Down 13-2, what do you do? Maybe score 30

May 20th, 2022

The Indiana Hoosiers and Iowa Hawkeyes combined for 40 points when their football teams faced off last September. Their baseball teams met Thursday night and actually surpassed that scoring total in a wild, historic game.

Despite falling behind 13-2 after three innings, the Hawkeyes stormed back at home with 28 runs over their final five turns at bat to notch a 30-16 victory.

The game featured 42 hits -- 17 of which went for extra bases -- and nine home runs. Iowa’s 30 runs are the second-most in a single game in program history and the most it has ever scored in a Big Ten Conference game. 

Although eight players finished with at least three hits, no one covered themselves in glory more than Hawkeyes center fielder Kyle Huckstorf. The sophomore, who entered Thursday with one home run through 148 at-bats this season, went deep three times as part of a 6-for-7 night at the plate and notched a program- and conference-record 12 RBIs. He is the first Big Ten player to collect six hits in a game since 2010. 

Huckstorf’s first homer of the game, a three-run shot, sparked a 10-run fourth inning which almost completely erased what once seemed like an insurmountable deficit. Iowa went on to plate at least three runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.