Iowa v. Western Michigan - Saturday, March 25th

[AuroraHawk]

First pitch - 2:05 p.m. (thanks @In the blood)! Looks like mid- to upper 40s for first pitch and possibly, dare I say it, a little bit of sun . . .

Though day for Iowa's RPI. Iowa started the day at #34. It handily beat WMU 9-3. However, not a good night for Iowa's previous opponents, including SDSU losing to previously winless Northern Colorado. However, Iowa's RPI numbers took the biggest hit when Texas Tech lost to Texas on the road. Go figure. At the close of games yesterday, Iowa fell 9 spots on the RPI ladder. Blah.
Current RPI ranking: 43. Iowa trails #42 Clemson by 7 points and is ahead of #44 Alabama by 4 points.
RPI Metrics: An Iowa win will result in a loss of 7 RPI points. An Iowa loss will result in the loss of 184 RPI points.

Here's the statistics for WMU's starting pitcher today - DJ Thompson: https://wmubroncos.com/sports/baseball/roster/dj-thompson/12705

A great illustration of what Heller referenced in his pre-game interview yesterday; specifically, WMU has really struggled to find pitchers who can consistently get batters out.

Gotta run. This is my 30th year of playing fantasy baseball (NL league only) with the same base group of college friends. Auction starts in 20 minutes.

Go Hawks!

 

[In the blood]

2:05 first pitch

 

[In the blood]

Doubleheader today now

 

[Franisdaman]

At 8 am this morning:

 

[Franisdaman]

And now (12:15 pm CT):

 

[AuroraHawk]

Doubleheader today now

I know that the old adage is to "take 'em one at a time" but I feel as though it is particularly apt today. If Iowa takes care of business in Game 1, WMU really shouldn't have much in the way of arms for Game 2.

An extra day of down time before traveling to Normal doesn't hurt either.

 

[mr12182]

Who are the starting pitchers in today’s 2 games? TIA

 

[AuroraHawk]

Who are the starting pitchers in today’s 2 games? TIA

Simpson in Game 1
Langenberg in Game 2

 

[AuroraHawk]

Heller and McGrath consistently preach . . . win on 0-0 count. Win on 1-1 count. So far, Simpson is struggling and throwing a ton of pitches. At this pace, he'll not likely get through the 4th inning. Hell, he may not pitch past the 3rd inning.

Bad guys up 2-0 in B2.

EDIT: Iowa turns some WMU gifts (HBP; walk; HBP) into 4 runs in B2. Good guys now up 2 runs.

 

[StormHawk42]

All around ass kicking second game

Hope this translates to B1G play

 

[AuroraHawk]

Iowa sweeps a DH and . . . yep . . . falls in RPI rankings.

This morning Iowa woke up to find itself ranked #45. 16 RPI points behind #44 North Carolina and 3 points ahead of #46 Florida Gulf Coast University.

Get ready for the narratives to start coming from various sources (it's already been written about by d1 Baseball) . . . Iowa's SOS is currently ranked 177th in D1 . . . of Iowa's 16 D1 wins, 0 have come against Q2 teams, 5 against Q3 teams and 8 against Q4 teams.

I cannot help but feel that it is really important, at a minimum, for this team to be a Regional qualifier this year.

(And, FWIW, I'm really hoping that there are folks on the coaching staff who are in contact with Iowa administrators and NIL administrators about lining up a NIL opportunity for a certain someone who - as Heller put it in yesterday's pre-game interview - came to Iowa primarily because he wanted to enter Kinnick Stadium to Back In Black. There will be representatives of much more decorated programs sniffing around Iowa City very soon to see if a certain someone might be interested in transferring before his draft year. The disincentive to transfer is now gone.)

 

[obfuscating]

Looking fwd to the Maryland series. Go Hawks!!