[Herky] IF YOU WIN, THEY WILL COME

[Sue Bailey]

*More than 7,200 fans have packed Duane Banks Field the past two 
weekends to watch the 17th-ranked UI baseball team. (Photo by Brian Ray)*
*IF YOU WIN, THEY WILL COME
*
/Sellout crowd sees Iowa baseball sweep No. 25 Nebraska on April 26/
*By JAMES ALLAN*

*IOWA CITY, Iowa*-- When University of Iowa head coach Rick Heller was 
chosen as the man to rejuvenate Iowa baseball he believed the Hawkeye 
fan base was longing for and would support a winner.

He was right.

Over the past two weekends, Iowa drew more than 1,200 fans in four home 
dates and a total of 7,271 fans in consecutive Big Ten weekends, 
including a sellout crowd of 2,506 during Sunday's doubleheader sweep 
over No. 25 Nebraska.

"It means the world to us," said junior Tyler Peyton, who pitched 8 1/3 
innings of one-run ball in Iowa's 5-1 victory in the series finale. "We 
love playing in front of (the fans). We want them to keep comping. They 
help us out a lot just being there."

Fans have come in droves to see a team that is among the Big Ten's best. 
Iowa completed its three-game weekend sweep of the Cornhuskers -- its 
third Big Ten sweep and fifth series win of the season -- to run its 
record to 30-11 overall and 13-2 in league play, 1/2 game behind 
Illinois (13-1) in the conference standings.

The Hawkeyes scored early in the April 25 series opener against 
Nebraska, plating three runs in the first inning before holding on for a 
4-3 victory. In game two, Iowa rallied from a 2-0 deficit to eventually 
tie the game in the eighth before winning, 3-2, in the bottom of the 
10th in walk-off fashion. In the finale, Iowa rode Peyton and the bats 
came alive in a 5-1 win.

"This series win was huge, especially because it is Nebraska," said 
senior captain Jake Mangler. "They've always been known as kind of our 
big brother. We not only hung in there and competed with them, but we 
swept them, and took the series.

"It's big a big confidence boost moving forward. We knew we could do it, 
but now we're through it."

Iowa's pitching held the Huskers to six runs on 21 hits and posted a 
1.61 ERA over 28 innings. The defense was flashy and nearly flawless, 
committing two errors on the weekend, and the offense came to life. The 
Hawkeyes scored 12 runs in three games, hitting .320 as a team with six 
starters hitting better than .333.

"That's who we have to be as a team," said Mangler. "We have to throw 
well, play good defense, and hit. If we can keep doing all three of 
those things we'll be in good shape."

Iowa heads to a three-game weekend series at Michigan from May 1-3 with 
30 victories, giving the program back-to-back 30-win campaigns for the 
first time since the 1989 and 1990 seasons. The Hawkeyes have 13 Big Ten 
wins, the most for the program since 2010.

With 11 games left in the regular season, Heller doesn't know where the 
Hawkeyes will be heading into the 2015 Big Ten Tournament in 
Minneapolis, but he knows the team's drive won't change.

"We're going to continue playing them the same way and go out and find a 
way to win," said Heller.


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