By Blake Dowson
With only three more Big Ten series left in the regular season, the Iowa baseball team is officially in “crunch time.”
Crunch time was good to the Hawkeyes last season — they won four of their final five conference games to sneak into the last spot in the Big Ten Tournament, where they rode that momentum all the way to the championship game. They ultimately lost that contest to Ohio State, but fireworks remained — Iowa scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 7all.
Circumstances are a bit different this season as Iowa enters crunch time. The Hawkeyes sit tied for third in the conference at 9-6, with series against Michigan State, Ohio State, and Illinois remaining. Each of those teams is under .500 in Big Ten play.
The situation starts to get sticky when looking at the jockeying that will go on the final three weekends of conference play. Iowa is tied for third with Michigan, Minnesota, and Purdue, only a half-game behind Nebraska (against which Iowa holds the tiebreaker). If Iowa tears the cover off the ball the final month of the regular season, it could end up in sole possession of second or third place.
However, say Iowa slumps and skids to the end of the season, it could tumble toward the middle of the pack. The Hawkeyes sit only two games ahead of Michigan State, which mans the eighth and final spot heading to the Big Ten Tournament.
The Hawkeyes control their own destiny, which is a good thing, obviously. Here are a number of trends they either need to continue or buck if they want to go into postseason play with a head of steam.
Team batting average (Big Ten play) — .304
The Hawkeyes have been red-hot in conference play at the plate. A whopping six players are hitting better than .300. Five of those guys (Mason McCoy, Jake Adams, Chris Whelan, Robert Neustrom, and Tyler Cropley) are hitting at least .327. The other is Matt Hoeg, who may be hotter than all of them right now.
When pitchers don’t get easy outs throughout a game, they get frustrated. There are a lot of frustrated pitchers facing the Hawkeyes. Stressful pitches take a toll on someone’s arm a lot quicker than if he’s motoring through a lineup.
Tyler Cropley’s power
Cropley is hitting only .261 on the season (although you say “only” knowing he is a catcher, so .261 is about all you can ask for), but he has ramped up his production in Big Ten play, hitting .327. That is way more than you ask for out of a guy handling the catching duties for practically every game.
The Iowa Western transfer has been everything Iowa head coach Rick Heller wanted him to be — he’s handled the staff well, he’s hit for power, and he’s used some speed on the base paths as well.
Cropley has hit 4 home runs in conference play and added 10 RBIs, one of four Hawkeyes to get to double-digit RBIs in 15 games thus far.
Starting rotation depth
Iowa took a huge blow very early in the season when ace C.J. Eldred went down with an elbow injury that placed him on the bench for the remainder of the spring.
Nick Gallagher has stepped into the role of ace quite well, however, earning a 3-0 record and a 1.84 ERA in 5 Big Ten appearances.
Ryan Erickson has been a pleasant surprise in the rotation as well. Erickson, who has jumped from starter to reliever a number of times during his time at Iowa, has made five starts in conference play, logging 27 innings and a 2.67 ERA.
The problem for Iowa has been the third starter. Cole McDonald has been the guy, getting four starts in conference play. But his 9.28 Big Ten ERA is cringe-worthy.
Iowa knows how much pitching depth it takes to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament. It rode into the championship game last year on fumes and finally ran out of gas in the last innings. To make a deep run again this year, some combination of McDonald, Elijah Wood, Shane Ritter, and Zach Daniels will have to step up.