Brody Brecht deals, Hawkeyes shutout Northwestern

The #260 RPI Northwestern Wildcats dealt a loss to the Hawkeyes on Friday afternoon and put the Iowa fanbase on edge coming into today’s series finale. A loss today would have been a bad look heading into the next week’s Big Ten Tournament, but Brody Brecht was having none of it. Brecht sailed through the Northwestern lineup for six innings and set the tone for a 10-0 regular season closing win.

After a month of struggles, Brody Brecht got back on track with a positive outing last week against Michigan State. He came into this weekend looking to build on that performance with the postseason on the horizon. Brecht did that and more, as he put together arguably his most impressive outing in an Iowa uniform.

Tony Livermore singled to leadoff the bottom of the first inning, but the Wildcats were silenced thereafter. Brecht struck out two batters to close the first inning, which was just the start of 17 in a row retired by the sophomore from Ankeny. He gave up a walk in the sixth inning, but retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced on the day. Brecht finished with nine strikeouts to one walk and threw 63.3% of his 79 pitches for strikes.

They let Brody get hot 🔥🔥🔥

Getting on the right track right before the postseason begins. pic.twitter.com/QERitSBafV

— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) May 20, 2023

While Brody was mowing down the Wildcats lineup, Northwestern starter David Utagawa was nearly as impressive and matched Brecht through 5.0 innings. The Hawkeye offense managed just two hits in their first 16 at-bats. After just 57 minutes, the Hawkeyes and Wildcats had completed five scoreless innings.

“Really hard-fought game through six innings,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Pitchers dual, Brody Brecht was outstanding gave us a great start. Had outstanding command of his fastball and was able to get his slider over for the most part. Dominated the zone which was great to see.”   

It took them until the sixth inning, but the Iowa offense finally was able to get on the board to support their starting pitcher. Brayden Frazier led off the inning with a double and Coach Rick Heller sensed that they need to scratch a run across in whatever way possible. Cade Moss advanced Frazier to third with a sacrifice bunt, while Ben Wilmes drove him in with a bunt single to make it 1-0 Hawkeyes. Later in the inning, Brennen Dorighi provided some fireworks. He launched his 14th home run, a two-run shot to left field. That extended the Iowa lead to 3-0.

𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐒‼️ 🚌@bdorighi x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/xNGosOBhge

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 20, 2023

Jack Whitlock came in from the bullpen in the seventh inning and picked up right where Brody left off. He faced the minimum through two innings and recorded a strikeout to keep the Hawkeye lead intact. Meanwhile, the offense put up a crooked number in the eighth to make things comfortable.

Brennen Dorighi appeared to make it 4-0 with an RBI groundout, but the home plate umpire called Northwestern C Cooper Foard for interference, which put Dorighi on base. Raider Tello broke the game open with a two-run single, but the runs did not stop there. A Michael Seegers line drive cleared the glove of a leaping Owen McElfatrick at shorstop by a few inches and made its way all the way to the outfield wall for a two-run double to make it 8-0. A wild pitch and an RBI groundout from Kyle Huckstorf pushed the lead to 10-0. The Hawkeyes put up a touchdown and a PAT (7 runs) in the inning and forced the ‘Cats to use three pitchers.

Seegs makes it a 5️⃣ spot‼️@mSeegs_is4real x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/mLSfFSZHxf

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 20, 2023

“Finally broke out and were able to execute the short game for some runs in the top of the sixth”, said Heller. “Then the guys broke it open. Brayden Frazier and Brennen Dorighi had really big days.”

Will Christophersen took the mound for the ninth inning and retired the side with a pair of strikeouts to wrap up a 10-0 victory for the Hawkeyes. The Iowa pitching staff combined to throw 76 of their 118 pitches (64.4%) for strikes on the day. They racked up 12 strikeouts to one walk and two hits.

After going just 2/14 (.143) with runners in scoring position on Friday, the Iowa offense bounced back and went 6/11 (.545) with runners on base and 4/8 (.500) with runners in scoring position. Brayden Frazier led the way with three hits, while Brennen Dorighi and Michael Seegers each had two.

“Two hit shutout to end the season,” said Heller. “Awesome year, awesome regular season. Now headed to Omaha and we hope to have an awesome postseason.”  

Up next for the Hawkeyes…

With the win, Iowa closes out the regular season with a 39-13 record and a 15-8 mark in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes sit at #34 in the current RPI and are in a very comfortable position, as they head to Omaha for the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa will get underway on Tuesday morning with a matchup against the Michigan Wolverines. First pitch is set for 10:00am at Charles Schwab Field. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.