Iowa City, IA – Iowa survived a pitcher’s duel to defeat Penn State to secure a berth to the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. After 5 ½ scoreless innings, Iowa took the lead with a bases loaded walk to Mitch Boe. The Lions quickly responded with an RBI double in the top of the 8th to tie the game. In the bottom of the inning Iowa had run producing hits from Ben Norman and Chris Whelan to take a 3-1 lead, and that was the final score.
Iowa’s offense was not very productive, managing just six total hits against Penn State. Half of the hits came from Chris Whelan, who went 3-5 with an RBI. The other hits were by Robert Neustrom, Justin Jenkins, and Ben Norman.
It was another stellar start from Iowa ace Nick Allgeyer. He managed seven shutout innings allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out six. Zach Daniels had a bit of a rough performance out of the bullpen, losing the lead in the 8th. He ended up pitching two innings allowing one run on three hits and no walks while striking out four. He did end up being awarded the win to improve to 6-1 on the season.
Iowa improves to 31-18 and 11-9 in the B1G. This win coupled with Michigan State’s loss to Ohio State guaranteed Iowa a spot in Omaha for the Big Ten Tournament next week. Iowa currently sits seventh in the conference, but only a half game behind 6th and two games back of 4th and 5th.
