Yeah, looking at the other three teams, I think Iowa has a decent shot of emerging from this region. Pitching is going to be solid all weekend long though, Iowa's lineup is just as scary as any of the Texas teams they'll face.
Iowa Baseball #4 @ Houston Regional
- Thread starter IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life
- Start date
Toughest Regional
Houston. No regional out there has more balance than this group. It’s truly anyone’s game. Houston has done an amazing job without lefthander Seth Romero this season, but with a very tough No. 4 seed like Iowa, which is red-hot and possesses one of the nation’s premier hitters in Jake Adams, they’ll likely have to throw lefty Trey Cumbie in the first game. Baylor has exceeded expectations under Big 12 Coach of the Year Steve Rodriguez, while Texas A&M is a Jekyll and Hyde team. It can be elite, or just plain blah.
https://d1baseball.com/analysis/d1baseballs-regional-roundtable/
Houston. No regional out there has more balance than this group. It’s truly anyone’s game. Houston has done an amazing job without lefthander Seth Romero this season, but with a very tough No. 4 seed like Iowa, which is red-hot and possesses one of the nation’s premier hitters in Jake Adams, they’ll likely have to throw lefty Trey Cumbie in the first game. Baylor has exceeded expectations under Big 12 Coach of the Year Steve Rodriguez, while Texas A&M is a Jekyll and Hyde team. It can be elite, or just plain blah.
https://d1baseball.com/analysis/d1baseballs-regional-roundtable/
Reading around on some Houston message boards I found some interesting tidbits...
-Iowa is not a good team
-Houston should start a midweek guy
-Iowa looked "surprised" to be in position to win the B1G tournament vs Minnesota
-Iowa is not a good team
-Houston should start a midweek guy
-Iowa looked "surprised" to be in position to win the B1G tournament vs Minnesota
Lol. I hope they do throw a mid week guy. Too bad the coaches probably aren't taking Iowa as lightly.
This is correct. Iowa is certainly an underdog against the other teams. There is a reason Iowa's RPI is 84 and those of the other teams are much lower. Iowa is traveling 1000 miles or however far it is, while the other 3 are all in-state. Iowa should play loose, just go compete and see what happens. If Iowa can somehow manage to win the first game things get interesting, similar to the Big Ten tournament.
Fify........
I'm interested to see who Houston throws on Friday. Cumbie is a flat out stud for Houston and is regarded as their "ace". It seems he always throws the second game of the weekends though and threw 104 pitches on Saturday. Ullom is their Friday starter and has like a 3.40 ERA, solid numbers but seems like he can be hit more than Cumbie. He started on Thursday I believe for them.
Is there a reason why they don't throw their 'Ace' in the series opener like everyone else?
We will probably need a quality start every time out to have a shot. Just the reality of what we are facing this weekend. Embrace the challenge though. These are the moments where you can start to get some serious buzz around Hawkeye baseball.
No idea. I know like Nebraska for example throws Jake Meyers who I'd consider their "ace" on Sunday because they want him in the outfield on Fri/Sat.
There are 2 ways to look at it from a coaching perspective--
1) If you are confident in your routine, don't change it
2) Losing your first game puts you at a significant disadvantage. Getting cute and throwing off in anticipation of a possible matchup with Baylor is a risk.
I had the chance earlier this week to talk to a couple of coaches who have played against Houston this year. One non-con, the other is in the AAC. Both agreed that Cumbie is special and will be playing in the show someday. They also agree that while King is good, he can be had and despite being 2nd team all-conference, Ullom is somewhat suspect and has been the recipient of some well timed offensive help.
I don't know Coach Whitting, but the math is simple this time of year. You can't win two until you win one. IMO It would be risky at least, and poor game management at worst, not to throw your best in the opener.
Guess we'll find out Friday night.
I don't think there is any other strategy than to throw your Ace early and often right now. You could possibly play 5 games in a regional. That could give your Ace 2-3 appearances depending on the schedule.
i don't know many coaches who would throw a guy for 100+ pitches on a Friday and then bring him back on a Sunday, with 1 day rest. I can see an inning or 2 on two days rest, in a Monday game, but with the emphasis on pitch counts you don't see a whole lot of multiple appearances by starters in regionals.
It's all in how you define decent. Iowa is a significant underdog. Doesn't mean they can't win, but they will need some breaks. Iowa's offensive numbers are good, but they will be facing much better competition than typically throughout the season. Iowa has played 18 games against Top 100 RPI teams. Houston has played 41 games against Top 100, Texas A&M has played 36 and Baylor has played 44.
Baseball isn't played on paper of course. If Adams gets hot he can keep Iowa in games nearly by himself. I'm interested to see how the Hawkeyes compete.
Baseball America preview of the regional.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/coll...houston-regional-preview/#yvmfR1p3oApxqj5i.97
http://www.baseballamerica.com/coll...houston-regional-preview/#yvmfR1p3oApxqj5i.97
There is a lot of strategy that goes into these regionals and the tournament in general. You have to be thinking a game ahead sometimes to win the whole thing. If Houston starts their ace, then I wouldn't think it would be a bad idea for Iowa to start Erickson and not Galagher. If Houston doesn't start Cumbie, then go after them with Galagher.
I say we stick with Gallagher vs Houston regardless. The only time I'd say start Erickson over Gallagher would be if we had been paired against say Arkansas due to the amount of left handed batters they have.
This is the correct answer. Baseball is different than most other sports due to the matchups. The phrase "It all starts on the mound" is true in 95% of all situations.
It's not about pitcher vs. pitcher. It's about 9 individual matchups at the plate with 8 defenders there to back up your guy on the mound. Coach Heller has two outstanding assistants in Hitting Coach Sutherland and Pitching Coach Brickman. If Coach Brickman's scout were to determine throwing a lefty (Erickson) would be a better matchup against Houston than a righty (Gallagher) then a change in the rotation might be warranted. You also need to determine what type of pitcher you're throwing against a good hitting lineup like the Cougars. Gallagher has shown he can pitch backwards with effectiveness. Erickson has a good slider, but relies more on his fastball as his setup pitch.
In this situation Gallagher looks like the better matchup in Game 1. Plus, Erickson is a creature of habit. Not a knock on him at all, but routine means more to some players than others. No need to change anything to start this regional. Plus, if Iowa were to play a Game 3 (or more) it will end up being all hands on deck when it comes to the pitching staff.
I wonder if Mike Riley (ex OSU coach and present Nebraska football coach) will travel to attend the games there. Might serve as a fan distraction in the game with a lot of the OSU fans there. Don't know if that would factor in how the teams might perform or not.
It also looks like Iowa and Houston are listing their probables as TBA. So we will see who starts in 24 hours.
He might, but I don't know why he would. It's not like Corvallis really misses him. It's definitely a baseball town compared to football.
Though Oregon here gets more attention for their football prowess (at least a couple of years ago), Oregon State fans don't just go for baseball here. There's a reason why the Oregon/Oregon State football game is called the "Civil War" here. They have as big a rivalry here as Iowa has with ISU too. Probably more of a comparable baseball centric town compared to Iowa being a wrestling centric town might be a better comparison.
But I suspect you're right that Riley will avoid coming to OSU. Just don't know how much old ties he has with the university there that might have him use the opportunity to visit some here then. Just curious given that coincidence if he might do so.
Part of me was hoping that Iowa would get sent up here, so that I could travel down for the game like I did when Iowa came here for the NIT a few years ago in basketball, but I'd rather see them have a better shot at winning someplace else in hindsight than traveling to see them lose in a place where the fans support the other team.
It's good that the baseball Twitter does a good job with updates/videos.
Hoping for a solid outing from Gallagher today. We'll need it.
Hoping for a solid outing from Gallagher today. We'll need it.
Got a quick summary on the details. Without breaking a confidence, it sounds like the decision was made as late as this morning to start Erickson. The coaches anticipated Cumbie starting for Houston, but that did not factor into the decision to go with Erickson.
B1G is not off to a good start at all. Very surprised that Yale took it to Nebraska. Iowa will be facing Houston's best arm. I wonder what the thinking was behind starting Erickson? Is it because Gallagher threw some on Sunday?
Regardless, going to need to see if we can get to this guy.
Regardless, going to need to see if we can get to this guy.