Nick Allgeyer deals; Hawkeyes walk off on Virginia Tech for fourth straight win

There wasn’t much breathing room throughout, but the Iowa baseball team pulled out another nail-biting win to remain perfect.

Southpaw Nick Allgeyer delivered seven strong innings, and the Hawkeyes offense provided just enough despite mustering only four hits. The end result was another Iowa walk-off victory, 2-1, over Virginia Tech in Friday’s All-State Sugar Bowl Baseball Classic opener in New Orleans.

Knotted, 1-1, heading into the 10th, pinch-hitter Austin Guzzo was plunked, then pinch-runner Kace Massner stole second to put a man in scoring position with two down. Following a Justin Jenkins walk, sophomore Ben Norman roped one to Virginia Tech third baseman Sam Fragale that was bobbled.

The ball trickled into left, allowing Massner to score and give Iowa (4-0) its second walk-off win in four games. The run was the Hawkeyes’ first since the third inning, when shortstop Kyle Crowl launched a solo homer to hand Iowa an early lead.

Virginia Tech’s Nick Menken then answered with a solo shot in the fourth, but the Hokies didn’t produce much else against Allgeyer. The Iowa lefty yielded just five hits and a run over seven frames, striking out eight while walking none.

“Allgeyer was sharp for us today,” Iowa coach Rick Heller said. “I am happy with his performance and this is a big positive from last week. I thought he threw well last week, but this week was even better.”

The late rally made a winner out of closer Zach Daniels, who tossed the final three innings with one hit surrendered. The Hawkeyes and right-hander Brady Schanuel will look for a winning weekend on Saturday against Ball State. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

Dargan Southard covers preps, recruiting, Iowa and UNI athletics for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.