The End
April 4, 2001
IOWA CITY – It appeared that the last meeting in the 109-year rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State was going to be a classic. One inning changed all of that.
The Hawkeyes exploded in the bottom of the sixth inning for seven runs to come away with an 8-1 victory Tuesday at Duane Banks Field. The Cyclones had beaten the Hawkeyes 5-3 in Ames seven days ago.
With the announcement of Iowa State dropping its baseball and men’s swimming programs Monday, Tuesday’s game was the last in the intrastate rivalry.
The Cyclones finished with a 63-59-1 advantage. The first meeting between the two rivals dates back to 1892.
“It’s a disappointment,” ISU baseball coach Lyle Smith said. “I think it’s sad for baseball in the state of Iowa.”
ISU pitcher Charlie Bigwood cruised through the first five innings, tossing a no hitter through the first four.
After seeing Bigwood’s stuff a couple of times through the order, the Hawkeyes solved the Cyclone hurler.
“I think our kids made some good adjustments,” Iowa baseball coach Scott Broghemer. “We got some big hits, and they were all opposite field hits. I think he was pitching us away early and we were trying to pull the ball.”
The Hawkeyes sent 12 batters to the plate in the big inning and pounded out six hits to plate seven runs.
The Cyclones helped out with a pair of costly errors and a wild pitch.
“In that inning, where they scored seven, we had two wild pitches, we hit two batters and they got some base hits. We did some things that are somewhat uncharacteristic if you’re going to critique this team.”
The Hawkeyes were powered by a four-hit gem from sophomore pitcher Nick Jensen. Jensen gave up the only Cyclone run in the first inning but settled down to give up three hits over the last six innings.
Jensen only struck out three batters but forced nine fly ball outs from the Cyclone hitters.
“I threw a lot of changeups and they were out in front of the changeup and getting them up in the air, that’s what most of the pop ups were,” Jensen said.
“The defense was excellent today, you can’t give them guys enough credit. A ground ball is routine every time, it seems like, and pop flies are the same deal.”
The Cyclones scored their lone run when Adam Christ scored from third on an infield hit by Ryan Wickman. Christ led off the game by reaching on an error, and them moved around to third behind a stolen base and a passed ball.
Smith liked the fast start by his team but was displeased with his team failing to get on the scoreboard after the first inning.
“We had several opportunities earlier in the game, runners on second and third with two outs and we didn’t come through,” Smith said. “We score a run in the first inning, I think `hey, here we go, the guys are going to play hard,’ and I tried to tell them to stay focused.”
The Hawkeyes evened the game with a run in the fifth. Brad Carlson led off the inning by spoiling Bigwood’s no-hitter, smashing a double to left-centerfield. Carlson scored on a groundout by Alex Dvorsky.
The Cyclones are back in action today hosting Winona State.