Baseball: Kansas @ Iowa

Hello Hawkeyes,

I have been covering the Kansas baseball team for the last three years at Rock Chalk Talk.  The Jayhawks are visiting Iowa this week for games on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I did not think to come over here yesterday but better late than never.

I'll copy below my short scouting notes on Iowa baseball and give a link to my recap of the Tuesday's 5-4 Kansas win.  If anyone goes to the game Wednesday I would be glad if they found time to post thier impressions of the KU team.  It is always good to get outside points of view. - JQ

Kansas (18-12) @ Iowa (11-15)

Kansas visits Iowa for Tuesday and Wednesday games.  First pitch for both games is now 4PM.  KU will provide a free audio web cast of the games.  Just link here, go to schedule and log in from there.

Probable Starters

Tues 4PM: Cameron Selik (1-1, 5.47 ERA) vs. Phil Schreiber (1-0, 3.38 ERA)

Wed 4PM: Brett Bollman (3-0, 1.80) vs. Zach Robertson (2-1, 12.38)

Iowa is not having a good year.  The Hawkeyes are 9-15 vs. D-I opponents and their RPI is at #215.  They can’t blame their woes on a tough schedule.  Iowa’s strength of schedule is ranked #176 and Kansas will be the best team they have faced so far.  However, there are some cautionary factors at work here for KU fans.  First off is that these games will be in Iowa City and the Jayhawks are only 1-7 on the road.  Iowa is 2-3 at home vs. D-I teams.  The second area of concern is Tuesday’s pitching match-up.  Iowa sends freshman righty Phil Schreiber to the mound.  Schreiber has good control (2 walks in 16 innings) a low ERA (3.38) and is controlling left handed hitters very well (.167 batting average against.)

Iowa is a fair offensive team.  The Hawkeyes are slugging .443 as a team and they also have a lot of speed on the base pads (43 stolen bases in 26 games).  All this adds up to an average of 6.8 runs scored per game on average.  The Hawkeye pitching staff is somewhat below average but much better than KU’s last two mid-week opponents.  The Hawkeyes give up 7.6 runs a game on average.  They look to have a few decent arms in their bullpen - Patrick Schatz (2.01 ERA in 22.1 innings) and closer Mike Schurz (3.38 ERA in 10.2 innings).

Link to Recap of Tuesday's game.

Kansas squeaks by Iowa 5-4. Heere and Elgie provide the runs, Selik and Murray pitch well.