Eastern Illinois OF Lincoln Riley visiting Iowa baseball
After several recent NCAA transfer portal pickups, Iowa baseball has another visitor in town today.
Eastern Illinois outfielder Lincoln Riley is visiting the Iowa Hawkeyes. Riley appeared and started in all 59 games with the Panthers. A 5-foot-10, 185 pound graduate transfer, Riley hit .307 last season, tallied 71 hits, and registered 38 RBI.
Riley finished the 2023 season with 11 doubles, two triples and four homers. He also stole 18-of-20 bases in 2023 and racked up 27 walks and 23 hit by pitches. His contributions helped Eastern Illinois to a 38-21 overall record and into an NCAA Regional appearance in the Nashville Regional with host Vanderbilt.
During his junior season with Eastern Illinois, Riley appeared in 44 games, recorded a .279 batting average with nine doubles, two home runs, 21 RBI and 41 runs scored.
Hearing Lincoln Riley is visiting Iowa Hawkeyes baseball program tomorrow. OF is in the transfer portal after playing all 59 games this past season for Eastern Illinois, a NCAA tournament qualifier. Lincoln is a Cedar Rapids Washington grad who played JC ball at Southeastern.
— Jeff Johnson (@jeje66) June 25, 2023
A product of Cedar Rapids Washington High School, Riley would potentially be making a return to the Hawkeye State. Before his two seasons with Eastern Illinois, Riley played junior college baseball with Southeastern Community College.
Riley was hitting .351 with two doubles, two triples, 10 RBI, 18 runs and 7 stolen bases during 2019-20 the shortened season. Then, in the 2020-21 season, he hit .304 with seven home runs, 29 RBI, 71 runs scored and 27 stolen bases.
If he chooses Iowa, Riley would join a trio of recent transfer arms. Iowa has already brought in Oklahoma State transfer Brant Hogue, Dallas Baptist transfer Reece Beuter and Creighton transfer Anthony Watts.
Hogue appeared in just three games last year with Oklahoma State before a partial UCL tear ended his season prematurely. Before that, the 6-foot-4, 223 pound lefty tossed 59 1/3 innings with the Iowa Western Reivers, surrendering just 11 earned runs to post a 1.67 ERA across 13 starts and 14 overall appearances.
Hogue ended the 2022 season with a perfect 6-0 record and he racked up 93 strikeouts against just 16 walks. His strikeouts per nine innings while at Iowa Western was 14.11. Hogue had one complete game performance as well.
Beuter made 15 appearances with the Dallas Baptist Patriots, compiling a 4.86 ERA across 16 2/3 innings of work. The 6-foot-1, 196 pound redshirt junior struck out 15 and walked six.
Watts made eight starts across 14 overall appearances. He compiled a 2-3 record with a 5.15 ERA with 26 strikeouts against 25 walks.
Iowa is coming off a record-setting 2023 season. The Hawkeyes made the regional final of the Terre Haute Regional before bowing out against No. 14 overall seed Indiana State. Iowa finished the 2023 season with a single season record-tying 44 wins. The Hawkeyes’ 2023 mark was 44-16.
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