Weekend Recap with Rick Heller: Rutgers Series
The Hawkeyes trip to Piscataway this past weekend did not get off to an ideal start, as they fell to Rutgers 5-4 on Friday, but the series did a full 180 after the series opener. Rick Heller’s team responded in emphatic fashion, with a 16-0 run-rule victory on Saturday and a 12-6 win in the series decider on Sunday. With the wins, Iowa moved to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
“I was really happy with how our team played and how our team bounced back after a really tough loss that we felt like we gave to them on Friday,” said Heller. “I thought they really responded with great energy and toughness. We weren’t going to be in a great place if we couldn’t find a way to win on Saturday and the guys answered the bell.”
“One of the toughest road trips in our league, tough place to play and we should a lot of fight and we showed a lot of toughness. Now we’re home for a couple of weeks and hopefully we can get rested up and start playing consistent baseball.”
Up next, the Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City to host the Michigan State Spartans for a three-game series at Duane Banks Field. HawkeyeReport caught up with head coach Rick Heller to go over the top takeaways from the weekend in Piscataway.
Main Takeaway: The Iowa offense has seemingly hit its stride, scoring 28 runs over the last two games of the weekend
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Iowa offense seemed to have few issues getting runners on base and creating run scoring opportunities for themselves. However, the hangup was translating those opportunities into actual runs scored and that seemed to be the common downfall in several close losses, including the series opening 5-4 loss on Friday.
Their fortunes flipped on a dime the rest of the weekend, totaling 28 runs on 26 hits over the final two games of the weekend, including nine home runs. They batted .448 (13/29) with two outs and .379 (11/29) with runners in scoring position. It was a full team effort to get the series win, with nine players totaling at least two hits over the final two days, including five players with at least three hits.
“This team has really been ahead of the curve, and I couldn’t be happier with our offense. It’s not just a few guys, it’s up and down the lineup. We flipped the lineup on Saturday, went with Ben Swails, Colin Coonradt, Mitch Wood and Jaixen Frost and those guys came in and gave a big boost.”
Despite the loss on Friday that included some missed chances to score, the Hawkeye offense has really been trending in the right direction over the last five games, going back to their 14-3 win over Washington State. Over that stretch, Iowa has scored 57 runs (11.4 per gm), totaled 57 hits and slugged 13 home runs. As a team, they are slashing .307/.420/.498, averaging 7.4 runs, 10.8 hits and 1.5 home runs per game. They are led by Gable Mitchell (21 hits) and Ben Wilmes (20 hits), but seven of ten batters with at least 25 at-bats have above a .300 batting average. To this point, Rick Heller is really happy with the production he has gotten from his offense, considering some of the unknowns entering the season.
“We try to make pitchers pitch extremely well to beat us, and we try not to beat ourselves at the plate and this team, to this point, has done a really good job. They’re farther ahead than I ever thought we would be. Our numbers are really good.”
“This team has done a great job of executing the plan that Marty (Sutherland) and Mitch (Boe) have been putting out for them and Marty’s done a really good job of getting guys to buy in to our plan and our system.”
Three more thoughts on the Hawkeyes series win over the Scarlet Knights…
1. Transfers Jackson Beaman and Daniel Wright are emerging as legit contributors
With every at-bat that he gets, Missouri transfer Jackson Beaman looks more and more like an impact bat that more programs should have considered in the portal. Luckily for Iowa, they landed Beaman and have worked with him to improve his swing and become a threat to hit a home run in each plate appearance.
Last season at Mizzou, Beaman hit six home runs in 89 at-bats, but struck out 27 times. Rick Heller said that assistant coach Marty Sutherland really worked with him over the offseason to make changes to his swing and his approach.
“He’s just been extremely disciplined and that sums it up for me,” said Heller. “If you looked at his numbers (at Missouri), Jackson fell victim to the fact that he didn’t chase pitches, but he didn’t get his swing off on enough pitches that were in his zone and that was what Marty (Sutherland) talked with Jackson about when he got here in the fall. Talking through the numbers and explaining where he could get better, what he needed to do and then Jackson works his tail off, and he’s 100% committed to getting better.”
Now, over 11 starts, Beaman is slashing .317/.440/.878, with two doubles, seven home runs, 15 RBI’s and 12 runs scored. Although it’s still early in the season, Jackson is averaging a home run every 7.14 plate appearances. His impact at the plate this past weekend in Piscataway was felt, totaling four hits, five runs scored and three home runs in three games. He hit a pair of home runs in the Hawkeyes 16-0 win on Saturday. Beaman went from a high-power potential bat with question marks to a must start player for Rick Heller.
“He had to make some pretty difficult physical adjustments with his swing, with his load, getting loaded earlier and truly expecting to swing every pitch, but taking ones outside the zone…He’s seeing it really well, and he’s in a really good place right now. He is doing damage when the pitcher makes a mistake.”
Switching gears and going to the bullpen, Houston transfer right-hander Daniel Wright has emerged as a go-to bullpen arm for Rick Heller. In Friday’s loss, Wright kept the Hawkeyes in the game, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, retiring seven of the nine batters he faced, needing just 19 pitches. A midweek starter at Houston last season and a bullpen arm in his prior stop at Iowa Western, Wright has a lot of experience in different roles.
“I’ve really enjoyed Dan being on our team with the maturity, the leadership, and the professionalism that he brings to our team and our pitching staff,” said Heller. “He doesn’t let the moment get too big for him. Dan just handles it extremely well, and he goes out and he pounds the strike zone. That’s the thing that he has done that has gained him the trust and the role that he’s in now.”
In four appearances for the Hawkeyes this season, Wright has a 0.00 ERA over 6.0 innings, including four strikeouts to just one walk. He has allowed just two hits and has gotten through innings quickly, averaging just 2.68 pitches per at-bat. Wright has thrown 41 of his 59 (69.5%) pitches for strikes, which quickly makes you a trusted arm on a Rick Heller pitching staff.
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“We haven’t really been in any games where the pitcher had to go out in the ninth in a one run game and get three outs, but he’s the guy I’d give the ball to right now. Any big leverage situation, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the first guy that comes to my mind is Dan Wright…With his size, his height, he brings a different dynamic to his delivery and angles that guys don’t see a lot, but for me, it’s his confidence, his demeanor and his ability to live in the moment and just pitch.”
2. The pitching staff is still a work in progress, but the numbers are well ahead of last season
The Achilles heel for the Hawkeyes last season, despite all the talent, was the pitching staff. The starting rotation struggled to get deep into games, which put extra pressure on a bullpen that didn’t live up to expectations. The staff as a whole struggled with free bases, which plagued them all season. Heller brought in well-traveled and highly regarded pitching coach Sean Kenny, which seems to have made a positive impact on the pitching staff.
| Hits per inning | Free bases per inning | K’s per 9 | Free bases per 9 | ERA | |
| 2024 (54 gms) | 0.88 | 0.90 | 11.05 | 8.11 | 5.79 |
| 2025 (14 gms) | 0.76 | 0.63 | 9.91 | 5.67 | 4.08 |
One of the big keys to their early season success has been the starting pitching. Over 12 starts, Obermueller, Savary and Beuter have combined for a 3.08 ERA over 64.1 innings, including 70 strikeouts to 25 walks. After the weekend starters averaged just 4.2 innings per start last season, that number has increased to 5.1 innings per start, including four starts of 6.0+ innings.
“The starting pitching has really been better than I thought it would be from an innings standpoint (this early),” said Heller. “I was thinking we may be going to the ‘pen an inning or two earlier, but they’ve been good.”
“There’s been some blips and that’s the thing that has to stop and it is, it’s slowly stopping…For the most part, it’s been consistent, and it’s been way better and as we get more innings under our belt, I think you’re going to see a lot of those silly mistakes start to go away more and more.”
It wasn’t the cleanest weekend for the starting trio in Piscataway, allowing ten earned runs on 15 hits over 14.1 innings, but the bullpen picked up the slack, tossing 9.2 scoreless innings. Anthony Watts and Daniel Wright have emerged as the top options, but Rick Heller says that midweek games will help them evaluate more arms, as they try to figure out who fits into what role.
“We haven’t been able to get some guys out there yet that I think are going to have big roles as the season moves forward and that will come as we are able to get to play our midweek games.”
“With the quality of our starting pitching, they’ve gone deep enough that we’re using the same six, seven guys every weekend. That’s a good thing because every good team I’ve had on a weekend series, you’re using between seven and nine guys tops. That means that the midweek games are really crucial to keeping guys sharp, or someone goes down (injured), or someone starts to falter.”
3. After dropping the series opener, rebounding to start 2-1 in Big Ten play was significant
Starting last Friday, the slate was wiped clean with all 17 Big Ten programs sitting with a 0-0 record. For Iowa, after a 4-6 non-conference start, a strong Big Ten debut was crucial. However, a tough loss in Friday’s opener dropped the Hawkeyes to 5-7 overall, putting them at risk of a series loss and another week with a below .500 overall record.
It was going to take a volleyball ‘reverse sweep’ to get the job done and Iowa completed the first step of the challenge, exploding for 16 runs in Saturday’s run-rule. That effort at the plate carried over into the early innings on Sunday, with the Hawkeyes jumping out to a 4-2 lead. However, the Scarlet Knights responded with four two-out runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Iowa answered with one run in the fifth, four in the sixth and three in the seventh to comeback and secure the 12-6 victory. Instead of falling behind the pack of six teams at 3-0 or 2-1, the Hawkeyes are a part of that early bunch of teams.
“It’s a big difference. There’s no easy weekend (in the Big Ten) and you have to find ways to win on the road,” said Heller. “At Rutgers in cold weather, tough travel and to see our guys fight like that and win a series on the road, I think it really helps set the tone for the conference season.”
Looking at the road ahead for the Hawkeyes, they will be back at Duane Banks Field the next two weekends, hosting Michigan State and Ohio State. Following that homestand, they will go on the road for weekends at Minnesota and Northwestern. It’s a manageable slate if things continue to trend in the right direction for the offense and the pitching staff.
