Three … four … seven … the average number of pitchers that roll through the Iowa lineup in a baseball game this season has been staggering.

The March 11 game against UNLV was a prime example: Iowa went through seven pitchers in the 13-3 loss.

Tuesday’s game against St. Louis fell in line with the trend; by the bottom of the fifth inning, senior Nick Nelson was the third pitcher of the afternoon. Fewer than 20 minutes later, at the top of the sixth inning, freshman Jack Dreyer took over as the fourth Iowa pitcher.

Dreyer, too, only made it through one inning.

“I’m just doing what they’re asking me to do,” said redshirt freshman pitcher Kole Kampen, who finished the game. “If they want me to throw a couple innings for them, I’ll throw a couple innings for them. It’s just like any other at-bat — just do your best to get the guy out.”

Thanks in part to so many pitching changes, Tuesday’s game stretched to 3 hours and 47 minutes. By the end of the game, six Hawkeye pitchers had dug their cleats into the mound to throw a couple innings — or fewer.

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St. Louis, likewise, couldn’t keep consistent pitchers on the mound in its 7-6 victory. Six Billikens were also on the mound throughout the game.

“All of them on the mound had wild pitches, hit-by-pitch, nine walks,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We’ll throw a bunch of new guys out there tomorrow, and a few of [today’s] guys will have to be right back out there tomorrow. The big play with those guys is that you’ve just got to do it one pitch at a time, and you can’t let bad stuff in the past affect the future, because there’s nothing you can do about what’s happened. Guys not controlling themselves, guys not playing the mental game correctly and letting things snowball. A call that maybe they didn’t get turns into three bad pitches, or maybe one ball turns into four — that’s the stuff we have to stop, especially with our bullpen.”

Solidifying the lineup, especially the mentality, will be a key area of focus heading into the beginning of Big Ten competition.

In the last 10 games, only three have had as few as three pitchers through nine innings. The other seven have seen a pitcher count that climbed higher. Reversing this trend will be the focus.