Iowa Hawkeyes baseball team beats Texas Tech, seeks consistency

IOWA CITY — You are what your record says you are, which means the Iowa baseball team is about average.

A tick above average, to be specific. The Hawkeyes have a 9-8 record after Sunday afternoon’s 6-3 win over 12th-ranked Texas Tech at Banks Field.

Starting pitcher Ty Langenberg struck out 10 in five innings, and Andy Nelson homered as part of a four-run sixth inning that lifted Iowa to a split of this intended three-game series turned two-gamer because of bad weather Friday.

This was a very nice response to Saturday afternoon’s 11-3 shellacking at the hands of Tech, in which Iowa simply didn’t play well. It allowed three unearned runs, and Hawkeyes pitchers walked eight and threw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches.

That’s kind of the way it’s been so far this young college baseball season. Some good from Iowa and some not so good.

“We have six games until conference,” Iowa Coach Rick Heller said. “Today was a positive day, win or lose. We played better, we played with intent, we were more focused and confident. Let’s try to string something together and it starts tomorrow.

“I feel like we’re capable of (playing well). But right now, it’s just not happening on a consistent basis. We show flashes to this point here and there. I thought we were coming back to a good place after two good wins, playing a lot better baseball the last two days of the trip. Until we figure out we have to be a lot more stingy with everything, you’ll see days like (Saturday).”

Iowa began the season with a dominant first three games in late February in which it beat Air Force, Ball State and Bucknell by a combined 26-3. A win over Pepperdine the following weekend improved the Hawkeyes to 4-0.

But then came a three-game losing streak in which it lost in extra innings to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and by a run to Wichita State. The first home game two days later was an unspeakable loss to Division III Loras.

Iowa went 2-4 in its following six games before rebounding with wins at California-Irvine and San Diego State. Then came Saturday.

Then came Sunday. A lack of consistency has been the constant.

“Yeah, it can flip tomorrow, but it takes accountability by everyone to not let it happen,” Heller said. “We have to make plays. That’s part of the deal. We’re not in the trying business. You’ve got to be able to make routine plays, and you’ve got to be able to throw strikes the majority of the time.

“We still struggle doing it. We strike out a lot of guys, but we throw a wild pitch, a run scores. Anything we do anymore seems to lead to runs. Some of that is just how baseball works when you’re not going good. But we’ve got to clean some things up. Unfortunately, we’ve had that way too many times this year already.”

Of course, there’s plenty of time for this team to get into a groove. It has a legit Friday night starter in South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur, Butler transfer Connor Schultz looked good in a relief role in Friday’s game, and Langenberg was terrific here, obviously.

First baseman Peyton Williams and outfielder Keaton Anthony are off to terrific starts at the plate, with Williams hitting .394 with eight doubles and four homers in 17 games.

Big Ten Conference play doesn’t begin until April 1 with a three-game series at Michigan. Iowa has six games to tune up prior to that, including home games Monday against St. Thomas (Minn.) and Wednesday against NAIA Grand View.

“We have six games until conference,” Heller said. “Today was a positive day, win or lose. We played better, we played with intent, we were more focused and confident. Let’s try to string something together and it starts tomorrow.“

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