As the Hawkeye baseball team navigates through its challenging Big Ten schedule, nonconference midweek contests dot its schedule.

Teams such as Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Hawks’ opponent Wednesday night, Northwestern College, Bradley, and others make appearances on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights throughout the season.

To the common fan, the games might not catch the eye. Opponents from non-Power 5 conferences coming to Iowa City in late March, early April? Why would that matter?

Hawkeye head coach Rick Heller has an answer.

“The thing that I really enjoy about the midweek games is getting to see our young pitchers throw and how they’re developing,” he said after Wednesday night’s 9-1 victory over Milwaukee. “We’re getting to a point where maybe they’ll start getting more innings on the weekend … it gives you a good feeling.”

One of the young pitchers Heller refers to — freshman right-hander Shane Ritter — the 6-4, 175-pound right-hander from Plainfield, Illinois — has become accustomed to coming out of the bullpen for the Hawkeyes this season.

But against Milwaukee, Ritter got the nod to start, the first of his college career.

After the start, he stressed the importance of the nonconference midweek games and the opportunity it presented for him to take the mound in the top of the first inning.

“You’ve got to treat every game like it’s a Big Ten game,” Ritter said. “In baseball, anything is possible, and any team can beat anyone. You’ve just got to play your game and play as hard as you can.”

Wednesday’s contest against Milwaukee didn’t just feature the young pitchers, however. The game also allowed the Hawkeye bats to garner more practice, outhitting the Panthers 8-2 and crushing 2 homers.

The home runs came courtesy of senior first baseman Tyler Peyton and junior third baseman Mason McCoy.

McCoy, in his first year with the Hawkeyes after transferring from Illinois Central Community College, said that every nonconference contest provides a unique challenge for the Hawkeyes, but Wednesday’s exceptionally cold, windy conditions made the game even more pivotal.

“When it’s cold out like it was today, and rainy, it challenges the strength of your team, how tough your guys are,” McCoy said. “We’ve showed how tough we are this year with our midweek games.”

Perhaps what makes the nonconference games even more significant this year is that the team hasn’t lost one of them. The Hawkeyes are 4-0 when playing nonconference teams at Banks Field, 6-1 overall on their home turf.

But the midweek schedule is about to get quite a bit tougher for the Hawkeyes. Next week, Air Force will come to Banks Field for a double-midweek affair, playing games April 12-13.

The 14-8 Falcons will present challenges Heller and the team haven’t seen yet in their nonconference schedule. The coach said, however, the previous midweek games have prepared his team for a fight.

“Now we’re going in to the toughest stretch where we have the double-midweek games, and all those guys are going to be stretched a bit more,” Heller said. “But I feel really good about heading in to next week with the way our guys threw today.”