New week, familiar nightmare. In the early afternoon Saturday, Iowa was finishing the first game of its series against Jacksonville State. The Hawks led 4-2, but the Gamecocks had two on with one out in the ninth.

In a year filled with bullpen blowups, few had confidence that Iowa would escape the inning without more drama. Indeed, Jacksonville State ended things in an instant. True freshman pinch-hitter Hudson Walburn unloaded a long shot to left field that cleared the fence and gave the Gamecocks a stunning 5-4 victory. Iowa's bullpen had blown a 4-0 lead.

Iowa responded with 20 runs in the second game on Saturday, but the bats went quiet again on Sunday. Iowa lost the first game 5-4, won the second 20-1, and lost the rubber match 6-1. Iowa outscored Jacksonville State 25-12, but the net result was a 2-1 series loss due to bad sequencing. Iowa's poor luck for the season continues.

WP: Sam Maynard (1-0) -- 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB
LP: Sam Hart (0-1) -- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER (3 R), 1 K, 0 BB

Iowa's Other Notables:

SP Brody Brecht: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP
LF Sam Petersen: 1-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 SB (11)

Somehow Brody Brecht managed to strike out exactly 11 hitters in each of his first three outings. This weekend, mother nature made sure a repeat wasn't possible. Brecht did strike out nine in his four innings of work, though, and might well have gotten to 11 if a rain delay hadn't started right as he was set to start the fifth inning.

Overall, this wasn't Brecht's best outing. He didn't have his best command, which wasn't helped by a tight strike zone from the umpire. He got into trouble in three of the four innings he pitched. But once Brecht got into that trouble, he bore down and got out of it.

In the bottom of the first, he struck out Jacksonville State's Derrick Jackson with runners on first and third to end the inning. He finished the third with a strikeout and fly-out to left once runners got to first and second.

Then in the fourth he performed his greatest escape of the day. The inning started with a walk to Jackson. Gamecocks left fielder Drew Collins then laid down a bunt, and Brecht's throw to first went wide. Jackson ended up on third, and Brecht had a mess with no outs. Collins stole second soon after, and Jacksonville State had runners on second and third with no outs.

Despite that inauspicious start, Brecht rallied. He struck out center fielder Will Fincher after starting the count 2-0. He then got DH Hank Smith looking on a 1-2 fastball. To cap off the dominant finish, he struck out second baseman Michael Dallas with a 1-2 slider.

Allowing baserunners in so many innings is never great, but Brecht continues to show he can work his way out of jams.

Iowa's bullpen just can't get it going this year. In a vacuum, Anthony Watts and Aaron Savary going two innings each and surrendering one run apiece isn't bad. But on Saturday they came into a 4-0 game and the runs they surrendered got Jacksonville State back into the game just as Iowa's offense stalled.

Sam Hart allowing a walkoff three-run homer was bad luck, but even if it had been a double instead, Iowa was probably going to lose the game in the ninth. At the moment the Hawkeye bullpen is struggling to put up zeroes in relatively low-leverage situations. The ninth inning with the game on the line is as high-leverage as it gets.

This can't continue forever. Iowa's bullpen will figure things out. But these blowups are doing real damage to Iowa's NCAA Tournament resume and digging a mighty hole for the the Hawks to try and emerge from.

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WP: Cade Obermueller (2-0) -- 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP
LP: Jackson Sleeper (0-1) -- 3.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 K, 1 BB

Iowa's Other Notables:

CF Kyle Huckstorf: 5-5, 2 HR (5), 5 R, 1 3B, 1 SB (3), 5 RBI
LF Sam Petersen: 3-6, 1 HR (4), 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Iowa's offense finally decided it had enough. The Hawkeyes bludgeoned Gamecock pitching, recording 19 hits, 20 runs, and 6 home runs.

Kyle Huckstorf led the way with easily the best offensive game of Iowa's season. Two homers, a triple, five runs, and five RBIs will be tough to top for anyone the rest of the way. Sam Petersen, Reese Moore, Merrick Matthews, and Ben Wilmes joined in on the home run parade.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the game was that Iowa's offensive outburst was spread around. Iowa scored runs in all but the first inning. Jacksonville State threw eight different pitchers at Iowa in the game, and none of them could consistently get the Hawkeyes out.

Though Iowa's offense takes the headlines, Cade Obermueller was excellent on the mound. Obermueller had his longest outing of the season, and also kept the Gamecocks off the scoreboard for five and two-thirds. Obermueller continued to struggle a bit with his control, but he only surrendered two hits, and still had plenty of strikeout stuff. Obermueller was moved up to the Saturday starter this weekend and responded with a huge performance.

Obermuller earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors for this effort:

Iowa's bullpen was better in this game as well. Jack Young came in to finish off the sixth, then Chas Wheatley, Reece Beuter, and Gannon Archer covered the next three innings while surrendering just a single run. It was good to see the bullpen get through a game with little drama, even if it was an extremely low leverage situation.

WP: Austin Cornelius (1-0) -- 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB
LP: Marcus Morgan (1-2) -- 3.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 K, 4 BB, 3 HBP

Iowa's Other Notables:

RP Jack Whitlock: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP

The offense was the story again for Iowa on Sunday, but this time for all the wrong reasons. Iowa got two hits in the first inning, then managed just one the rest of the game. The Hawks did load the bases with no outs in the ninth, but Jacksonville State escaped the inning while surrendering just one run.

The most concerning part for the Hawks is that they didn't face a dominant starter. Iowa only struck out three times in the game. Instead, Austin Cornelius scattered weak contact all around the park. Heading into the ninth it looked like he might pitch a Maddux (throwing a complete game shutout in fewer than 100 pitches) before Iowa got to him a bit late.

Just as concerning for Iowa was another so-so performance from Marcus Morgan. Morgan was finding the zone in the first few innings, but the result was often balls that found their way into the grass for hits. Then he started losing his command and the Gamecocks took advantage of that, too. Overall Morgan faced 19 batters in the game --ten of them reached base by hit, walk, or hit batter.

Morgan has to be feeling tremendous pressure. The Hawkeyes haven't started the way they wanted to. He's draft eligible this year, and his performances could earn or cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hopefully he can regain his form soon, for his sake and for Iowa's sake.

The one piece of good news Sunday was that Jack Whitlock looked really good out of the bullpen. Whitlock entered a low leverage situation, but managed to strike out five batters in two and two-thirds innings without walking anyone.

Whitlock started the year as one of the team's most trusted relievers. He's struggled significantly early, but a rebound could go a long way in helping Iowa close out games in ways they haven't been able to do thus far.

Overall it's another tough weekend for Iowa. Facing a Conference USA opponent was supposed to give Iowa a chance to right the ship and get back in the win column. That didn't happen, and the series loss will be another big dent in Iowa's resume.

On the positive side, Brecht and Obermueller had good outings, and Whitlock had a rebound outing out of the pen. Iowa also scored 25 runs for the weekend, even if most of those did come in a single game.

On the negative side, time is running out for Iowa to build its non-conference resume. Marcus Morgan looks lost still, and the bullpen is still blowing big leads. Bad sequencing luck is also still hampering the Hawkeyes. When you outscore a team 25-12 for a weekend, a sweep seems possible. That Iowa lost a series with that margin is tough to stomach.