Through 12 innings of Iowa's weekend series against Ole Miss, the Hawkeye offense looked poised to power its way to a series victory. The Hawks scored 13 runs in a Friday win, and had built a 5-1 lead on Saturday.

Then the offense dried up. Iowa didn't score the rest of the day on Saturday, and went scoreless in the first seven innings on Sunday. In that time, Ole Miss scored 19 consecutive runs and took the weekend series. Iowa won Friday 13-7, lost on Saturday 12-5, and lost the rubber match 8-3 on Sunday.

WP: Elliot Cadieux-Lanoue (2-0): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB
LP: Connor Spencer (0-1): 0.1 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 1 K, 1 BB

Iowa's Other Notables
SP Brody Brecht: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 11 K, 2 BB, 2 HBP
3B Raider Tello: 2-4, HR (2), 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB

Brody Brecht started his evening looking as sharp as he ever has. In the first two innings, he struck out five and only allowed a single baserunner. The most positive sign for Brecht early was that he had good fastball command. Brecht generally controls his slider much better than his fastball, but was throwing the fastball for strikes on the corners or up in the zone regularly early.

Adversity struck in the third inning. Ole Miss eighth hitter Treyson Hughes started the inning with a high chopper that Michael Seegers couldn't field in time to record the out. Nine hole Brayden Randle laid down a bunt, but Brecht slipped just as he fielded it and Randle was also safe. Leadoff hitter Ethan Groff also got a bunt down, and this time Brecht's throw to first was low and first baseman Blake Guerin couldn't handle it.

Brecht had thrown three pitches, allowed three baserunners (two hits and an error) and none of the balls had left the infield. To make matters worse, Brecht walked the next hitter to bring in a run. Ole Miss had a 1-0 lead with the the bases still loaded, and Brecht had no one out. Iowa was in the danger zone.

The Brecht dug deep and got out of the mess. He struck out the next two hitters and got a pop-up to shortstop to end the inning without allowing another run. In the process, Brecht seized momentum back for Iowa, and the Hawks would take the lead in the top of the 4th on a Raider Tello homer.

Brecht wasn't perfect the rest of the way. He loaded the bases in the fourth inning and allowed a solo homer in the fifth inning. But he overcame adversity in each inning, limited damage, and got Iowa through five innings with lead. It was another good performance at the start of his season against good opposition.

Iowa's bullpen entered the game in the 6th inning with a 5-2 lead. In most years, that lead would seem relatively comfortable. With the start of the season that Iowa's bullpen has had, no one felt particularly confidant.

Despite the struggles of last weekend, Anthony Watts came in and started well with two scoreless innings. He walked three in that span, but also didn't allow a hit. Iowa built its lead to 7-2 and looked well on its way to a Friday victory over an SEC opponent in their backyard.

Then the Iowa bullpen experienced some familiar struggles. Watts started the eighth inning with two walks and was pulled for Brant Hogue. Hogue gave up a single, but then got two outs on sacrifice flies. The score was 7-4, but Iowa was still in good shape.

Then Hogue got wild. He walked the next two batters, and coach Rick Heller went to the bullpen again. Jack Young came in and promptly walked the next two batters, walking in two runs in the process. Heller went to the bullpen again and Elliot Cadieux-Lanoue entered with the bases loaded.

Cadieux-Lanoue surrendered a walk to the first hitter he faced, and the game was tied again. Iowa ended up walking five consecutive hitters to tie the game at 7-7. Mercifully Cadieux-Lanoue struck out the 11th hitter of the inning to close out the top of the eighth inning.

Overall Iowa's bullpen threw three scoreless innings Friday night. But the disastrous eighth inning still makes their overall line look bleak:

4 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 3 K, 11 BB

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To Iowa's credit, the team didn't give up despite the deflating eighth inning. Tello started the ninth inning with a single, and Davis Cop got one of his own on a hit-and-run. Reese Morgan got hit by a pitch, and suddenly Iowa had the bases loaded with no outs.

Kyle Huckstorf then delivered Iowa's biggest hit of the night, singling to drive in two. From there, Ole Miss' bullpen had a meltdown of its own, and Iowa ended the top of the ninth inning with a 13-7 lead that the bullpen was able to close out in the bottom of the inning.

Aside from resilience, the most impressive part of Iowa's night offensively was that contributions came from everywhere. Eight of Iowa's nine starters scored a run in the game. Seven of the nine drove in a run. Star Sam Petersen didn't have a hit -- though he did score two runs -- and Iowa still put up 13.

Iowa's offense has shown steady improvements since the first weekend and this was another example.

WP: Austin Simmons (2-0): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB
LP: Marcus Morgan (1-1): 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 5 K, 4 BB, 2 HBP

Iowa's Other Notables

1B Andy Nelson: 2-3, HR (1), R, 2 RBI, 2B

This game felt a lot like Iowa's performance in Jacksonville. The Hawkeyes built a 5-1 lead by the third inning, but couldn't hold it. The only difference was that this time it was Iowa's starter that blew the lead.

Marcus Morgan was a little unlucky in his start. Three of the runs he surrendered came on two home runs, and Huckstorf almost robbed the second one. Still, Morgan faced 26 batters in the game and 13 of them reached base. That's just not a formula for winning baseball.

Brecht has the stuff to get out of jams when he allows runners to get on base. Morgan has a very good slider, but his fastball and other secondary pitches aren't on Brecht's level, so he's more dependent on contact. Today the contact burned him, though four walks and two hit batters didn't help.

Andy Nelson got the start at first base and took advantage with a big day. His homer helped finish off a huge third inning for Iowa to build its 5-1 lead, and he doubled to start the eighth when Iowa was down just 7-5. Iowa has struggled to get offensive production from first base thus far this year. With the big day, Nelson should get a couple more starts to see if he can build on this performance.

Iowa's offense has been very good at scoring runs early and chasing the opposing team's starter after a couple innings. Unfortunately, this was another game where the offense dried up once the opposing bullpen came in.

The Ole Miss bullpen threw six and a third innings in the game and allowed just five hits, one walk, and no earned runs. The Rebels weren't exactly blowing hitters away either. They recorded just four of those 19 outs by strikeout.

Coach Heller abandoned the piggyback system for his bullpen in this one, instead using relivers for shorter stints and trying to play matchups. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. For the second consecutive night, Iowa gave up a five-run eighth inning. The Hawks used four different pitchers in the inning, and two of them didn't record an out. Overall, the bullpen line is still nightmare fuel:

3.2 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 5 K, 6 BB, 2 HBP

WP: Grayson Saunier (2-1): 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP
LP: Cade Obermueller (0-1): 4.0 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 4 K, 5 BB, 2 HBP

Iowa's Other Notables

CF Kyle Huckstorf: 1-3, HR (3), R, 2 RBI, BB
1B Andy Nelson: 3-4

Obermueller's final line doesn't look great, but he was good through his first four innings. He did walk three in that span, but he only surrendered one run, and struck out four.

In the fifth, Obermueller ran out of gas. He started the inning by surrendering a single, before allowing a walk, a hit batter, and another walk. The bullpen couldn't get out of Obermueller's mess, and Ole Miss had a 5-0 lead by the inning's end.

Coach Heller is in a rough position with Obermueller. It's his first year starting, so he's still building up his stamina. Having a quick hook in the fifth inning might've been best in hindsight, but with where Iowa's bullpen is at this season, it's easy to see why you might not have a ton of faith in that option either. Hopefully the game can serve as a learning experience for Obermueller as he tries to work deeper into games and get through late adversity.

It was a frustrating day for Iowa's offense overall. The Hawkeyes struck out ten times, and had only two extra base hits. Both of those came in the top of the 8th after Ole Miss had built a seemingly insurmountable 8-0 lead.

The offense had a pretty good weekend of production overall, but also went 13 consecutive innings without scoring a run at a time when a series victory against an SEC opponent seemed possible.

Overall, it was another frustrating weekend for Iowa baseball. There were certainly positives. The offense scored 17 runs in its first 12 innings and continues to jump on most starting pitchers early. Brecht had another nice outing, and is turning into one of the best pitchers in college baseball.

On the negative end, Iowa's starting pitching finally faltered. Neither Morgan nor Obermueller were bad, but Morgan couldn't hold Iowa's lead and Obermueller couldn't keep the game close in the fifth inning of his start.

Iowa's bullpen also doesn't look any closer to figuring things out. Iowa tried many options and few could consistently put up a scoreless inning.

You can see the team's potential. The starters can be great. The offense can score runs. But Iowa's non-conference opportunities are starting to wane, and the Hawks ended the weekend below .500 at 5-6. If the Hawkeyes wants to return to the NCAA Tournament, they will need to start adding victories soon.

NEXT: Iowa takes on St. Thomas (5-6) at home on Tuesday (3:05 PM CT) before heading to Jacksonviille, AL for a weekend series with Jacksonville State (4-7). The Friday and Saturday games are set to get underway at 6 PM CT, while first pitch is set for 1 PM CT on Sunday. The Friday and Sunday games will be televised on ESPN+.