Fall Baseball Recap
The Hawkeyes wrap up week two of fall practice today and this week again offered two opportunities for us to take a look at the team. Iowa defeated Mississauga Academy 10-1 on Wednesday in a 12-inning contest. The game marked the first of three fall games for the Hawkeyes, with two more in October.
The Outfield – here is how the outfielders have lined up so far
LF – Bradyen Frazier (rSoph), DJ Heck (rSoph), Alec Nigut (rFr)
CF – Kyle Huckstorf (rSoph), DJ Heck (rSoph), Marcus Morgan (Fr)
RF – Brayden Frazier (rSoph), Connor McCaffery (rJr), Anthony Mangano (Soph), Connor Woods (Fr)
Coy Sarsfield (Fr) will join the group in centerfield once he returns from a leg injury that he sustained during his senior high school season earlier this year.
-Wednesday vs Mississauga Academy-
The offense started out slow, as they were held scoreless until the sixth inning, but the Hawkeyes would score four in the tenth and two in the eleventh to pull away. Will Mulflur (Soph) led the way at the plate with two doubles, a hit by pitch and a walk. Izaya Fullard (rSr) singled twice, Brendan Sher (rJr) had a triple and single, while Ben Wilmes (Fr) reached base three times.
Sam Petersen (Fr) was hitless in four at bats, but showed the power potential in his bat, as he flew out to the warning track in centerfield in his first two at bats.
Any worries about the offense taking six innings to get going were quickly extinguished by the pitching staff, as 11 pitchers threw scoreless innings. The staff combined for 21 strikeouts and allowed just five hits.
Starting with the transfers, South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur (rSoph) dazzled in one inning of work, striking out the side, while hitting 96.2 mph on the radar gun. You can pencil him in as the Friday starter for the Hawkeyes at this point.
Kirkwood transfer Luke Llewellyn (rSoph) struck out two and allowed a lone two out single in his inning of work. Llewellyn is expected to be a big piece in the Hawkeye bullpen next season.
Iowa Central transfer Ben DeTaeye (rSoph) recorded a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, despite having a fastball that sits in the mid to high 80s. While he does a great job of mixing in a slider and changeup to confuse hitters, he has been able to kick that fastball up 90 at times.
Kirkwood transfer Casey Day (rSoph) is expected to be a late inning option for pitching coach Robin Lund with a fastball in the low 90s. He retired three of four batters, including a strikeout in his inning of work.
Michigan State transfer Will Christophersen (rSoph) bounced back from a rough outing on Scout Day and had an impressive looking slider, as he struck out two of his three batters faced. Christophersen will be another big piece in the Iowa bullpen.
Ty Langenberg (Soph) built on his great performance in the first scrimmage with a 1-2-3, two strikeout performance. Over two appearances, he has retired 10 of 12 batters faced.
Freshman Marcus Morgan looked as impressive as anyone, striking out the side in his inning of work. It has been known that Morgan had a plus slider, but the fastball picked up to 92-94 mph, which is very promising at this point of the fall. He will have the rest of fall and all winter to work on consistently hitting those numbers for an extended outing.
Jacob Henderson (rSoph) looked pretty good as well facing four batters, with only one reaching via error on the fly ball. Over two outings Henderson has looked solid, and he will be one to watch the rest of the fall.
Cam Baumann (rSr), Jared Simpson (rJr), Dylan Nedved (rSr) and Ben Beutel (rSr) all pitched vs Mississauga as well. Nedved led the team in saves last season with nine and will have an increased role on the mound this season.
-Thursday Intrasquad Scrimmage-
The bats woke up during the Thursday scrimmage, as the two sides combined for 13 runs in 4.5 innings of play. Brett McCleary (rSr) was 2/2 with a home run, double and two RBIs to lead the way. Izaya Fullard (rSr) had a triple and double, while DJ Heck (rSoph) had two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly.
Will Mulflur (rSoph) hit his third double in two days and reached base on a walk later. Mulflur is in a tough spot playing 1B behind Peyton Williams, but he could work his way into the midweek lineup if he continues to rack up extra base hits like he did this week.
Brayden Frazier (rSr) reached base in both at bats, including an RBI double. He is a guy, along with Brett McCleary that are primed to have big seasons.
Kyle Huckstorf (rSoph), Cade Moss (Soph) and Anthony Mangano (Soph) all reached base twice during the scrimmage.
All five pitchers that threw allowed at least one run, but Keaton Anthony (rFr) recorded three strikeouts over two innings of work. He allowed one run on one hit and three walks.
There are still a lot of remaining opportunities to learn more about this team, with upcoming games vs Iowa Western (Oct 2) and Kirkwood (Oct 8), as well as the Black & Gold World Series (Oct 18-20) and multiple other intrasquad scrimmages.