Iowa baseball team seeks surge, though it’ll be without pair of important players this weekend

CEDAR RAPIDS — This has not been the smoothest season so far for the Iowa baseball team.

Let’s just say it: things have been kind of rough, considering all of the preseason expectations for these Hawkeyes. Now even a little bit rougher this weekend.

Head coach Rick Heller said Thursday morning that his team will be without outfielder Sam Petersen and first baseman-utility player Andy Nelson for this weekend’s home series against Michigan. The series is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at noon, though could change depending on expected wet weather Sunday.

“That’s going to be a challenge for us this weekend,” Heller said. “I said at the beginning of the year that if our front nine stayed healthy, we’d have a really good offense. If you look at it, this has been maybe the best offense since I’ve been here from a consistency standpoint one through nine.

“Taking those two guys out of the lineup will definitely be a challenge for us.”

Iowa leads the Big Ten in batting average (.320) and runs scored, thanks in part to Nelson and Petersen.

Nelson is third in the league in batting average (.408) and has provided the Hawkeyes with an exquisite leadoff hitter. He has had recurring issues with his hamstring.

Petersen leads the Big Ten in runs and is second in stolen bases. Heller said he has been dealing with shin splints and was on the verge of a crack in his leg bone, forcing him to wear a boot and sit this weekend.

The coach hopes both guys will be able to return, even if on a limited basis, for Iowa’s series next week against Ohio State.

“It’s not season-ending stuff,” Heller said. “Those two guys are putting up conference MVP type of numbers. Two dynamic players with speed and power, the whole nine yards.”

Iowa sits 15-11 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. It has won both of its conference series thus far, against Purdue and Minnesota.

Those series were identical in that the Hawkeyes dropped the first game and rebounded to win the next two. With that in mind, Heller said his club will reconfigure its starting pitching rotation this weekend.

Cade Obermueller will pitch Friday’s game, followed by Marcus Morgan and Brody Brecht. Ace Brecht, a possible first-round pick in this summer’s Major League Baseball Draft, has given up 13 runs (10 earned) over eight innings in his last two starts.

Heller said Brecht has done extra bullpen work this week with pitching coach Sean McGrath, necessitating his drop to Sunday starter. Resharpening Brecht’s slider has been the emphasis.

While Iowa has been great offensively this season, as Heller mentioned, pitching has been an issue. The Hawkeyes go into the weekend with a 6.14 team earned run average and have allowed the second-most walks in the Big Ten.

The bullpen, in particular, has been inconsistent, failing to hold several leads, with lack of control playing a large role

“That’s pretty much it,” Heller said. “We’re 15-11, and those 11 losses, that’s been the issue. We’ve squandered big leads in a large majority of those games. But it’s been better, it’s getting better.”

Heller noted how Jack Young, Aaron Savary and Ben DeTaeye have begun to be consistent performers out of the pen. He hopes others will follow.

“I think offensively we’ve played well in all of them,” Heller said. “We’ve scored a bunch of runs and done what we’ve needed to do. The pitching side has been inconsistent: good, bad, and, unfortunately, a couple of the bad ones have cost us some games, and that’s no good.

“But this is where we’re at. We’re doing some different things this weekend to try and get some things straightened out. We’re going to mix the rotation up a little bit, see if we can get some guys going in the right direction. Just keep plugging away and get things to click there. We’ve found three or four guys in the bullpen that have been consistent and reliable in the bullpen the last three weeks, and it’s been good to see that.”

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