Dorighi Homers Boost Hawkeye Baseball

Iowa Avenges Earlier-Season Loss to Illinois State Tuesday at Banks

The Iowa Baseball press box at Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - A here-we-go-again feeling is never good for a college baseball team.

It was a feeling that didn’t last long for Iowa in Tuesday’s 7-4 win over Illinois State at Duane Banks Field.

Brennen Dorighi hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the first inning, and nine Iowa pitchers combined to shut down the Redbirds.

The Hawkeyes (32-11) were coming off a rainy weekend at Penn State, splitting a doubleheader on Saturday before having Sunday’s game canceled because of the weather. And with a three-game weekend home series with Ohio State coming up, the last thing they wanted was to stumble against the Redbirds (17-24), who beat them earlier this season.

“We have high hopes going into this weekend, and we had a bitter taste in our mouth with the cancellation and the loss last weekend,” Dorighi said. “So, just to get out here and put our brand of baseball back on the field was good for us.”

The start of this game wasn’t what the Hawkeyes wanted. Illinois State’s Shai Robinson doubled off Ty Langenberg to open the game, then Auggie Rasmussen singled to center field to score Robinson two pitches later.

“Boom, single, score, and it’s like, holy cow, here we go,” Iowa coach Rick Heller said.

But Langenberg struck out Shaydon Kubo, and got Daniel Pacella to ground into a double play to end the inning, starting a night in which the Hawkeyes found plenty of ways to get out of trouble.

Iowa had an immediate answer in the bottom of the inning. Ben Wilmes and Keaton Anthony walked off Illinois State starter Thomas Harper, then Dorighi homered to right-center field.

“He missed low with a heater, and he was struggling to get his slider in the strike zone,” Dorighi said. “So I knew I was going to get a (fastball), and I was looking for one middle in, because of the way the wind was blowing. And I ended up getting one.

“I’d be lying to you if I said after the first inning when they scored, and after (what happened) this weekend we weren’t like, ‘Oh, here we go again,’” Dorighi said, smiling. “I think righting the ship back, getting momentum back on our side, was really good there.”

“It was great to answer back,” Heller said.

From there, it was about Heller’s pitching plan working, although it didn’t quite go as planned.

Heller was hoping for two innings out of Cade Obermueller, who entered the game in the second inning. But Obermueller threw 31 pitches, giving up a run and three walks while striking out three.

Chas Wheatley and Brody Brecht each threw a scoreless inning. Zach Voelker only got one out in the fifth, surrendering two runs and four hits, then Jacob Henderson threw 1 ⅔ innings. Jared Simpson, Will Christopherson and Luke Llewellyn each threw a scoreless inning.

“For the most part, we were pretty solid,” Heller said. “The top of their lineup is pretty tough. We struggled a little bit with them. For the most part, everybody we wanted to get out there got out there, and most of them did a good job.”

Heller was especially happy with the 1-2-3 inning thrown by Brecht, who only threw ⅔ of an inning in a start in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

“It was good to see, for sure,” Heller said. “The thing I liked about it was that it was his choice. He could have thrown a bullpen and worked on some stuff, or go out there and throw an inning and get back on the horse. And that’s what he chose. That was really good to see.”

The Hawkeyes got a solo home run from Sam Hojnar in a two-run fourth inning. Dorighi added a solo home run in the fifth, then Iowa closed the scoring with a run in the eighth when Hojnar’s single scored Kyle Huckstorf, who had a two-out triple.