Iowa baseball got back to its winning ways after winning two of three in the Stetson Tournament over the weekend.
The Hawkeyes dropped a close 2-1 affair to Notre Dame on Friday, but salvaged the trip with consecutive victories over Stetson and Maryland Baltimore County to close the weekend.
Here are two takeaways from the three-game set:
Starting pitching continues to shine
After Iowa head coach Rick Heller announced the starting rotation on media day, questions were raised about how good this group could be.
With Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan departing for the MLB Draft, Iowa would have third-year Cade Obermueller as its only returning starter. Heller gave the nod to third-year Aaron Savary and fifth-year Reece Beuter to fill these positions, two new faces with limited experience starting for the Hawkeyes.
Both arms have proven themselves in the Saturday and Sunday slots so far this season.
Against Stetson on Saturday, Savary gave the Hawkeyes a much-needed performance in a weekend-defining game. Savary pitched a shutout across 5.1 innings of work, striking out six batters while allowing just one hit.
Coming down to the last game of the weekend, Beuter threw his best game yet as a Hawkeye. Seven innings pitched, zero runs, one hit, and six strikeouts was the final stat line for Beuter, guiding Iowa over UMBC.
The duo has a combined earned run average of 1.61 in their 22 innings of work, something that could be huge for the Hawkeyes later on in the season.
Bullpen recovers from last weekend
Opening weekend was not kind to a Hawkeye unit that needed to turn the tables in 2025. Accumulating 11 innings pitched, the relief staff gave up eight runs, walked nine batters, and gave up the lead in two of the three games against South Florida.
But this past weekend, the bullpen was the saving grace in all three contests, keeping the opposing team at bay while giving the offense a chance to pick up some runs.
In just over 10 innings pitched, relieving efforts gave up one run while compiling 13 strikeouts. A complete 360 from what fans saw the last time out.
The biggest performance of the weekend came from third-year Anthony Watts. Watts had a shaky start to the 2025 season last weekend, giving up four earned runs in one inning of play.
On Friday against Notre Dame, Watts took the ball from Obermueller in the middle of the sixth inning. Watts entered the game with one out and runners at the corners, looking to prevent any extensive damage from the Irish offense.
After an infield single by Notre Dame’s Jared Zimbardo, Watts struck out the next two batters to stop the bleeding. He followed this escape with two more innings of shutout baseball, striking out two more batters and not allowing any hits.
Seeing a strong performance from this unit is encouraging for Hawkeye fans. While starting pitching and offensive production have been adamant early in the season, the success of the bullpen will be the deciding factor in this year’s success.
Up Next
The Hawkeyes return to action with a trip to Cleburne, Texas to take on Washington State in a four-game set. Iowa will take on the Cougars in the series-opening game on Thursday, Feb 27.