Iowa baseball sweeps the weekly Big Ten awards, extending the single-season program record
Iowa swept its way past Indiana last weekend to the tune of 30-16, 12-0, and 2-1 victories over the Hoosiers. The Hawkeyes wound up sweeping their way through the Big Ten weekly baseball awards as well.
Redshirt sophomore Kyle Huckstorf was named the co-Big Ten Player of the Week, redshirt senior Dylan Nedved the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week and Keaton Anthony the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Huckstorf had a historic day in Iowa’s unforgettable rally in game one versus Indiana. After trailing 13-2 early, Huckstorf’s big day spearheaded the Hawkeyes’ comeback efforts.
The 5-foot-8, 175 pound native of Waterford, Wis., hit three home runs over the course of a pair of innings as Iowa erased the early 11-run deficit. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hawkeyes sent 15 batters to the plate to erase that deficit in a hurry.
Huckstorf sandwiched a pair of three-run blasts around a two-run shot from Anthony. He wasn’t done there. In the fifth inning, Huckstorf added a go-ahead grand slam, giving him three homers and 10 RBIs in a two-inning span.
With the bases loaded in the eighth, Huckstorf lined a two-run single to right center for his record-breaking hit. It gave him the Big Ten single-game RBI record with 12 and it was his sixth hit, tying him for the league record for hits in a game.
“This is going to be the day that I take with me until I die. It will be stories that live on forever and I’ll have fun with it. I came out here with the same goal in mind, trying to barrel up the ball, hit it hard and as you see today, good things happen. The wind was in my favor, which was a good thing,” Huckstorf said of his record-breaking day.
In addition to his co-Big Ten Player of the Week honor, Huckstorf was named the Dick Howser Trophy National Co-Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
Meanwhile, Anthony picked up Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for a record sixth time this season. The 6-foot-4, 210 pound outfielder finished the week against the Hoosiers having homered in three straight games and finished with five runs and five RBIs on the weekend.
Lastly, Nedved captured the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award after tossing six shutout innings in a series-clinching victory in game two. The right-hander from Shawnee, Kan., had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings before being lifted following the sixth because of a pitch count. He allowed one hit over six innings and fanned six to notch his sixth victory of the season.
The accolades are the 11th, 12th and 13th weekly honors for the Hawkeyes this season, extending a program record.
Iowa earned the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament where the Hawkeyes will square off with sixth-seeded Penn State today at 5 p.m. from Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb., in their first postseason matchup. If the Hawkeyes can win, it’s the winner of No. 2 seed Rutgers and No. 7 seed Purdue.
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