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Coach Rick Heller and the Iowa Baseball team welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Iowa City for their second Big Ten weekend of the season. The Hawkeyes opened conference play with a series win over Michigan, while the Illini are 5-1 in the Big Ten, including a sweep of Purdue last weekend.
On the season, Illinois is 13-13 with a win over West Virginia and the aforementioned Purdue sweep, but they have also lost 3/4 to Kansas and 2/3 against Southern Illinois. They are an intriguing team with a very talented lineup and it’s worth mentioning that the Illini won the series in Iowa City last season. They have won just one series over the Hawkeyes in the last five seasons.
Saturday #1 Pitching Matchup – rSr Dylan Nedved vs Soph Cole Kirschsieper
Nedved gets the first start for the second straight week, but both games have been on Saturday, so you can’t really call them Friday starts. Dylan has posted a 4.35 ERA over eight games this season, including 36 strikeouts in 31.0 innings pitched. Last weekend against Michigan, Nedved picked up the win going 7.0 innings, allowing just two runs on four hits, while striking out seven and walking four.
Kirschsieper has went from the bullpen to the Friday starter for the Illini and he has been rock solid so far this season in seven starts. Over 43.1 innings, Cole has 45 strikeouts to just 13 walks, while his 2.49 ERA and 1.02 WHIP are impressive. His start last weekend against Purdue was outstanding, as he went 7.0 scoreless innings, holding the Boilers to just three hits. He struck out nine and walked just two.
Saturday #2 Pitching Matchup – rSoph Adam Mazur vs Soph Jack Crowder
On the season, Mazur has a 3.60 ERA and 42 strikeouts to 18 walks in 40.0 innings. He did everything he needed to last week in Ann Arbor, but the Hawkeye bats were not able to get him the victory. Adam went 7.0 innings, holding the Wolverines to two runs on three hits and three walks, while striking out four. This is the second straight week that Mazur will pitch from the game two position.
Jack Crowder will be making his fifth start of the season on Saturday, but the sophomore has struggled to limit runs on the mound in his last two starts. Crowder posts a 7.27 ERA over 17.1 innings pitched, including 16 strikeouts to six walks. Teams have been able to collect an average of 1.45 hits per inning off of him.
Sunday Pitching Matchup – Soph Ty Langenberg vs TBA
You could argue that Ty Langenberg has been the most consistent starter for the Hawkeyes this season and he has solidified himself as the Sunday starter. The sophomore boasts a 1.86 ERA, including 42 strikeouts to just nine walks over 29.0 innings this season. His start last weekend against Michigan was particularly impressive. In 5.2 innings, Langenberg held the Wolverines scoreless on five hits, while striking out 11 and walking two.
Illini head coach Dan Hartleb has yet to announce a starter for Sunday’s match-up, but I will take a shot and guess that Riley Gowens will get the nod. If that ends up being correct, Gowens has started five games, while posting a 5.57 ERA over 21.0 innings.
Breaking Down the Illini
On the season, the Illinois offense is batting .287 as a team, including a .375 on-base percentage to go with a very respectable 17.6% strikeout rate. Like the Hawkeyes, the Illini do not hit a lot of home runs, totaling just 22 on the season, which ranks #154.
OF Cam McDonald leads the Illini with a .356 batting average and also leads the team with 36 hits, four home runs and 29 RBI's. He has a hit in 23 of his 26 games and has reached base in every game except the second game of the season against Kansas. SS Branden Comia has been hitting it well as of late, as he has collected 18 hits over his last ten games. Comia is batting .336 and is tied for the team lead in hits (36) and home runs (4), while he leads the team with 15 walks and 60 total bases.
OF Danny Doligate sits at .318 with 35 hits and is second on the team with 12 extra base hits, while leading the team with nine stolen bases. It is interesting to note that despite being second on the team with 35 hits, Doligate has just five hits over his last seven games, which includes a three-hit game against Purdue. DH Justin Janas leads the team in on-base percentage at .448 and that is due in large part to his drawing ten walks and nine hit by pitches. C Jacob Campbell enters the weekend with a .294 batting average, including 12 extra base hits and 30 total hits.
Expect 2B Brody Harding (.300, .423 OBP), 1B Kellen Sarver (.225), 2B Cal Hejza (.224) and C Ryan Hampe (.298) to also see the lineup this weekend.
The Illinois pitching staff comes in with a 5.94 team ERA and while they only average 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings, the staff does a great job of limiting walks (3.9 BB/9). It may be another instance of just get to the bullpen like last week in Ann Arbor, as the Illini, statistically, do not have anyone that you absolutely want to avoid.
Tommy Green leads the team with 11 relief appearances and has the best ERA among the relievers at 3.14. Green has held opponents to a .195 batting average, including 15 strikeouts over 14.1 innings. Joseph Glassey (5.94 ERA) and Crayton Burnett (6.57 ERA) have combined for 17 appearances. They stand out due to their ability to limit walks. The two have combined for 27 strikeouts and just six walks over 29.0 innings. Ty Rybarczyk (6.60 ERA, 1.87 WHIP), Jack Wenninger (5.68 ERA, 1.58 WHIP), Ryan Kutt (7.41 ERA) and Alex Vera (7.84 ERA) will also likely see the mound this weekend.
Midweek at Milwaukee
Milwaukee sits at 11-10 on the season, including 1-6 against Q1 and Q2 teams, with the lone win coming against BYU. The Panthers have a Horizon League series this weekend, as they face a Purdue Fort Wayne team that just beat Michigan on Wednesday.
As a team, Milwaukee is batting .277, with a .341 on-base percentage, while they are a very impressive 41/41 on stolen base attempts. They only strikeout at a rate of 19.7%, but they also walk in just 9.2% of plate appearances.
Freshman OF Andrew Chapman is the name to watch in the Panthers lineup, as he leads the team in a number of batting categories. Batting average (.405), runs (19), hits (34), RBIs (22) and on-base percentage (.452) are all led by Chapman, while he also adds in 10 stolen bases. OF Luke Seidel is batting .307 and leads the team in walks with 11, while leading the team with 11 stolen bases.
They post a 4.78 team ERA and a 1.53 WHIP, including 8.6 SO/9. The Hawkeyes should be able to pick up another midweek win even though this one is on the road.
Final Thoughts
Set the Over/Under for the week at 3.5. This may be a tad ambitious considering the Illini won the series in Iowa City last year, but the Hawkeyes are playing better baseball as of late. The pitching was great last weekend at Michigan, and they outscored the Wolverines 18-7. The match-up against Kirschsieper will be tough, but I would favor the Hawkeyes in the other three match-ups.