Five takeaways from the Iowa Baseball series sweep over Rutgers

The Iowa Baseball team is far too talented to go the entire season without showing that they are capable of playing to the level of their preseason top 25 ranking. Over the weekend, the Hawkeyes showcased their top 25 potential, outscoring Rutgers 28-7 and securing a three-game sweep. With the regular season drawing to a close in a month, Coach Rick Heller is optimistic that his team will sustain this momentum with the Big Ten Tournament rapidly approaching. HawkeyeReport examines the key takeaways from the Hawkeyes’ commanding sweep of the Scarlet Knights.

1. Sitting on the Big Ten Tournament bubble, Iowa delivered a season-changing sweep

“Fight that kind of fight where you’re not afriad, that kind of fight, where you’re fighting for your life and when you’ve got a chip on your shoulder,” said Rick Heller to his team prior to their series opener against Rutgers.

Coming into the weekend, the Hawkeyes were 6-6 in the Big Ten and just one game clear of 9th place in the standings. In other words, squarely on the Big Ten Tournament bubble. Anything short of a series win would have really put the pressure on, with road trips to Nebraska and Illinois remaining on the schedule.

Iowa came out and dominated the series from start to finish, holding a lead in 24 of 27 innings. The pitching staff held the Big Ten’s top hitter, Josh Kuroda-Grauer to just 2 of 9 (.222) on the weekend and kept him from making a big impact. At the plate, the Hawkeyes averaged 9.3 runs per game, scoring multiple runs in six different innings.

Looking at the current Big Ten standings, Iowa has jumped up to fifth place with a 9-6 record. The gap between the Hawkeyes and first place Illinois (2.5 gms) is smaller than the gap between them and 9th place (3.0 gms). There is still work to do with three series remaining, but they are in a safe position heading into next weekend.

2. The starting pitching appears to be turning a corner at the right time

I can’t say that they have fully turned the corner, but they are on the right path to get things going in the direction that we expected them to be going all season. Facing Nebraska in Lincoln this coming weekend will be a true test to see where the Iowa starting pitching is at, but shuting down the Rutgers offensive attack was a really good sign.

Cade Obermueller has been fairly consistent this season completing at least 5.0 innings in five of his ten starts. Free bases have been the issue for him, but on Friday, he stymied the Rutgers offense. Cade allowed just one run on five hits over 6.1 innings, including six strikeouts to three free bases. He threw 62 of his 98 (63.3%) pitches for strikes, which marked a season-high. The key for Cade is limiting those free bases and if he can do that going forward, he will be hard to beat, as opponents are batting just .182 against him this season.

Marcus Morgan put together his second-best start of the season at Ohio State, allowing just one run on three hits over 6.0 innings. His control went away this weekend against Rutgers, but he was able to get out of a couple of jams that changed the game. Marcus walked seven and hit one over 4.1 innings, however, getting out of jams in the first and fourth inning, allowed Iowa to build a 12-1 lead before a Ty Doucette three-run home run in the fifth. The start at OSU, followed by his struggles against Rutgers showed just how close Marcus is to putting things together. The Hawkeyes hope to get him on the right side of that razor thin line as the season reaches the home stretch.

Brody Brecht came into the weekend marked as questionable due to an oblique strain, but made the start on Sunday and was as good as he has been all season. He was able to hit with his slider and splitter throughout the game, which was a great sign after struggling with his slider his past couple of starts. Brecht allowed one run on two hits over 7.2 innings, including 12 strikeouts to three walks. He threw 72 of his 110 (65.5%) pitches for strikes, which is a season-high for him. Much like Obermueller, if this past weekend’s start was an indication of what is ahead, they will be hard to beat over the last month of the season.

Ultimately, it hasn’t been the year for the Iowa starting rotation that many expected. Still, there is time for them to turn things around and there have been signs over the last couple of weeks that things could be trending in the right direction.

3. The bullpen, that has shown signs of improvement, had another solid weekend

The bullpen, even more so than the starting rotation, is starting to hit their stride at the right time. After a terrible start to the season, some of the arms that were expected to be big contributors are getting back to normal.

On Friday, Anthony Watts tossed a scoreless 1.2 innings, including leaving Josh Kuroda-Grauer stranded on third in a one-run game after a one out double. Watts has allowed just one run over his last 10.1 innings, including 12 strikeouts to just two walks. Jack Young closed the game out with a scoreless inning, including a pair of strikeouts. He now has 25 strikeouts to just five walks on the season.

On Saturday, Reece Beuter put up 2.2 scoreless innings, including three strikeouts to just one walk. He did allow three hits, but one of them was an infield single. Beuter has put up scoreless outings in six of his last eight appearances, including 12 strikeouts to four walks. Jack Whitlock finished the game with 2.0 scoreless innings, retiring all six batters he faced. Those two combined 40 of their 55 (72.7%) pitches for strikes.

On Sunday, it was Ben DeTaeye finishing off the brilliant start from Brody Brecht. He recorded the final four outs of the game, including a pair of strikeouts. DeTaeye leads the bullpen with a 1.93 ERA over 14.0 innings, including 17 strikeouts to just four walks.

Add Aaron Savary (3.68 ERA) into that group that pitched this weekend and that Hawkeyes finally look like they have some arms they can rely on out of the bullpen. Getting Jack Whitlock to continue in the right direction will be a huge key, as will getting someone like Sam Hart, Brant Hogue or Zach Voelker back into the conversation. After such a poor start to the year, the bullpen has made quite a bit of headway as of late.

4. The offense continues to produce from top to bottom

Although it’s not a flashy, lot of home runs batting order, the offense has continued to produce at a consistent clip. They rank 11th in the Big Ten in home runs, but are amongst the best in on-base percentage (1st), batting average (2nd), hits (3rd) and runs (3rd). The Hawkeyes starting lineup for the last two games of the Rutgers series featured seven players with an above .300 batting average. Meanwhile, the two below .300, Michael Seegers (.273) and Cade Moss (.235) combined for seven hits, seven free bases and nine runs scored over the weekend.

Totaling 28 runs against the Scarlet Knights, it was a balanced attack one through nine in the batting order. Five players recorded at least three hits in the series, with seven players reaching base at least five times. Notably, Andy Nelson reached base seven times with just one hit, while Reese Moore reached base five times with just one hit.

Iowa has had their struggles this season, but the offense has been fairly consistent for most of the season. With Sam Petersen and Andy Nelson healthy, and back in the lineup, it will be a huge boost down the stretch. The production from the bottom of the order on Sunday was a welcome sight because it proves that the Hawkeyes can create run scoring opportunities from any part of the lineup.

5. The Hawkeyes season is far from over

Look, the odds that Iowa is able to get into the NCAA Tournament at-large conversation are pretty small. They are 103rd in the RPI and it would take something crazy like nearly winning out to end the regular season to put themselves within striking distance. That being said, the Hawkeyes are not out of the Big Ten Title race and are absolutely capable of making a run in Omaha.

Looking at the remaining slate, Iowa still has to face two teams that are ahead of them in the standings (Nebraska, Illinois) and a Northwestern team that is currently in last place. It is far from an easy uphill climb, but they have the ability to make things interesting. Taking two of three from the Huskers and Illini, plus a sweep of the Wildcats would get them to 16 wins in conference play. Is that enough? Illinois would be the biggest challenger to surpass that number sitting at 10-2 right now.

When it comes to the Big Ten Tournament, it feels like there is no team that will be considered an obvious favorite to take home the trophy. Pitching will be a key and so will staying on the right side of the bracket. If the Hawkeyes pitching can continue to round into form at the right time, it will be hard not to mention them as a team that can win the tournament in Omaha.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will host the UW-Milwaukee Panthers on Tuesday in some midweek action. First pitch is set for 6:05pm CT on BTN+.