By Adam Hensley
After breaking through the .500 mark this season, Iowa baseball will host Northern Illinois at 3 p.m. today at Banks Field.
The Hawkeyes (6-4) are fresh off a 2-1 weekend in Minnesota, where the bats came alive in their wins against Hawaii and Oral Roberts.
Big Ten Player of the Week Jake Adams brought his best at the plate. In Iowa’s three games in Minneapolis, the junior hit .417.
He connected on 5 hits, 6 RBIs, and — even more impressively — 2 home runs in consecutive games.
Through the season’s first 10 games, Adams leads the team in RBIs with 13.
He’s not the only Hawkeye coming off a strong performance in the DQ Classic; teammate Chris Whelan was on his A-game against the Rainbow Warriors. He ended the game 3-for-5, with 2 RBIs and a home run.
In that same game, Nick Gallagher (2-0) earned his second win of the season.
“Nick gave us another quality start,” head coach Rick Heller said in a release. “He struck out 8 and didn’t walk a batter. Overall, it was another great start by Nick.”
Early on against Minnesota, it looked as if Iowa’s hitting would continue.
Robert Neustrom blasted a 3-run shot over the fence to give Iowa its first — and only — lead of the game.
After that, Iowa struggled to connect on pitches.
Drake Robison took the loss for the Hawkeyes, allowing 4 runs and 5 hits in 3.2 innings.
“We weren’t very good on the mound [Sunday], and that was the disappointing part,” Heller said in a release. “We gave up 7 walks; anytime you give up that many, it’s tough to win against anybody, especially a team like Minnesota.”
Northern Illinois (2-9) started off the season winless after three games, then got its first win against Chicago State, 4-0.
Recently, however, the Huskies have lost their last four contests. They grabbed a key win in the 19 Ways Invitational, taking down Villanova, 6-4.
Today’s game will be Iowa’s third home game on the schedule this season, but could be only the second full game played at Banks Field.
Prior to the DQ Classic, Iowa hosted Cornell on Feb. 28, but the game ended after two innings. A rain delay pushed the game back an hour, and then following another delay (which lasted even longer than the first), the coaches decided to scratch the game.
