Swig and Swine Preview
The Iowa Baseball season kicks off tomorrow with the Swig & Swine Classic at Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina. Coach Rick Heller and the rest of his coaching staff will debut their squad led by a whole host of transfers, a talented freshman class and number of returning veterans. The Hawkeyes weekend rotation will roll out three starting pitchers that will be making their debut appearances in the black and gold.
Air Force Falcons (Friday, February 18th – 11am)
Air Force went 26-22 last season and their 18-16 record in the Mountain West landed them in fourth place. The Falcons were in the conversation for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but allowing 50 runs in a series vs San Diego State and losing 4/6 to end the season extinguished those hopes. Despite that, they were 10-7 vs NCAA Tournament teams, including a sweep of Army, as well as a win over LSU and Arizona.
Pitching Matchup – rSoph Adam Mazur vs Soph Paul Skenes
The opening game of the season and it’s an exciting pitching matchup. South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur will debut on the mound for the Hawkeyes, but the Falcons will counter by throwing preseason All-American Paul Skenes. Skenes was impressive out of the bullpen last season, appearing in 18 games and holding opponents to a .208 batting average. His 2.70 ERA and 11 saves led the team. He struck out 30 batters over 26.2 innings and walked just nine.
It will be interesting to see if head coach Mike Kazlausky uses Skenes in the batting lineup, as he led the team in average (.410), on-base percentage (.486), runs (49), hits (77), RBIs (43) and home runs (11). If he is left out of the lineup, it will be a large hole and the Falcons relied on Skenes’s bat last season.
Air Force returns a trio of good bats behind Skenes, starting with C Braydon Altorfer who led the team in doubles last season with 23 and posted a .437 on-base percentage. OF Gabriel Garcia returns after posting the third highest average on the team (.330) and five triples, while UTL Cayden Zimmerman batted .288. Those two have some speed when the reach base, as they stole a combined 16 bases last season. INF Jay Thomason is one to keep an eye on if he is in the lineup on Friday. Despite playing in just 21 games, Thomason posted a .308 batting average.
With a couple of arms moving out of the bullpen to the starting rotation, the Falcons will be searching for some guys to step up and become reliable options. As a pitching staff last season, they posted a disappointing 6.54 ERA. It sounds like Stevan Fairburn, and Jason Shuger will move from the weekend rotation into bullpen roles, but their combined 7-10 record and 6.95 ERA is less than stellar. Fairburn himself allowed 79 hits in 61.1 innings of work. Zach Argo (5.40 ERA), Nathan Price (9.75 ERA) and CJ Dornak (10.46 ERA) will join them in the bullpen. The earlier the Hawkeyes can get Paul Skenes out of the game, the better their chances will be to rack up runs.
D1Baseball had some interesting words on the Falcons in their season preview saying, “As strange as it sounds, beware the Falcons even more so in 2022. They are going to be even better this season.” This should be a good test for the Hawkeyes to open the season.
Ball State Cardinals (Saturday, February 19th – 9am)
Ball State went 38-18 last season, finished with a 29-11 record in MAC play and picked up series wins vs Arizona and Kentucky. Despite that, the Cardinals fell just short of the NCAA Tournament and will be looking to get back in the conversation this season. D1Baseball picked them to finish in second place behind Central Michigan in the MAC this season.
Pitching Matchup – GSr Connor Schultz vs Soph Tyler Schweitzer
Butler grad transfer Connor Schultz will make his debut start with the Hawkeyes on Saturday and will go up against Tyler Schweitzer who goes from the bullpen to a weekend starting spot. Schweitzer appeared in 23 games last season, striking out 51 batters in 35.1 innings, while allowing a .224 opponent batting average. While his 5.35 ERA was high, he is averaging nearly 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings over his career.
The Cardinals were near the top in most of the hitting categories in the conference last season and they return a number of those hitters again this season. RF Nick Powell returns as the team’s best hitter. Powell batted .351 last season with a .450 on-base percentage, and he led the team in hits (65) and doubles (13). 1B Trenton Quartermaine put together a really good season last year batting .306, while his 32 walks to 36 strikeouts shows his plate discipline. He also led the team with 40 RBIs and was second in hits with 59.
SS Adam Tellier (.311 avg, .408 OBP), 3B Ryan Peltier (.275 avg 2nd Team All-MAC) and OF Decker Scheffler (.288 avg, .355 OBP) all return to fill out what could be a pretty dangerous lineup. They also add DIII St. Leo transfer CF Amir Wright, who batted .410 in the Covid shortened season before getting injured after three games last season.
Out of the bullpen, the Cardinals have a couple of notable arms to mention. Sophomore Sam Klein was named Pitcher of the Year in the Great Lakes Summer League after striking out 55 in 44 innings of work and posting a 1.84 ERA. Thank you to D1Baseball for digging that up. He pitched in 11 games last year, but just 14.2 innings with a 5.52 ERA.
Andre Orselli put together a pretty good season, posting a 4.91 ERA and a 4-1 record over 20 appearances last season. Tyler Ruetschle is a veteran arm on the team, but 58 baserunners in 29.1 innings of work is alarming. He appeared in 14 games last season.
Bucknell Bison (Sunday, February 20th – 9am)
The Bison struggled last season going 11-22 and their 11-15 conference record was second to last in the Patriot League. However, Bucknell returns a lot of upperclassman to the roster and should be improved compared to last season.
Pitching Matchup – Fr Marcus Morgan vs Sr Austin Odell
Marcus Morgan will take the mound on Sunday vs the Bison for his college debut, and he will be up against Bucknell veteran Austin Odell. Odell started four games last season and appeared in ten games, but threw just 19.2 innings, posting a 7.78 ERA. He allowed a .276 opponent batting average and struggled with walks.
On the offensive side, the Bison are led by OF Chris Cannizzaro who is one of the favorites for Patriot League player of the year. Cannizzaro led the league with a .355 batting average, while leading the team in doubles (12), hits (44), total bases (70) and had an outstanding .998 on-base plus slugging percentage. INF Jacob Terwilliger and 3B Jacob Corson will also be among the best hitters on the team. Terwilliger batted .306 last season in 21 starts and tied for the team lead in steals with five. Corson put together a .269 batting average and a .385 on-base percentage as a freshman.
UTL Henry Novicki (.216 avg, .389 OBP), SS Anthony Sherwin (.215 avg, five steals) and DH Kendall Pierson (3 HR in 61 AB) will likely be in the lineup as well.
Out of the bullpen, Graeme Carroll looks to be the strongest returner. Last year, Carroll appeared in 13 games and had a 4.32 ERA. His 14 strikeouts in 25.0 innings are low, but only six walks is a plus. Bryce Reimer (5.93 ERA, 7 games) is another returning bullpen arm for the Bison.
Final Thought
Set the over/under for wins this weekend at 2.5. Air Force and Ball State are talented teams, but it’s very possible for the Hawkeyes to go 3-0 this opening weekend. These are the weekends that need to be capitalized on when you look ahead and see so many talented non-conference opponents ahead. It may only be mid-February, but baseball is back.