We are now two weeks into the 2010 season and we have seen many ups and downs. We started off the first weekend at Austin Peay University where we played Illinois State in the first game of the double header and beat them in a very offensive game, 19-11. With a pretty small ball park and a strong wind blowing out the whole game, pop flys turned into extra base hits and homeruns. I’d like to hope we got our first game jitters out of the way, seeing that we made 6 errors defensively. In the second game of the double header we played Austin Peay and lost to them 13-8 in another offensive game. We committed 3 more errors that ended up costing us a few runs late in the game that we couldn’t overcome. I think the three teams each learned a few things that needed to be worked on the next week in practice from playing outside for the first time all year. The biggest thing that we needed to clean up was our defense.

This past weekend we played in the Big Ten/ Big East challenge. Wanting to prove that our defense was just some first game jitters from the week before, we played a tough game friday afternoon against Rutgers. Jarred Hippen threw 8 2/3 innings holding Rutgers in check. Kevin Lee came in and got the final out to end the game, 6-3. We played tough defense, not committing an error, and had some key hits and big parts in the game.

We played a tough West Virginia team on Saturday, losing 9-5. It was a game that we felt we let get away from us. We had two bad innings that ended up costing us the game. Phil Schriber started out a little rough in the first inning walking the first two batters and eventually loading up the bases, only to battle back and not allow a run after a rough first inning. We had a four to zero lead with many opportunities to add on but we couldn’t plate any runners when we really needed to. We couldn’t wait to play on sunday to get that bad game behind us.

Sunday we played Villanova and won 11-2. Zach Robertson thew 5 1/3 innings to earn his second win of the year. Our offense pounded out 16 hits with two homeruns (one by Ryan Durant and one by Sean Flanagan). Defensively we had two errors but we did a nice job not letting them cost us.

Overall we had a pretty successful weekend. Although we would have liked to came home 3-0 on the weekend, we felt like we improved from the first weekend. We are starting to create an identity as a team and as each game goes on we look to keep adding to that identity. We are looking forward to this weekend when we travel to Kansas for a four game series against a very good Kansas team. It will be a great challenge for us and by the end of the weekend we should know a little more about our team.

GO HAWKS!!!

Finally, our first trip is a few days away. We are heading down to Tennessee for a doubleheader against two very solid ball teams; Illinois State University and Austin Peay. I can tell you that we are ready to get outside like most of the other northern schools. The bubble can only offer so much, but we are prepared for this upcoming season and we are very excited to get the season underway. It will be interesting to see how we, along with the other teams, react for the first time being outside in the spring. We are very excited to get the season underway this weekend and are looking forward to starting the season off on the right foot.

This past monday we had out anaual lead off dinner for friends, family, and fans to come support our team for this upcoming season. Although this year was a little different in the past, it was a very exciting and successful night. This year was more based around the fans who support us. There was a silent and live auction as well as a chance for the fans to get autographs. The past lead off dinners were highlighted by guest speakers, such as, Tim McClelland who was the umpire in the famous “Pine tar” incident with George Brett, Fergie Jenkins, Joe Girardi, Jim Hendry, and Michael Gartner. Coach Dahm is trying to get Ryan Sandberg for a future speaker at our lead off dinner. It’s always great to talk to the people who support your team every year.

We are very excited to get the year started this upcoming weekend. We feel like we are fully prepared to play two very tough teams. It will be very important for us to come out and get this first weekend under our belts. Stay tuned for thoughts and reactions from the weekends games along with future games thoughout the season.

GO HAWKS!!

We opened up spring practice with a conditioning test this afternoon with only a few guys making trips to the garbage cans to let their lunches fly. All in all I thought everyone pushed themselves to their limit. The rest of the week we have captain’s practice and work outs on our own. We are excited to get things going and we are all very anxious for our first trip opening weekend against Illinois State University and Austin Peay.

Stay tuned for more information on the Hawkeye’s upcoming season!

Kurtis