Maryland @ Iowa Baseball

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Friday - CJ Eldred 3:05
Saturday - TBA 2:05
Sunday - Calvin Mathews 12:05

Looks like there could be rain on Saturday, so we will see how it goes. Any idea on if Peyton is injured again?

This is a very tough series for Iowa, Maryland has a lot of talent, especially their Friday starter. With how things have been, a 1-2 weekend would be good.

 

[funnyfletcher]

C.J. Eldred is the man, Hawks up 7-1 in the 8th right now. Booker has a 14 game hitting streak. Hopefully the lead holds up. Would be a great way to start conference play.

 

[funnyfletcher]

Hawks win game one 8-1! They scored 5 in 5 innings off of Maryland's ace. Eldred throws a complete game striking out 9 and allowing one run. Booker was 2 for 5 hit a home run. Peyton 2 for 5, Guzzo 3 for 4, McCoy 2 for 3, Neustrom 2 for 3 with a 3B. Good to see the offense coming alive.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Great start for Iowa. Mike Shawaryn from Maryland is as good as it gets in the B1G practically. Maybe he didn't have his best stuff today, who knows? However, if Iowa can do what they did to him then I have no doubt offensively they can have success against anybody. That makes our non-conference that much more frustrating. Hopefully Iowa can keep it up. It would be huge to find a way to win this first series of the season.

Maryland hit into inning ending double playings in like three or four of the first five or six innings. Booker has a 14 game hitting streak going as well I believe. CJ Eldred is quietly becoming a feel good story for Iowa.

Game two is in Iowa City on Saturday at 2:05pm. However, there is a chance of rain so pay attention to the weather.

 

[StormHawk42]

Another win for the Hawks 4-1 to clinch the series

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Iowa scores all four runs in the Bottom 8th. Where did this Iowa team come from? This is the team I had hoped to see all year. This is a Maryland team that has made Super Regionals the last two years and just took 2/3 from Cal State-Fullerton last weekend. If Iowa has turned things around and can keep this up in B1G play then they have a shot.

Game three on Sunday is scheduled for 12:05pm, go watch some Iowa baseball then have Easter dinner!

 

[caseyballzz]

Good pitching, good defense, opportunistic offense, and things get better quick. Lots of good things happening. Stay consistent!

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Iowa dropped the final game of the series today 4-1 to Maryland. Calvin Mathews got roughed up for three runs in the 1st inning. Mathews only went 2 2/3 today giving up 7 hits, 4 ER, and walked two. Mathews hasn't looked like he did last year to date.

Ryan Erickson was the good news for Iowa today IMO. Erickson went 4 1/3 only allowing two hits. That is the Erickson Iowa needs.

Iowa hosts Northern Illinois on Wednesday at 6:05pm before playing @ Minnesota next weekend. Minnesota is very tough this year, they just took 2/3 from Missouri State.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Iowa dropped the final game of the series today 4-1 to Maryland. Calvin Mathews got roughed up for three runs in the 1st inning. Mathews only went 2 2/3 today giving up 7 hits, 4 ER, and walked two. Mathews hasn't looked like he did last year to date.

Ryan Erickson was the good news for Iowa today IMO. Erickson went 4 1/3 only allowing two hits. That is the Erickson Iowa needs.

Iowa hosts Northern Illinois on Wednesday at 6:05pm before playing @ Minnesota next weekend. Minnesota is very tough this year, they just took 2/3 from Missouri State.

A question for the folks that watch these things closer. Realistically, what kind of conference season does Iowa need to make the NCAA's again? The non-conference would lead me to believe that Iowa is in a spot where it has to nearly equal last year's conference mark to get in. So few non-conference wins of any merit. Getting swept by Dallas Baptist and Mo State is tough to overcome.

 

[non-poster]

Going sub .500 in the non-conference didn't help. Following the conference opening weekend against Maryland they are 9-12 overall with 33 games left on the regular season schedule. Just as an example--if they went 23-10 (which would be very good) they still would finish 32-22. Assuming series wins against Minnesota, currently top 25 ranked Michigan and Michigan St., it would still be doubtful their RPI would be high enough to impress the NCAA selection committee for an at large birth. Barring something unforeseen, they are going to need to win the Big Ten Tournament to receive the automatic bid in order to make the regionals.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

I agree that they need to win the B1G tournamnent. Iowa's RPI currently sits at 151, it was 124 before the Sunday loss. Getting swept by Dallas Baptist, Missouri State, and going 1-2 vs SIU really hurt. Road wins can really boost your RPI no matter what. Even if Iowa went 1-2 against all of them, our RPI would be significantly higher. DBU is not the same team (#1 RPI most of the year) as they were last year. DBU has a sub 100 RPI. Southern Illinois had a 170ish RPI last time I looked. You factor in the facts as well that loses to teams like Nebraska-Omaha and Seton Hall do not help your case either.

Iowa still has Minnesota, Michigan. and Michigan State on their conference slate. Those are going to be EXTREMELY tough series for Iowa. All those teams right now have Top 30 RPIs, even if Iowa went 9-0 in those we'd probably be looking at an RPI in the 70's or 80's.

So with that being said, Iowa finds themselves in a position where they need to make the B1G tournament and then see what happens. As a B1G conference team you really need to 1. do what Iowa did last year in the non-conference OR 2. Go .500-ish against a VERY TOUGH non-conference with road victories. The RPI loves road victories in baseball.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I agree that they need to win the B1G tournamnent. Iowa's RPI currently sits at 151, it was 124 before the Sunday loss. Getting swept by Dallas Baptist, Missouri State, and going 1-2 vs SIU really hurt. Road wins can really boost your RPI no matter what. Even if Iowa went 1-2 against all of them, our RPI would be significantly higher. DBU is not the same team (#1 RPI most of the year) as they were last year. DBU has a sub 100 RPI. Southern Illinois had a 170ish RPI last time I looked. You factor in the facts as well that loses to teams like Nebraska-Omaha and Seton Hall do not help your case either.

Iowa still has Minnesota, Michigan. and Michigan State on their conference slate. Those are going to be EXTREMELY tough series for Iowa. All those teams right now have Top 30 RPIs, even if Iowa went 9-0 in those we'd probably be looking at an RPI in the 70's or 80's.

So with that being said, Iowa finds themselves in a position where they need to make the B1G tournament and then see what happens. As a B1G conference team you really need to 1. do what Iowa did last year in the non-conference OR 2. Go .500-ish against a VERY TOUGH non-conference with road victories. The RPI loves road victories in baseball.

It sounds, to me, like the RPI is essentially made of bullshit....

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

It sounds, to me, like the RPI is essentially made of bullshit....

Oh it is, it's actually equal out in the last 3-4 years more so than what it was. However, it still has a heavy biased toward southern schools (ACC/SEC) and it used to be worse. It's nothing for a .500 SEC school to make regionals even with a crappy conference record. I remember talks of if a SEC team found a way to go 26-26 they'd be in regionals, whereas if they went 25-27 they wouldn't.