Ty Langenberg talks moving from Sunday starter to Friday ace on the pitching staff

Ty Langenberg did not start last season in the weekend rotation. After appearing in just eight games as a true freshman, he came out of the bullpen the first two weeks of the season, but got his first start in week three at UC Irvine. His breakout performance was at home against #12 Texas Tech on March 20th, when he struck out ten Red Raiders over 5.0 innings and helped the Hawkeyes to a 6-3 victory.

Ty was in the starting rotation for the rest of the season and finished the year with a 7-2 record. He posted a 3.71 ERA and 74 strikeouts to 23 walks in 63.0 innings pitched. Now, he moves up the weekend ladder from Sunday to the Friday night series opener spot this season. D1Baseball and Perfect Game have him pegged as their preseason Big Ten Pitcher of the Year.

“He’s worked really hard to improve his arsenal and to make his pitches better and to be more efficient. He’s a guy that’s constantly trying to improve and get better,” said Coach Rick Heller. “That’s a program guy that wants to win and wants to win for the right reasons. He’s worked his tail off and is a captain, so so he has all those intangibles to be the Friday guy and to step into that role.”

After the Hawkeyes season ended at the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, Ty headed to the east coast to spend his summer pitching in the prestigious Cape Cod League with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. There, he appeared in 12 games, accumulating 33 strikeouts to just four walks over 21.1 innings and finished with a 3.37 ERA.

“It was a great experience out there. A great opportunity to learn from a lot of experienced guys and just be around some great competition and great teammates,” said Langenberg. “As far as shaping this year, I think it refined my skills and the ability to be competitive on the mound with each pitch. Just taught me a lot about things and I think it’s something that’ll definitely show up this year.”

There is a difference between being a Sunday starter and a Friday starter. On Friday, the lights are on and you are going up against the other teams best pitcher, while there is added pressure to get your team off on the right foot for the rest of the weekend. Still, Ty says that he is not planning to treat it any differently.

“In my eyes, it’s the same role as last year. I’m still starting and I’m going to still contribute the same as I would in any position Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” said Langenberg. “I’m not going to approach it with a different mindset or anything like that.”

As a junior on the team, Ty has gotten the opportunity to sit and learn behind a pair of Big Ten Pitcher of Year winners, while he awaited his turn to pitch on Friday nights. Trenton Wallace won the award when Ty was a freshman and Adam Mazur won the award last year for the Hawkeyes. He said that he was able to learn a considerable amount just watching them pitch over the last two seasons.

“Being able to learn from them was big for me. Just learning how to carry yourself, control the good and bad and being able to balance it out. Little things like that I take away from those guys.”

“I know that I’m not them and I’m a lot different pitcher than they were, so I’m not going to change how I go about my business on the mound. I’ll keep that the same, but how I compose myself on and off the field. A lot of big lessons were learned from them.”

Langenberg will have his first test in the season opener against the Indiana State Sycamores in the Snowbird Classic on February 17th. He is set to go up against 2022 First Team All-Missouri Valley selection Matt Jachec. FloBaseball will stream all of the games during the opening weekend.