Go Iowa Awesome - Upcoming baseball game preview
Coach Rick Heller and the Iowa Baseball team welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Iowa City for their second Big Ten
iowa.rivals.com
Another good pre-weekend write up by @KyleHuesmann
What stood out to me? I cannot help but expect that Iowa is going to need an absolute gem out of Nedved in the first game on Saturday. Illinois' pitcher is a low walk percentage; high K pitcher. If I have had any consistent gripe with Heller's teams, it involves the fact that run production seems to be too dependent upon drawing walks and struggles with putting the ball in play with meaningful contact. Too early to draw conclusions on this team but the offense has waned quite a bit.
I was in the stands last year for the Iowa/Illinois games on Saturday and Sunday. Both days, Illinois pitchers pounded the K zone, Iowa hitters continually fell behind in counts and struck out at high rates. Little to no pressure was ever placed on Illinois defenders. I was also struck by the contrast between the pitching approaches. Iowa pitchers were slow between pitches. Constantly looking at the information on their wristbands. Very deliberate. Frustratingly slow. On the other hand, Illinois pitchers employed the Ray Miller approach: Work fast, change speeds, throw strikes.
Game #1 of the series has the potential to be just like last year's Saturday and Sunday games. I expect Illinois to pound the strike zone and to pitch quickly. Really hoping to see Iowa looking to attack balls in the strike zone early in the count and not being overly selective. I'm not claiming that they should go after pitches outside the K zone; simply claiming that they shouldn't be expecting the Illini starter to struggle throwing strikes with the hope to work the count and earn a walk. Game #1 will be won if and only if Iowa's bats generate runs. Can't expect gifts from the Illini.
Big weekend. Can't make it in from Urbandale but expect to be in the stands for the game on Sunday with Minnesota.
Go Hawks!
EDIT: Also, from a WTWF perspective, Iowa's RPI numbers will be most influenced by these series:
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan: +10.9/-15.2 (really need CMU to sweep)
UC Irvine at UC San Diego: +8.6/-14.7 (an Irvine sweep would be most welcome)
Cal St. Fullerton at Michigan: +11.2/-11.2 (need Michigan to win 2 of 3)
Kansas State at Texas Tech: +3.3/-9.9 (need a Tech sweep)
Wichita State at East Carolina: +8.6/-6.4 (tough match up for WSU)
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