Weekend Recap with Coach Rick Heller: Michigan Series

The Iowa Baseball team continues to dominate in Big Ten play, and their latest statement might be their biggest yet. The Hawkeyes traveled to Ann Arbor and swept the Michigan Wolverines, improving their record in conference play to 17-4, which now sits 2.5 games clear of UCLA for first place.

“To have the first two games be nail-biters, winning by one run in each game and then find a way on Sunday to come out of there with a win when Michigan had their backs to the wall, I think it says a lot about our guys,” said head coach Rick Heller.

Up next, the Hawkeyes return to Iowa City for a double midweek, facing Western Illinois and St Thomas at Duane Banks Field. HawkeyeReport caught up with head coach Rick Heller to go over the top takeaways from the weekend in Ann Arbor.

Main Takeaway: Aaron Savary and Reece Beuter were the standout performers from the weekend

With Cade Obermueller exiting his start on Friday after just four innings, the Iowa bullpen was forced to record the final 15 outs of the game. With that in mind, the pressure turned to Aaron Savary and Reece Beuter, needing a pair of good starts to save the bullpen from further stress. They delivered in a big way, combining to allow just two runs over 13.0 innings.

“It was exactly what we needed and that was the challenge that was issued to those two guys (after Friday).”

Coming off of a rough start against Nebraska last weekend, Aaron Savary was in total control against the Wolverines. He allowed just one run on five hits over 7.0 innings, including seven strikeouts to just two walks. Despite allowing a Mitch Voit solo home run in the first inning, Savary scattered baserunners throughout his outing and never was in serious danger. He threw a season-best 68.4% of his 95 pitches for strikes.

As for Beuter, he provided a big start on Sunday to help the Hawkeyes close out the series sweep. He allowed one run on three hits over 6.0 innings, including a career-high tying eight strikeouts to two walks. After allowing a solo home run to Ben Casillas in the first at-bat of his outing, Beuter retired 18 of the last 22 batters he faced. Through 4.0 innings, Reece had totaled 83 pitches but was able to get six more outs on just 17 pitches to extend his outing.

“Aaron was coming off of a rough start, and I had a feeling he would bounce back and be really good on Saturday. He definitely was, he was outstanding giving up seven innings,” said Heller. “Reece Beuter, I thought just the last two weeks for him have been outstanding.”

Through ten starts apiece this season, Savary ranks tenth in the Big Ten with a 3.67 ERA, while Reece Beuter is not far behind, ranking 15th with his 3.99 ERA.

Four more thoughts from the Hawkeyes sweep in Ann Arbor

1. Cade Obermueller’s season-low 4.0 inning start his not something to be concerned about

Cade Obermueller had been nearly untouchable for a month, allowing zero earned runs over 26.0 innings in his four starts prior to the Michigan series. That stretch of dominance catapulted him into the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year race that seemingly is down to just him and Michigan State’s Joseph Dzierwa at this point.

However, for the first time really all season, Obermueller struggled in his start against the Wolverines. He allowed five runs, three earned on four hits over a season-low 4.0 innings, including just three strikeouts to five free bases given up. Cade threw a season-low 54.3% of his 92 pitches for strikes, but despite that number, Rick Heller felt like it was different from some of his poor starts in previous seasons.

“It was an odd start for him,” said Heller. “He was just off. He was just missing. Wasn’t getting the calls off the edges, just a little bit wider, or just down a little, or just up a little. It wasn’t like he was throwing uncompetitive pitches. He just wasn’t right where he’s been, and he fell behind guys and ended up giving up some free bases and giving up some runs.”

“It was a bad start, in a sense that it wasn’t what we have become used to this year, but it wasn’t a bad start like what you’ve seen from Cade when he was younger.”

The fact that Cade was around the zone and mostly competitive with each pitch gives little to no concern about him going forward. Through ten starts this season, Obermueller is second in the Big Ten with a 2.50 ERA over 57.2 innings, while he has tallied 79 strikeouts to 20 walks, with a 64.8% strike rate.

“Cade has a lot to work on this week. He’ll have a good, intentful bullpen and Coach Kenny will get with him and they’ll work on a few things. I look for Cade to be really sharp on Friday (against Indiana).”

2. It was not a banner weekend for the offense, but they came up with some clutch hits in big moments

The Iowa offense ranks amongst the best in the Big Ten, leading the conference in batting average (.310) and on-base percentage (.422), while ranking third in slugging percentage (.500). However, what was a red-hot offense, scoring 10+ runs in 16 of their last 26 games, combined for just 12 runs through 26 innings before putting up four runs in the ninth on Sunday.

For the series against the Wolverines, the Hawkeyes batted just .269 (28/104), totaling just 15 hits over the final two games of the weekend. They also batted just .244 (10/41) with runners in scoring position and struck out 25 times (8.3 per gm). Rick Heller says that it’s a mix between the normal ebbs and flows of a season, as well as tougher pitching from opponents as the season goes on.

“We had been so hot with so many guys for five, six weeks and I’ve done this long enough to know that there’s ebbs and flows to the offense,” said Heller. “As the season moves forward, there’s more and more information out there on each one of our guys, so you can expect from about mid-April to the end of the season, you usually get pitched tougher. If you can execute your pitches, the data is there on how to get guys out, and I think you’re seeing a little of that with teams being able to pitch us tougher if they execute and we’ve ran into two weekends where teams pitched us extremely well and didn’t give many free bases.”

“I’m not real concerned about it. There was some pressing with runners in scoring position and execution situations because we had three games where every base runner seemed important. The goal for me and Marty Sutherland is to get the guys to back off on the trying too hard and just continue to do what they’ve been doing.”

Despite some of the offensive struggles, the Hawkeye offense was still well-balanced and came up with some clutch hits throughout the weekend to help secure wins on all three days. Seven players recorded a hit on Friday, five on Saturday, and six on Sunday. Of their 16 runs scored on the weekend, ten of them came with two outs, which points to some clutch at-bats.

In the series opener on Friday, Ben Wilmes hit a two-out, two-run home run in the second inning to make it 3-0 Hawkeyes. Then in the sixth, in a 5-5 game, Iowa recorded three consecutive two out singles, finished off by a Reese Moore RBI single to take a 6-5 that held up for the win. On Saturday, a two-out RBI single from Kooper Schulte in the fourth inning was the difference in the 3-2 win, while they tallied three two-out RBI hits on Sunday, capped with the Mitch Wood two-out, bases-clearing double in the ninth.

“That’s the point this week. The goal is to get on base and pass the torch to the next guy and at some point, somebody’s going to come through.”

3. Chas Wheatley’s emergence as a trusted arm has the bullpen one step closer

While the Iowa bullpen has shown improvement throughout the season, they are still a work in progress, but the last couple of weeks have felt like they are getting closer and closer to solidifying their group of trusted arms. The one guy that has really stepped up over the last month has been senior right-hander Chas Wheatley.

On the season, Wheatley has a 1.88 ERA over 14.1 innings, including 18 strikeouts to nine walks. He has been particularly good over the last month, allowing just one run over his last 7.1 innings (1.23 ERA).

Chas saved the game for Iowa on Saturday, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings. Entering the game with two runners on and just one out, the Hawkeyes were clinging to a 3-2 lead, but Wheatley extinguished the fire. He struck out Colby Turner on three pitches and then got Cole Caruso to line out to centerfield, where Miles Risley made a diving catch. Then in the ninth, Wheatley started with back-to-back strikeouts and then got Ben Casillas to ground out after a Greg Pace Jr single put the tying run on base.

“Chas Wheatley comes in and saves the day, brought him into a brutal situation in the eighth inning, and then he closed it out in the ninth,” said Heller. “What a big step for Chas. Look at where Chas started as a freshman, the work that he’s put in, the ups and downs he’s had to deal with over the last few years. Especially the last month, Chas has put himself in a spot where he’s one of the trusted guys with the game on the line.”

4. Unlike the Northwestern and Nebraska series’, Iowa found a way to finish off the sweep

Iowa finds themselves atop the Big Ten standings with a 17-4 record, but they still feel like they have missed out on opportunities to be even better. Prior the Michigan series, the Hawkeyes had gone up 2-0 against Northwestern and Nebraska, but failed to complete the sweep both times.

“If you’re not ready to play on Sunday, you’re going to get beat,” said Gable Mitchell after the Sunday loss to Nebraska. “I felt like in key situations; we just weren’t tough enough to get some jobs done.”

Looking to close out their third series sweep of the season in Big Ten play on Sunday in Ann Arbor, the Hawkeyes made enough plays and were tough enough to complete the sweep. The biggest moment was a Mitch Wood pinch-hit, bases-clearing double in the top of the ninth that put Iowa ahead 7-3 in what would end up being a 7-4 victory in the series finale.

“That’s the sign of a great team,” said Heller. “This team has done a number of things all season that good teams do. That starts with showing up every day with a great effort and I don’t just mean physically, but mentally, and this group has done that the entire season.”

“Throw results out the window. As a coach, that’s what you’re looking for. You’re looking for a team that is going to show up every single day and give a tremendous effort with great focus and great energy. If you do that, most of the time you’re going to give yourself a chance.”

For the most part, the Hawkeyes have given themselves a chance to win in every game, with a 2.4-run average margin of defeat in 11 losses, including seven losses coming by two runs or less.