Iowa Baseball . . . A Look Ahead

[AuroraHawk]

After Tuesday's game against Grand View, an interesting road awaits for Hawkeye baseball over the next 9 games:

Weekend series: March 6-8 in Port Charlotte, Florida
Central Michigan, Georgetown and Army. Iowa will likely stick with Dreyer and Judkins on Friday and Saturday and go with Davitt on Sunday. What will be particularly interesting to see is whether Army holds back its ace pitcher, Logan Smith, to face Iowa on Sunday. Smith has been dominant, including striking out 10 Duke hitters over 7 innings in Army's 2-1 win over Duke to open the season. After that, he pitched fairly well against Texas A&M (looks like his defense failed him) and dominated Air Force. Stats: https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/baseball/roster/logan-smith/15617 I'd be willing to bet good money that Iowa seeks Smith on Sunday. Will make for a tough matchup. If Dreyer and Judkins pitch well and the hitters show up, Iowa should have 2 wins under its belt heading into the Army game.

Weekday series: March 10 and 11 in Iowa City
Kansas
Don't know much about Kansas baseball. They lost a one-run game to Michigan State earlier in the year. They'll be coming into Iowa City after hosting a Wednesday game against Creighton and hosting a weekend three game series against Indiana State. Traditionally, Creighton and Indiana State field competitive teams. I'm thinking that Kansas will go with its best pitchers over the weekend series. If so, the games in Iowa City could be a battle of pitching depth and turn out to be high scoring.

Weekend series: March 13-15 in Northridge, California
Cal State Northridge (current RPI: 8)
Tough road series. Cal State Northridge is currently 8-3 but is coming off of a weekend of losing 3 of 4 to #11 RPI Central Florida. Northridge plays Gonzaga (4 games this weekend) and we can expect their early RPI to be high. That written, Baseball America picked Cal State Northridge to finish 6th in the Big West this year. For comparison's sake, Cal Poly was picked to finish 3rd in the Big West and Cal Poly played Michigan tough this weekend. Michigan won 4-3; lost 5-4 and won 4-2.

Weeknight game: March 18 in Columbia, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri just beat Oklahoma and Texas this weekend so we can anticipate the Tigers to be a good team. They will have just finished a 3 game SEC conference series against Alabama so, once again, it should be a battle of weekday starters. d1 Baseball does not have Missouri among the 10 SEC teams picked to receive a bid to regionals. Mid-week road night game against a solid if not spectacular SEC team? Another tough challenge.

As of right now, I'm thinking that 6-3 would be a very solid showing.

Beat Western Michigan
Beat Georgetown
Beat Army
Split with Kansas
Split the 4 road games with Cal State Northridge and Missouri

 

[ahmaddoschad]

Hopefully they start getting leads and that too will allow the pitchers to be a little more aggressive. I still think they need to move Adreon to DH and get a true outfielder out there. It sounds like Sher and Jenkins were sick the last two days. Defense continues to be a problem. The quantity of strikeouts also are an issue. They are playing obviously quality opponents. Hopefully that will pay dividends. Still lots of battles to be answered. Frazier has looked pretty good. Bullpen has allowed 40 walks in 35 innings.

 

[2bagger22]

Hopefully they start getting leads and that too will allow the pitchers to be a little more aggressive. I still think they need to move Adreon to DH and get a true outfielder out there. It sounds like Sher and Jenkins were sick the last two days. Defense continues to be a problem. The quantity of strikeouts also are an issue. They are playing obviously quality opponents. Hopefully that will pay dividends. Still lots of battles to be answered. Frazier has looked pretty good. Bullpen has allowed 40 walks in 35 innings.

If Adreon moves to DH you're more likely to see Martin play the field.

 

[ahmaddoschad]

Why wouldn't he stay at catcher? McCleary isn't pushing him. Maybe have Frazier, Jenkins playing the other OF position.

 

[2bagger22]

Why wouldn't he stay at catcher? McCleary isn't pushing him. Maybe have Frazier, Jenkins playing the other OF position.

Because McCleary and Martin have better bats than Jenkins. You can plug Norman into center since he can run well. You're more likely to see this when facing a left handed starter.

 

[dozee]

amoddoschad-----

You need to quit commenting on things you obviously know nothing about.. do you even watch games ? This isn't little league

 

[dozee]

Iowa Baseball on Twitter_ _Congrats to @ZebAdreon for being named to the 2020 #CambriaCollegeClassic All-Tournament team! https___t.co_fw1dOgO75k_ _ Twitter

Also was an All star outfielder in Northwoods League but somehow you have a problem with his outfield play and want to put our best catcher out there that has never played OF ?

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Midweek games are a wash. Never know what’s going to happen. Ideally Iowa goes 6-3 or 7-2 in this stretch.

 

[ahmaddoschad]

I've coached high school for several years. Can you be more specific on what I know "nothing about"? I agree about the better bats than Jenkins but would want to be better defensively in the outfield.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Hopefully they start getting leads and that too will allow the pitchers to be a little more aggressive. I still think they need to move Adreon to DH and get a true outfielder out there. It sounds like Sher and Jenkins were sick the last two days. Defense continues to be a problem. The quantity of strikeouts also are an issue. They are playing obviously quality opponents. Hopefully that will pay dividends. Still lots of battles to be answered. Frazier has looked pretty good. Bullpen has allowed 40 walks in 35 innings.

Have only see bits and pieces this year, but defense is very hard to quantify at the college level. Iowa has only 9 errors in 10 games (opponents have 24 errors). So Iowa is fielding what they get to.

Iowa has also struck out less than their opponents. Better contact rate is always welcome, but strikeouts are part of the deal. Teams looking to drive the ball and hit for power. Iowa has been playing good competition, strikeouts come with that.
Agree that still lot to be answered and that the bullpen needs to walk fewer guys.

 

[AuroraHawk]

After Tuesday's game against Grand View, an interesting road awaits for Hawkeye baseball over the next 9 games:

Weekend series: March 6-8 in Port Charlotte, Florida
Central Michigan, Georgetown and Army. Iowa will likely stick with Dreyer and Judkins on Friday and Saturday and go with Davitt on Sunday. What will be particularly interesting to see is whether Army holds back its ace pitcher, Logan Smith, to face Iowa on Sunday. Smith has been dominant, including striking out 10 Duke hitters over 7 innings in Army's 2-1 win over Duke to open the season. After that, he pitched fairly well against Texas A&M (looks like his defense failed him) and dominated Air Force. Stats: https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/baseball/roster/logan-smith/15617 I'd be willing to bet good money that Iowa seeks Smith on Sunday. Will make for a tough matchup. If Dreyer and Judkins pitch well and the hitters show up, Iowa should have 2 wins under its belt heading into the Army game.

Weekday series: March 10 and 11 in Iowa City
Kansas
Don't know much about Kansas baseball. They lost a one-run game to Michigan State earlier in the year. They'll be coming into Iowa City after hosting a Wednesday game against Creighton and hosting a weekend three game series against Indiana State. Traditionally, Creighton and Indiana State field competitive teams. I'm thinking that Kansas will go with its best pitchers over the weekend series. If so, the games in Iowa City could be a battle of pitching depth and turn out to be high scoring.

Weekend series: March 13-15 in Northridge, California
Cal State Northridge (current RPI: 8)
Tough road series. Cal State Northridge is currently 8-3 but is coming off of a weekend of losing 3 of 4 to #11 RPI Central Florida. Northridge plays Gonzaga (4 games this weekend) and we can expect their early RPI to be high. That written, Baseball America picked Cal State Northridge to finish 6th in the Big West this year. For comparison's sake, Cal Poly was picked to finish 3rd in the Big West and Cal Poly played Michigan tough this weekend. Michigan won 4-3; lost 5-4 and won 4-2.

Weeknight game: March 18 in Columbia, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri just beat Oklahoma and Texas this weekend so we can anticipate the Tigers to be a good team. They will have just finished a 3 game SEC conference series against Alabama so, once again, it should be a battle of weekday starters. d1 Baseball does not have Missouri among the 10 SEC teams picked to receive a bid to regionals. Mid-week road night game against a solid if not spectacular SEC team? Another tough challenge.

As of right now, I'm thinking that 6-3 would be a very solid showing.

Beat Western Michigan
Beat Georgetown
Beat Army
Split with Kansas
Split the 4 road games with Cal State Northridge and Missouri

looks like business will be taken care of in game #1 of this stretch. And, I’m glad that I didn’t bet “good money” on whether Army would hold Logan Smith to Sunday.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

looks like business will be taken care of in game #1 of this stretch. And, I’m glad that I didn’t bet “good money” on whether Army would hold Logan Smith to Sunday.

In the grand scheme of things you want your #1 on Friday. I never get why teams hold them back. Just like Western Illinois one year throwing their Friday guy on a midweek game vs Iowa. Unless you're in a tournament the one game shouldn't matter that much.