler and he provided it. He went seven-plus innings, he pounded the strike zone, he didn't walk a batter and he had great stuff. It was exactly what we needed.”
Rain hampered play during the final four innings of a game that lasted 3 hours and 28 minutes. It delayed the start of the ninth inning for nearly a half hour, then washed out the nightcap between No. 1-seeded Missouri State and Canisius. The schedule for Saturday will be Missouri State vs. Canisius at noon, with the loser turning around to play Oregon at 4 p.m. Iowa will then play the Missouri State-Canisius winner at 8 p.m.
Peyton worked out of a jam in the top of the sixth as Oregon put two runners on base with back-to-back singles and only one out. Peyton struck out No. 5 hitter Scott Heineman, then induced a ground ball to first, where he covered for the put out and then pumped his fist in excitement.
'It was kind of a turning point,” Heller said. 'We had the bullpen ready to go and at that time we were still thinking about going to the left-hander Ryan Erickson, but Tyler was able to fight through it. I thought he still had good stuff and we let him run with it, and it worked out.”
The Hawkeyes (40-16) scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning when junior shortstop Nick Roscetti was hit by a pitch. Junior catcher Jimmy Frankos followed with a walk and Roscetti reached third on a fielder's choice off the bat of junior right fielder Joel Booker.
After a walk by junior first baseman Taylor Kaufman loaded the bases with two outs, senior third baseman Nick Day drove in Rocetti with an infield single for a 1-0 lead. Day's hit went under the glove of Oregon third basman Mitchell Tolman, to the shortstop, which didn't have time to make a play at any base.
The Ducks (37-24) tied the game in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by sophomore Austin Grebeck, but the game wouldn't stay tied for very long.
Iowa answered back in the bottom half of the frame with its second run on an RBI ground out from Roscetti who scored Peyton from third.
'I think it was a great answer,” Peyton said. 'It was great to take momentum back. There were nerves around the team, but they went away right away, it seemed like. We just went out there and played our game.”
The Hawkeyes added a run in the fifth, again off the bat of Roscetti, who drove home senior second baseman Jake Mangler from third on a fielder's choice.
'Not having a win in 43 years in the NCAA Tournament, it's truly big for us,” Roscetti said. 'We just kept with our approach. We didn't get the one big knockout punch, but we just kept trying to do our job putting the ball in play and make them make a play. Hopefully some good things happen, and they did.”
Peyton pitched 7 1/3 innings, gave up just one earned run off of seven hits and struck out five Ducks. Senior reliever Nick Hibbing pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to earn the save.
'After the seventh, we went right to Nick Hibbing and didn't mess around, he's been our best guy down the stretch,” Heller said.
Day led Iowa with a pair of hits and an RBI, while Roscetti finished with a pair of RBI's.
'Sometimes you don't get the two-out hits and today was one of those days,” Heller said. 'It was frustrating, especially when they are giving you free base runners, because you want to make them pay for it.”