Looking back at the Iowa baseball season

The Iowa Baseball team finished up their season a week or two earlier than they were hoping to, as they fell short of the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes finished with a 36-19 record, including a 20-9 record against Big Ten teams and an 11-6 record against teams that made their conference tournament championship or the field of 64.

There is no doubt that Coach Rick Heller had a regional caliber team this season. An All-American ace in Adam Mazur spearheaded an Iowa pitching staff that was statistically among the best in the country. Peyton Williams and Keaton Anthony lead the way for an offense that was up and down during the season, but scratched across runs when it mattered to win games. Unfortunately, this season had a handful of bid stealers. You couple that with the normal disrespect towards Big Ten baseball and the Hawkeyes are stuck at home watching this week.

However, Coach Heller still led the Hawkeyes to their seventh 30-win season in his nine seasons at the helm. After starting 8-8, Iowa finished the year winning 28 of their last 39 games, including winning seven of their eight Big Ten series. Let’s take a look back at the season and some of the best moments.

TOP FIVE MOMENTS OF THE SEASON

HM: Sunday game vs Central Michigan starts with real feel temp of 24

This game wasn’t incredibly memorable for what happened on the field, but the outrageous temperatures made it worth mentioning. The entire weekend was played with wind chills in the 20s, but the Sunday matchup started with a real feel of 24 degrees. The Hawkeyes won 4-2 behind a solo home run from Peyton Williams and two-run single in the eighth inning from Sam Petersen, while Ty Langenberg allowed just one run over four innings and struck out seven.

5. Peyton Williams hits for the cycle against Bradley

This would have been the performance of the year if it wasn’t for Kyle Huckstorf, who will be mentioned later. Williams collected five hits, four runs on five RBIs on the day to lead the Hawkeyes in a 15-8 midweek win over the Bradley Braves. Peyton went double, single, home run in the first four innings of the game. He was hit by a pitch in the sixth and doubled in the seventh, before he checked off the final leg of the cycle with an RBI triple in the eighth inning.

4. Hawkeyes score eight in the 7th to defeat Minnesota

After six innings in the Sunday series finale on April 17th, the Gophers led the Hawkeyes 3-0. Aidan Maldonado put five zeros on the scoreboard for Minnesota and the Iowa offense had just three hits. However, the Hawkeye offense exploded in the seventh inning. 13 Iowa hitters came to the plate, collecting seven hits and three walks to turn a 3-0 deficit into an 8-3 lead. The comeback helped Iowa avoid a RPI crippling loss, as well as finish off a sweep of the Gophers.

3. Mazur and Schultz shut down Rutgers

In late April, the Hawkeyes traveled to Piscataway, NJ to face a Rutgers team that was atop the Big Ten standings. Iowa was looking to pick up some resume boosting wins, as well as make a move towards the top of the conference standings. Adam Mazur and Connor Schultz put together nearly flawless starts in the first two games of the weekend to lead Iowa to the series victory.

Mazur went 8.0 innings in his Friday start, holding the Scarlet Knights to just one run on six hits, while he struck out 11 and walked zero. He looked to be well on his way to Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, but Connor Schultz had other ideas. Schultz followed up the performance by Mazur with 8.0 scoreless innings, including six strikeouts to one walk and just two hits allowed.

2. Adam Mazur goes on a seven-week run on the mound

The Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and Second Team All-American put together one of the better seven week runs you are going to see by a pitcher in the Big Ten. The redshirt sophomore allowed just seven earned runs over 53.2 innings in his first seven starts against Big Ten opponents. Over those starts, Mazur averaged 7.2 innings per outing and had 51 strikeouts to just 10 walks. All of that was good for a 1.18 ERA and 0.73 WHIP. His best start came against Nebraska when he went for a complete game shutout, including six strikeouts and just two hits allowed. Look for Adam’s name to be called pretty early in this year’s MLB Draft.

1. Kyle Huckstorf grand slam gives Iowa the lead

The Indiana Hoosiers tagged Adam Mazur for nine runs in two innings and had a 13-2 lead after three innings in Iowa City. Things looked bleak early in the series opener, but the Hawkeyes roared back to the Hoosiers lead to 14-12 and Kyle Huckstorf came to the plate with the bases loaded. Huckstorf delivered his third home run of the game, and this grand slam gave Iowa the 16-14 lead. One of the craziest moments you will see at a ballpark.

BIGGEST WIN – March 20th – Hawkeyes defeat Texas Tech 6-3

While everyone filled Carver-Hawkeye Arena to watch the Iowa Women’s Basketball team play in the NCAA Tournament, the Iowa Baseball team was picking up a ranked win against Texas Tech across the street. Ty Langenberg allowed one run on three hits and struck out ten over 5.0 innings, while Dylan Nedved came in and allowed two runs over 4.0 innings, but struck out seven more Red Raiders. Andy Nelson clubbed a three-run home run in the sixth inning to help the Hawkeyes to a 6-3 victory.

CRAZIEST GAME – May 19th – Hawkeyes erase deficit to beat Indiana 30-16

One of the wildest games you will ever see take place on a baseball diamond. The Hoosiers jumped out to a 13-2 lead off of Adam Mazur and Cam Baumann, but the Hawkeyes roared back with more than enough offense. Iowa put up a ten spot in the fourth inning to cut the lead to 14-12 and from there they never stopped scoring. 4 in the fifth, 3 in the sixth, 6 in the seventh and 5 more in the eighth for good measure as the Hawkeyes won the game 30-16.

30 runs is the highest output by the Hawkeyes since they beat Quincy University 32-0 back in 1989, while the 46 combined runs was the most ever in an Iowa Baseball game. Six Iowa hitters collected multiple hits and an outrageous seven players scored three or more runs. The Hawkeyes were 23/50 (.460) at the plate, while also drawing 12 walks.

If you didn’t watch or attend the game, there is a chance you may never get a chance to see that again.

BEST PERFORMANCE – Kyle Huckstorf carries Iowa to victory

The performance by Huckstorf against the Hoosiers broke records and earned him Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week, as well as Co-Big Ten Player of the Week. On the night, Kyle collected six hits, four runs and 12 RBIs.

Six hits tied a Big Ten record for most in a game, while 12 RBIs broke a Big Ten record. With the Hawkeyes trailing 13-2 in the fourth inning, Huckstorf delivered a three-run home run to cut into the deficit. Iowa continued its rally and Kyle found himself at the plate once more in the inning. He clubbed another three-run home run to slice the Indiana lead down to just 13-12. Then in the fifth inning, he came to the plate with the bases loaded and gave the Hawkeyes the lead with a grand slam. Huckstorf would add a two-run double in the eighth inning for good measure and it was a night to remember for the redshirt sophomore from Waterford, Wisconsin.

OFFENSIVE MVPs – OF Keaton Anthony and 1B Peyton Williams

The choice was fairly obvious, as Keaton Anthony and Peyton Williams were #1 and #2 on the team in basically every offensive category. Anthony was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, while Williams was named to the All-Big Ten First Team.

Keaton Anthony led the Hawkeyes with a .361 batting average, 73 hits, 22 doubles, 55 RBIs and 14 home runs, while he also scored 44 runs and had a .455 on-base percentage. Peyton Williams followed with a .335 batting average, 70 hits, 17 doubles, 2 triples and 13 home runs, while he led the team with 55 runs scored, 35 walks, 16 hit by pitches and a .464 on-base percentage. The two combined for 267 total bases on the season.

The seasons they put together at the plate helped lead the Hawkeyes offensively and have put them in position to hear their names called in the upcoming MLB Draft. Whether they decide to return to Iowa City for another season is still not determined.

PITCHING MVPs – Adam Mazur, Ben Beutel and Dylan Nedved

Each name here is for a different reason and each of them deserve to be mentioned for what they did on the mound this season. Adam Mazur put together a spectacular season as the Hawkeyes ace and will likely hear his name called very early in the MLB Draft. The South Dakota State transfer came to Iowa City and immediately showed his talent in the season opener as he shut down Air Force. He went 6.0 innings, allowing just one run and striking out nine, but it was just the beginning for Mazur.

Adam went on to have nine outings of six innings or more on the season, while accumulating ten outings with six or more strikeouts. He finished the season with a 3.07 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and an average of 6.2 innings per start. Mazur collected 98 strikeouts to just 30 walks in 93.2 innings and held opponents to a .178 batting average. His best stretch came in Big Ten play when he allowed just seven runs over 53.2 innings in his first seven starts against Big Ten opponents.

Ben Beutel pitched in just six games last season with an ERA above 10.00, but over the offseason he worked with pitching coach Robin Lund of changing his arm angle and he came back as one of the best arms in the Hawkeye bullpen this season. Beutel appeared in 29 games for Iowa, with many of them coming with runners on base, and posted an impressive 1.47 ERA. He struck out 41 and walked just six over 30.2 innings of work, while picking up four saves for the Hawkeyes.

Dylan Nedved lands on here because he did every single thing, he could to help the Hawkeyes on the mound this season. Closer, long relief, starting pitcher, Nedved was as versatile as you can be on a pitching staff. Dylan started six games for the Hawkeyes with a 3.47 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. He appeared in an additional 13 games out of the bullpen with three saves. He struck out 75 and walked 28 over 72.2 innings, while holding opponents to a .202 batting average.

FINAL THOUGHTS FROM COACH HELLER

“This team didn’t fade. We just kept playing well and winning games…We didn’t lose two games in a row since early to mid-April. The consistency of this team is phenomenal. We’ve got the pitcher of the year, the freshman of the year, we’ve got big time players and the pitching staff’s numbers are off the charts.”

“Everything that anybody out there said we should do, we did.”

NEXT UP

The Hawkeyes will wait to see how their roster shakes out with the MLB Draft and the transfer portal. We will have a story on all of the newcomers for next season, as well as an early outlook on the 2023 season once the roster begins to take shape next month.