By Jake Mosbach
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After dropping the weekend series finale to Kansas State on Sunday afternoon, Hawkeye senior shortstop Nick Roscetti stood in the bowels of Banks Field, soaked from an afternoon of steady rain.
With the loss, Roscetti’s Hawkeyes fell to 20-21. After the stellar 2015 campaign, the sub-.500 record looks disappointing. Roscetti said, however, it’s not panic time quite yet for the Hawkeyes.
“We know we have to improve,” he said after the 4-2 loss. “We’re going to keep with our approach. Hopefully, it works out, but we know we’ve got to start winning some ball games.”
The Hawks currently sit 10th in the Big Ten standings, ahead of only Rutgers, Northwestern, and Purdue. The 7-8 conference mark has a chance to be improved this weekend as the team travels to Ohio State for a three-game series.
For the time being, the record isn’t concerning. Senior outfielder Joel Booker said he and the Hawkeyes are still capable of turning the season around.
“If you panic, that’s when things go wrong,” Booker said. “Everyone’s calm, and we’re just taking it day by day. We’re going up there and taking it pitch-by-pitch and capitalizing on mistakes. I don’t think there’s any panic.”
Through 41 games last season, the team was 30-11. The losses of Jake Mangler, Blake Hickman, Nick Day, and others have loomed large so far this season, but head coach Rick Heller hasn’t lost faith.
But that’s not to say Heller doesn’t see some areas of concern, specifically at the plate. The Hawkeyes managed just 6 runs in the weekend series against the Wildcats.
“When you’re not getting a quality at-bat with runners in scoring position, that’s always concerning,” Heller said. “We try really hard not to do that, so when it happens, you wonder if you’re getting through to them.”
The Hawks are getting hits; that’s not the problem. However, once the team has base runners, the struggle to score them has plagued the team recently. Heller believes that’s an easy fix: Just find a way to move runners over, any way you can.
“When you get your pitch, you’ve got to find a way to hammer it,” Heller said. “We’ve just been off, especially the guys at the bottom [of the batting order].”
Looking ahead, the team has nine Big Ten contests remaining. The trio of three-game series represents an opportunity for the team to drastically improve its conference standing.
After Ohio State on Friday, Saturday, and May 8, the team will host current Big Ten leader Michigan State from May 13-15, then will travel to Penn State May 19-21.
Finding a way to earn series victories has to be the top priority for Heller and the Hawkeyes. In the mean time the coach knows that with the team’s cool and calm demeanor, the sky isn’t falling just yet.
“We’ve just got to improve, and I know they’re capable,” Heller said. “We’ll bounce back and hopefully, have a good week, and we’ll get ready to go to Ohio State this weekend.”