Hawkeyes' offense performed well at USF, looking to seize more chances in DeLand

For the most part, head coach Rick Heller was satisfied with the performance of his offense during the opening weekend of the season. With new faces filling the lineup at several positions that were manned by the top contributors last season, there were some questions coming into the year about how quickly the group would be able to hit their stride at the plate.

“The offense wasn’t really the problem. I was really pleased with the overall team offense,” Heller told HawkeyeReport. “There’s things we need to do better and things that I believe we will do better, but ultimately, it came down to missed opportunities.”

In three games against South Florida, the Hawkeyes put up 17 runs on 30 hits. Encouraging numbers given the number of new faces that got at-bats. It’s certainly too small of a sample size to draw any major conclusions, but their 10.0 hits per game for the opening weekend was very comparable to last season when they averaged 10.43 hits per contest.

Returning starters Ben Wilmes and Gable Mitchell led the way for the offense, combining for 12 hits and six RBI’s, but it was some of the fresh faces that made their impact known as well. Kirkwood CC transfer Miles Risley, Loras College transfer Daniel Rogers, Southeastern CC transfer Caleb Wulf and Missouri transfer Jackson Beaman combined to bat .333 (13/39), with four home runs and nine RBI’s.

“It’s really important and it shows that the training we’ve been doing is working and that they can go out and perform at a high level against the pitching we’re going to see week in, week out. It was a big boost for their overall confidence, and to have (that impact) in week one is a bonus.”

On the weekend, the Hawkeyes batted .280 (30/107), with a .384 on-base percentage. In total, 48 batters reached base in the three-game series, but just 35.4% of those baserunners scored. As encouraging as the overall production by the offense was, missed opportunities with runners on base cost them. In both losses Iowa had chances to build on their early leads, but weren’t able to take advantage.

In the loss on Friday, Iowa led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, but had left seven runners on base. They relinquished the lead in the seventh and fell 5-4 after plating a pair of runs in the ninth. Then, in the loss on Sunday, despite leading 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, it was nine runners left on base that kept the game close. USF took the lead in the sixth and won the series finale 9-5.

The Hawkeyes had no issues getting runners on base, batting .325, with a .402 on-base percentage in non-run scoring situations. However, that same production did not translate to the numerous run scoring opportunities that they had. They finished the weekend hitting just .167 (5/30) with runners in scoring position and .188 (6/32) with two outs. It’s also worth noting that they struck out 10.3 times per game, totaling 31 strikeouts for the weekend.

Two guys they’ll be looking to get more from this week will be returning starters Andy Nelson and Reese Moore. They were key contributors for the offense last season and are once again expected to be this season. Nelson and Moore combined to hit just .100 (2/20) in three games, including a .125 (2/16) average with runners on base. Last season, the duo averaged 6.48 hits per three-game series.

“They just have to wipe it away and move on…If we’re going to be very successful offensively, they have to be productive.”

Overall, it was a positive opening weekend for the offense, but while the pitching staff, mainly the bullpen, irons things out early in the year, opportunities cannot be wasted at the plate. Facing Notre Dame and Stetson to open their weekend in DeLand, Florida, the Hawkeyes will get a chance to see two starting pitchers that are going to throw strikes. Notre Dame right-hander Jack Radel posted a 65.1% strike thrown rate, while Stetson left-hander Jonathan Gonzalez threw 67.1% of his pitches for strikes last weekend after missing all of last season with an injury.