Previewing Iowa hosting Texas Tech
The Red Raiders have jumped out to a 16-3 start on the season, including a 15-1 record since the opening weekend. They come into the weekend ranked #17 in the country by D1Baseball and are #22 in the RPI. That means this weekend is another big weekend for the Hawkeyes.
Texas Tech opened the season at Globe Life Field, picking up a win over Michigan, but dropped games vs Auburn and Arizona. Since then, they have swept Kent State, Merrimack and Rice in weekend series, as well as a couple of midweek wins against Dallas Baptist and New Mexico. They also split a pair of midweek games vs Mississippi State.
Saturday Pitching Matchup – rSoph Adam Mazur vs Jr Brandon Birdsell
Aside from the last inning in each of Mazur’s last two outings, where he has allowed seven of his eight earned runs, Adam has been outstanding on the season. The other 22.0 innings pitched, Mazur has allowed a single run, while striking out 27, walking four and allowing just seven hits. If Adam can avoid the late inning let down that he has had in the last two games, he will give Iowa a chance to win Saturday.
Brandon Birdsell will take the mound for the Red Raiders, and he has been really solid to begin the season. Over four starts, Birdsell has posted a 1.80 ERA, including 34 strikeouts to just six walks in 20.0 innings of work. Last Saturday against Rice, he struck out 15 over six no hit innings and has walked just two batters over his last 16 innings. Opponents are hitting just .143 off of him.
Sunday Pitching Matchup – TBA vs Fr Mason Molina
The Hawkeyes have not announced a starter for Sunday, while Dylan Nedved, Ty Langenberg, Connor Schultz and Marcus Morgan all figure to be potential options.
Mason Molina will take the mound for Texas Tech, and he has a 3.00 ERA over four starts. He has struck out 19, but has walked 12 over 15.0 innings. Opposite of Birdsell, Hawkeye hitters can be patient with Molina because he has a tendency to walk some batters.
Breaking Down the Red Raiders
Texas Tech is an incredibly dangerous team at the plate, posting a .301 team batting average, and an outstanding .431 team on-base percentage. While the competition they have faced over the weekend series is not the same as Iowa, those numbers are indicative of the talent the Red Raiders have. The team strikeout rate is just 19.8%, while their walk rate is 16.1%.
They are led by 2B Jace Jung, who was named a consensus All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year last season. He leads the team with a .386 batting average and 19 walks gives him an outstanding .533 on-base percentage. As good as Jung is, 3B Parker Kelly has been just as good. His six home runs and 26 RBIs both lead the team, and he is batting .371, with a .480 on-base percentage.
SS Kurt Wilson (.364) and OF Owen Washburn (.352) round out the quartet of batters hitting over .300 in the Texas Tech lineup. The two have combined for 49 hits, 14 extra base hits and 40 RBIs, while both boast an on-base percentage north of .450.
1B Cole Stilwell (.244), OF Dillon Carter (.197) and Fr C Hudson White (.238) are not doing quite as well with the bat, but the three have combined for 42 walks to give each an on-base percentage above .350. DH Ty Coleman has started just 12 of 19 games, but has racked up 18 hits, three home runs and 16 RBIs, so expect to see him in at least one game.
The Red Raiders pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.02, which is higher than the Hawkeyes, but a team WHIP of 1.16 is very good and 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings is not too shabby. Both are comparable to the Hawkeyes staff.
Derek Bridges has been the best arm out of the bullpen, appearing in nine games and tossing 7.1 scoreless innings. Bridges has struck out 11 batters, while allowing just four hits and four walks. Brendan Girton has thrown 15.2 innings in eight appearances, posting a 2.87 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.83. Girton is allowing opponents to hit just .130 off of him, which leads the team.
Trendan Parish has appeared in eight games, posting a 3.65 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 12.1 innings. Parish forces hitters to swing the bat, as he has allowed ten hits to just one walk so far this season. Jamie Hitt is another often used arm, appearing in seven games with a 4.22 ERA.
Colin Clark (3.86, five games), Shay Hartis (5.40 ERA, five games) and Josh Sanders (5.59 ERA, five games) are other arms to watch from the Tech bullpen.
Final Thought
Pitching needs to avoid giving away free bases, while the fielders need to play clean baseball. At the plate, Iowa needs to force the Tech pitchers to work and avoid striking out. Hitting with runners on base will be a huge key because the Red Raiders will not be giving up scoring opportunities every inning.
Set the Over/Under at 0.5 wins. With the series cut to just two games, the Hawkeyes get just two chances to pick up a big win. Splitting the games would be huge for Iowa, but they are going to need consistent play up and down the lineup.