Bullpens. In modern baseball, you can't win without them. When things are going poorly, though, it sometimes feels like you can't win with them.

At the Jacksonville College Baseball Classic, Iowa's bullpen blew leads in all three games and the result was an 0-3 weekend. Iowa fell to Baseball America #20 Auburn 7-5 on Friday, fell to BA #10 Virginia 12-9 on Saturday, and fell 12-6 to Wichita State on Sunday. Iowa had leads of 6-0 and 5-0 in the latter two games.

For the weekend, Iowa's bullpen stats are the stuff of nightmares:

vs. Auburn: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 K, 2 BB, 3 HR (loss)
vs. Virginia: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 11 K, 4 BB, 2 HR (loss)
vs. Wichita State: 4.0 IP, 10 H, 12 ER, 10 K, 1 BB, 3 HR (loss)

Iowa's other players weren't perfect. The offense cooled off in each game after hot starts. Marcus Morgan wasn't great in his start. The defense wasn't perfect.

But when your bullpen has a weekend like that, the rest is secondary. Iowa has a bullpen issue that it has to figure out sooner rather than later.

WP: Cam Tilly (1-0)—2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 0 BB
LP: Jack Whitlock (1-1)—0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 K, 1 BB

Iowa's Other Notables

SP Brody Brecht: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 11 K, 4 BB
LF Sam Petersen: 1-4, HR (2), R, 2 RBI, HBP, SB

Given the circumstances, this was one of the best starts of Brecht's career. Auburn is one of the best opponents Brecht has faced. The Tigers hosted a regional in the NCAA Tournament last year and could easily host again this year too. Brecht also has plenty of scouts attending each start, and his performances this spring could earn or lose him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Despite the good performance, it was almost much better. Three of Brecht's four walks came on full counts. A different call from the umpire or a slightly better pitch, and each of those could have been strikeouts instead of walks.

The unearned run Brecht allowed in the 6th also shouldn't have happened. Auburn catcher Ike Irish hit a routine ground ball to Gable Mitchell, but Mitchell rushed the throw to first and it went wide. Irish came in to score on a two-out single. If Mitchell had made the play instead, Brecht would have had a 1-2-3 inning.

Finally, Brecht gave up two hits (which each drove in a run) on weak ground balls up the middle. If they had been hit to slightly different spots, they would have been easy outs.

Another good sign from the outing is that Brecht got stronger as the game went on. He threw four first-pitch strikes to the opening nine batters he faced. He threw five to the next nine batters. Then he threw five first-pitch strikes to the final seven batters of his outing.

One reason for Brecht's improvement was using his slider more on the first pitch. Brecht's slider is one of the nastiest pitches in college baseball, but he also controls it better than his fastball. In the last few innings, Brecht started throwing the slider at the beginning of at-bats and that resulted in him getting ahead of more hitters.

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Last week Whitlock -- Iowa's first reliever in after Brecht -- was crucial in Iowa's 5-2 win over Seton Hall. This week, Whitlock didn't have it. He struggled to find the zone early, and when he did he was getting hit hard by Auburn's batters. Whitlock surrendered two home runs in less than an inning of work, and Iowa saw its 3-2 seventh inning lead turn into a 5-3 deficit it couldn't rebound from.

Iowa lost its game last Sunday thanks largely to a meltdown fifth inning from the bullpen. History had repeated itself again, but this time in the seventh.

Whitlock had a 2.52 ERA for Iowa last year in 35.2 innings pitched. He's shown he can be a quality pitcher. He just has to get right sooner rather than later.

Iowa's offense was also concerning in this one. The Hawks did well against Auburn starter Chase Allsup, scoring three runs and chasing him from the game after three and a third innings.

Then Auburn turned to John Armstrong in relief. Armstrong was similar to Lehigh Sunday starter Teddy Tolliver in that he pitched to contact and didn't have big stuff. Instead of taking advantage, Armstrong held Iowa scoreless over two and two-thirds innings. The Hawks couldn't build upon their narrow lead while Brecht kept the Tigers in check and it ultimately hurt them. Petersen did hit a late homer, but it couldn't turn the tide of the game.

WP: Ryan Osinski (1-0)--0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 K, 1 BB
LP: Brant Hogue (0-1)--1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 1 BB

Iowa's Other Notables

SP Marcus Morgan: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 K, 5 BB 1 HBP
LF Sam Petersen: 2-4, 2B, 3 R, SB (8)

Just comparing the two bullpens tells most of the story in this one:

Iowa: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 11 K, 4 BB, 2 HR
Virginia: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 4 BB, 0 HR

There's more to the game, of course. Marcus Morgan had a poor second outing after having the best start of Iowa's season in his debut. Anthony Watts gave the Hawkeyes length when they needed it and was prettyy good after a rough first inning.

But ultimately when Iowa's pitching was gifted a big first inning lead, it couldn't shut the door and hold it. And when the game was tied late in the highest leverage, Iowa couldn't keep the game tied, either. Iowa had four pitchers in the game in Morgan, Watts, Zach Voelker, and Brant Hogue. Each surrendered at least one run.

It's hard to overstate how important Sam Petersen is for Iowa's offense. Petersen is Iowa's best overall hitter, but arguably has more of an impact on the base paths. On Saturday he stole his eighth base of the season in just six games. His eighth inning performance was arguably more impressive than the stolen bases, though.

With Iowa down a run, Petersen started the inning with a single. Petersen attempted to steal, but third baseman Raider Tello grounded a ball to third base. Petersen would have clearly been safe at second, but kept running when the throw was made. Virginia tried to catch him at third, but the throw was late. Petersen had advanced from first to third on a routine groundout to third base.

Petersen wasn't done. On third with one out, he was far enough from the bag on his secondary lead that Virginia catcher Jacob Ference tried to throw him out after a pitch. Petersen got back in plenty of time, but Ference's throw went sailing into left. Petersen got up and scored easily to tie the game.

Most players end up at second at best on that sequence. Petersen was fast enough and smart enough to score. His speed and baserunning IQ helped Iowa steal a run when the game was on the line and is absolutely something that MLB scouts will put in their reports as they build their draft boards.

WP: Ryan Geraghty (1-0)--0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
LP: Jack Whitlock (1-2)--0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 0 K, 1 BB

Iowa's Other Notables

SP Cade Obermueller: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 6 K, 2 BB
1B Andy Nelson: 2-3, R, 2 RBI

Again, comparing bullpen performances tells much of the tale:

Iowa: 4.0 IP, 10 H, 12 ER, 10 K, 1 BB, 3 HR
Wichita State: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 4 BB, 0 HR

Iowa's first two bullpen blowups could at least be explained in part by the quality of the opponent -- the Hawkeyes were playing two ranked teams. Whitlock and Watts had pitched well in their first outings. Watts even pitched fairly well against Virginia once he got beyond his first inning.

But in this game? Iowa's first four relievers in the game -- Reece Beuter, Whitlock, Ben DeTaeye, and Elliot Cadieux-Lanoue -- surrendered 12 earned runs. None pitched more than two-thirds of an inning. Three of the four surrendered a home run. Sam Hart finally came in and threw one and a third scoreless innings, but by then the game was basically over.

This is more than one bad outing. It's more than one or two guys getting touched up. Iowa tried virtually every bullpen option it had this weekend, and none of them were able to get the job done.

There were still some positives in the game. Cade Obermueller looked very good in his second start of the season. Iowa built another early lead. But until Iowa can find the guys it needs to hold those leads, it's hard to come away from the weekend optimistic about Iowa's season outlook.

NEXT: Iowa hosts Northern Illinois (2-6) on Tuesday, February 27 (2 PM CT, BTN+) before heading to Oxford, MS for a three-game series with Ole Miss (4-4, 2-2 home) from March 1-3 (3/1: 6:30 PM CT, 3/2: 1:30 PM CT, 3/3: 12 PM CT; all games on SEC Network+).