Iowa baseball started the 2022 season undefeated this weekend, taking down Air Force, Ball State, and Bucknell at the Swig and Swine Classic in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Sophomore Adam Mazur threw his first pitches as a Hawkeye against Air Force on Friday after transferring from South Dakota State. Mazur threw six innings, giving up one home run and striking out nine batters.

The Hawkeyes also plated 12 runs to take down the Falcons, 12-2. 

“Adam did what we needed him to do,” head coach Rick Heller said in a Friday release. “He went out and was dominant.  He pounded the strike zone and was ahead in the count the whole game.  He gave us six strong and we could have went an inning or two more.”

The Hawkeyes totaled 15 hits on Friday as sophomore Peyton Wiliams went 4-for-5 — a career-high. Williams also had three RBIs.

On Saturday, Iowa took down Ball State, 11-1. Graduate student pitcher Connor Schultz, who transferred from Butler, started for the Hawkeyes, pitching four innings with one earned run and nine strikeouts.

“Connor went out and battled and was super aggressive,” Heller said in a Saturday release. “He fell behind a little bit than he normally would, but he fought back to punch out nine in four innings.”

Iowa tallied 13 hits from eight different Hawkeyes against Ball State. Redshirt freshman Keaton Anthony went 4-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs.

Iowa knocked off Bucknell on Sunday, 3-0, to sweep the weekend. 

Freshman Marcus Morgan made his Hawkeye debut on the mound, striking out six batters over four innings.

Big Picture

Iowa baseball started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2018.

The Hawkeyes had 26 runs over the weekend, and only allowed three runs from their opponents.

“I told the team today that every time we scored this entire weekend, we had a shutdown inning right after,” Heller said in a Sunday release. “That’s a great sign when you see that happening and that’s a positive thing. Overall, I was happy with how the guys fought and battled and came together as a team.  We just have to keep growing and work on confidence and toughness and all those things that is going to get us through these next few weeks.”

Brecht debuts as Hawkeye pitcher

Hawkeye freshman Brody Brecht, who plays both football and baseball at Iowa, took the mound on Saturday against Ball State.

Brecht pitched four innings and allowed no hits. He walked three batters, and struck out seven.

“Brody got his feet wet in a tight game,” Heller said via release. “He had some troubles with his command but fought through it. He settled down and pitched outstanding his final three innings.  It was great to see him fight through a jam and get out of it.”

Up next

The Hawkeyes will head to Texas for the Kleberg Bank Classic next weekend. 

Iowa will take on Pepperdine, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and Wichita State in the three-day tournament. The games will be streamed on FloBaseball.