Iowa Baseball Midweek Preview: Illinois State Redbirds

The Iowa Baseball team is back in action at Duane Banks Field this evening for their final home midweek game of the season. They’ll face the Illinois State Redbirds to finish off their midweek home-and-home agreement.

The Hawkeyes are coming off of their fourth series sweep in Big Ten play, taking down Indiana in three games, including a pair of run-rule victories. They walked off the Hoosiers on Friday night in 10 innings (2-1) and then dominated the rest of the weekend (13-2, 10-0), holding the Big Ten’s top scoring offense to just three runs over 24 innings.

First pitch for Tuesday’s game between the Hawkeyes and Redbirds is scheduled for 6:02pm CT on BTN+. It will be the 26th all-time meeting between the two programs, with Illinois State leading the series 15-10, including a 10-8 win in Normal back on March 25th. Last season, when ISU visited Iowa City, the Hawkeyes came away with an 8-7 victory.

Illinois State Redbirds (20-21, 10-8)

Entering this week, Illinois State comes in with a 20-21 overall record, including a 10-8 mark in MVC play. Their record isn’t a great indicator of how they have played for the majority of the year. After starting just 3-10, the Redbirds are 17-11 since and currently sit in fourth place in the MVC standings.

This will be Illinois State’s seventh and final game against a Power 4 conference opponent this season. The Redbirds are 3-3 in those games this season, dropping two of three at Oklahoma State, while they split their midweek home-and-home with Illinois.

The Redbirds have one of the best offenses in the Missouri Valley, averaging 7.8 runs and 10.6 hits per game. They rank second in the conference in batting average (.302), fourth in on-base percentage (.401), fourth in slugging percentage (.483) and fifth in extra base hits (143). They have six players in the top 30 in the conference in batting average, which is the most of any team.

As for their pitching staff, ISU has a 6.41 team ERA, which ranks fourth in the MVC. That being said, they rank seventh in hits allowed per inning (1.17), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (7.16), but do rank fifth in walks per innings (4.77). The Redbirds are allowing 6.13 runs per game in eight midweek games this season.

Redbirds Players to Watch

1. OF Daniel Pacella – The top hitter for the Redbirds, outfielder Daniel Pacella was a First Team All-MVC selection last season and appears to be headed on that track again this season. One of three players to start all 41 games, Pacella is slashing .380/.462/.735, with 63 hits, 15 doubles, 14 home runs and a team-high 48 RBI’s. He has 20 multi-hit games and has reached base in 39 of 41 games. In four career games against Iowa, Pacella is 5/16 (.313), with one double and four RBI’s.

2. 1B Judah Morris – The other half of the ISU power hitting duo, first baseman Judah Morris is another player that has started all 41 games for Redbirds. He is slashing .306/.479/.674, with 44 hits, 14 doubles, 13 home runs and 40 RBI’s. Morris has tallied ten multi-hit games and has reached base in 39 of 41 games. Hawkeye pitchers have to be around the zone, as Morris is not afraid to walk, owning an impressive 25.4% walk+hbp rate, which is way up from 11.6% last season. He has struggled in four career games against Iowa, batting just .125 over 16 at-bats, including five strikeouts.

3. 2B Graham Mastros – A transfer from St Louis, second baseman Graham Mastros has been an everyday starter in the ISU infield. In 40 starts, Mastros is slashing .295/.385/.468, with 46 hits, 13 doubles, four home runs and 25 RBI’s. He’s also a threat to steal, ranking fourth in the MVC in stolen bases (16). Mastros has 12 multi-hit games this season and has really turned it on as of late, batting .404 (19/47) over his last 11 games, including 19 hits and seven extra base hits.

Iowa Hawkeyes (31-12, 20-4)

With three weeks remaining in Big Ten play and just six games left for the Hawkeyes, they find themselves with a 2.5-game lead over UCLA in the standings. The race for the regular season title is still very much up for grabs, but Iowa goes into their road series at Washington this week with a chance to put even more pressure on the Bruins (and Ducks) if they are able to get two of three from the Huskies.

This will be the tenth midweek game of the season for the Hawkeyes, who own a 7-2 record in such games, including losses to Illinois State and Western Illinois. Iowa did pick up a notable 15-5 run-rule win over the Summit League leaders St Thomas last week in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes are averaging 10.3 runs scored per midweek game, while the pitching staff has held opponents to 4.6 runs per game.

Entering Tuesday’s game, junior infielder Gable Mitchell leads the team in batting average (.352), hits (62) and doubles (15), while he is still riding a 44-game on-base streak. Redshirt sophomore catcher/designated hitter Reese Moore leads the team in extra base hits (23) and slugging percentage (.619).

Final Thought

Duffy Bass Field has been somewhat of a house of horrors for Iowa over the past couple of seasons, but this game will be played within the confines of Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes are 16-3 at home this season, but they did take a disappointing loss at home to Western Illinois last week. That being said, that loss felt like a major outlier for an Iowa team that has won 28 of their last 34 games. With the way that the series against Indiana went, guys like Anthony Watts, Daniel Wright, Chas Wheatley, Ben DeTaeye and Justin Hackett may be able to 5-7 innings of this game. With plenty of the top arms available for a midweek outing, I like Iowa to get some revenge for that March 25th loss in Normal.