Iowa Hawkeyes Baseball: Rodents Swept Back North

Hawkeyes Take Care of Business vs. Minnesota

Expecting a 3 game sweep and actually getting a 3 game sweep are two separate animals. In this case, the animal was a pesky gopher. Let’s face it, other than in Caddyshack, the gopher gets zero love. Nor should it. Goofy looking thing that serves no purpose. Iowa handled the Gophers by scores of 9-3, 2-1, and 9-3. It was the Hawkeyes’ second-straight sweep of Minnesota. The Gophers sat atop-ish the Big Ten for many years. With Rick Heller as Iowa’s skipper, the worm has turned. On the year Iowa improved to 20-12 (6-3 B1G). A few highlights from the series:

Hawk Hitters:

Catcher Ben Talllman, a redshirt sophomore via NDSU and NIACC, swung the biggest bat for the series going 7-13 with 3 RBI’s. Getting that kind of production from a catcher is tremendous.

Peyton Williams continued to be the big bopper in Iowa’s lineup. Williams went 3-8 with his 8th home run and 3 RBI”s for the series.

Keaton Anthony went 3-5 in Friday night’s game with his 7th home run to go along with 3 RBI’s.

Hawk Hurlers:

The dominant pitching performance for the weekend came from Iowa’s Adam Mazur. He started Friday night’s game and pitched 8 innings giving up just 1 earned run, striking out 11, and not allowing a base on balls. Mazur improved to 3-2 on the year with an ERA of 3.00.

Connor Schultz started the second game and was solid. He went 4 ²⁄₃ innings giving up 1 earned run, striking out 5 batters and allowing 2 walks. Ben Beutel came on in relief pitching 2 ¹⁄₃ innings without allowing a run and striking out 4 Gophers. Beutel improved to 2-0 on the year and he carries an ERA of 2.16. Duncan Davitt came in and closed the door on the 2-1 victory, recording his first save. On the season Davitt is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.84.

In the final game of the series Ty Langenberg went just 3 innings, allowing 3 earned runs. After that Iowa’s relief pitchers kept the Gophers off the board. Benjamin DeTaeye threw 2 scoreless innings and Dylan Nedved came in and got the final 12 outs of the game and got the win. Nedved is 4-2 on the season with 2 saves and he sports an ERA of 3.51.

Iowa’s team Earned Run Average is a stellar 3.35, good for 8th in the nation. Iowa’s weekend opponent, Rutgers, has a team ERA of 3.07 that puts them in 4th place in the country. Something will have to give in that series.

Mid-week Rematch Against Bradley

Iowa travelled to Bradley on April 6th and ended up winning 9-8 in 11 innings. The Hawkeyes used 10 pitchers in the game. Cam Baumann started for the Hawks and was roughed up, lasting just one inning and giving up 4 earned runs. Iowa’s pitching staff gave up 8 walks on the day. Way too many free passes. Michael Seegers had a nice day at the plate going 2-4 with 3 RBI’s and Andy Nelson held down third base and went 3-5 on the day.

The game today starts at 4pm and can be seen on the B1G+ Network. I listen to most games on the Hawkeye Radio Network. Every game is important, but Iowa’s emphasis will be geared toward this weekend’s series against Rutgers. Expect to see some backups for Iowa both in the lineup and on the mound.

On the season Bradley is hitting .280. They can swing the bats. Bradley will give up some runs; their team ERA is 6.50. The Hawks are on a bit of a winning streak so it would be nice to keep the momentum going into this weekend.

Rutgers Series is Huge for B1G and Possible Postseason

Iowa travels out east to Rutgers for a pivotal weekend series starting Friday, April 22nd. Rutgers is 30-6 / 11-1 on the season and sits atop the Big Ten Conference. Iowa is tied with Michigan at 6-3 behind Rutgers, Illinois, and Maryland. On paper Rutgers is terrifying. As stated earlier Rutgers is 4th in the country in ERA. The Scarlet Knights also come in at 4th in the nation in batting average batting .321. Rutgers also has a slugging percentage of .506. The Scarlet Knights have hit 48 big flies on the season (as a comparison, the Hawkeyes have 25 home runs.) Rutgers not only hits the cover off the ball, they also are adept at drawing walks; the Scarlet Knights have an on base percentage of .420. Rutgers is 12-0 at home this year. It is necessary for the Hawks to win at least one game this weekend. Winning two would be a tremendous accomplishment for this team; that could propel Iowa into the conversation of a B1G championship run, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a lot of baseball left to play, but this is the type of series that can generate a great deal of buzz for the program and Iowa nationally.

Rutgers’ top hitter is Nick Cimillo. He is slashing a spectacular .404/.512/.699 on the year. The Scarlet Knights have four batters with 7 or more home runs and seven batters hitting .300 or better.

On the mound Rutgers has the luxury of throwing two aces at you. Jared Kollar is 6-0 with an ERA of 2.56. Nathan Florence is 4-1 with an ERA of 2.93. Both are right-handed pitchers. If the games get to the late innings the Scarlet Knights have a closer that is almost untouchable. Closer Dale Stanavich has 8 saves on the year with an ERA of 0.93. As a pitching staff Rutgers makes you hit your way on; they do not give up many bases on balls.

The Schedule:

Friday, April 22 1pm B1G+

Saturday, April 23 Noon B1G+

Sunday, April 24 11am B1G+

• All games are broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network

Let’s go get this, Hawkeyes! As always, Go Hawks!