Iowa baseball took down Western Illinois, 11-1, at Duane Banks Field on Tuesday night. The game was dubbed a run-rule victory for the Hawkeyes after seven innings. Iowa has now reigned victorious in its last three meetings with Western Illinois.

Iowa has won eight of its last nine contests. Last weekend, the Hawkeyes picked up two wins in a three-game series against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Rutgers is currently in first place in the Big Ten standings.

Iowa head coach Rick Heller utilized seven pitchers to pick up a win Tuesday night. Sophomore Benjamin DeTaeye started on the mound for the Hawkeyes, registering two strikeouts across two complete innings of action.

True freshman Brody Brecht finished the game for Iowa, amassing two strikeouts in the seventh frame. Brecht threw 24 pitches in one full inning of action Tuesday.

“I thought it was a good night for us,” Heller said postgame. “There were a couple of guys that didn’t get in that we would’ve liked … Overall, just pleased with our effort.” 

Big Picture

Counting Tuesday’s victory, the Hawkeyes have now won seven of the eight midweek games they’ve played so far in 2022. Loras College is the only school that has defeated Iowa in a midweek game this season. The Duhawks downed the Hawkeyes, 3-1, at Duane Banks Field on March 1.

Only two midweek games remain on Iowa’s schedule. The Hawkeyes will take on the Illinois State Redbirds and the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames on May 3 and 17, respectively. Iowa will face Illinois State in Iowa City and UIC in Chicago

“I think we are in a good place right now,” Heller said. “We know the type of team we can be when we play well. We just have to do our best to do that every night out. There are 15 games left, let’s just play as hard as we can.”

Up Next

The Hawkeyes will travel to Lincoln for a three-game series with the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend.  Nebraska is 15-23 overall and 5-7 in Big Ten play in 2022. The Cornhuskers currently sit in eighth place in the Big Ten standings.

Friday’s Iowa-Nebraska matchup will air live on the Big Ten Network. The Hawkeyes’ Saturday and Sunday contests against the Cornhuskers will be available for streaming on BTN+.

“One pitch at a time is the only way we can do it,” Heller said. “We need to prepare well tomorrow and Thursday and be mentally ready to go. Our guys are pretty good about wiping it away and going at it the next day and that’s how we will approach it.”