Suddenly down, 4-0, to a Bradley team that Iowa baseball beat, 13-3, earlier this season, the Hawkeyes needed offensive momentum in the third inning of the midweek at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City. And after a double and single from Iowa’s Ben Swails and Ben Wilmes, shortstop Gable Mitchell found the opportunity.
Mitchell kept his mentality simple and put the ball in play, resulting in an infield hit that scored Swails from third to boost Iowa’s momentum.
“The biggest thing is don’t panic,” Mitchell said about the mentality going into the third inning. “We trust ourselves that we’re going to come through when we’ve got to, and obviously we proved that.
“We didn’t have a great night,” he added. “Even though we scored 12 runs, there were definitely opportunities to blow that game open. Still had some great performances — I mean, Reese Moore had an incredible night.”
Hawkeye catcher Reese Moore stepped up next and ripped a single through the right side to score another run. Iowa went on to score six in the inning on seven hits to wipe away the Bradley lead early in the game — en route to the 12-5 win.
“It’s nothing that we haven’t done before offensively,” Moore said. “We just keep chipping away and put together some really gritty at-bats … When we do that, that’s where we are the best offensively.”
Miles Risley, Kooper Schulte, Caleb Wulf, and Kellen Strohmeyer each drove in a run, joining the two by Mitchell and Moore, leading to six more runs for the 12-5 victory.
Perhaps the hottest hitter for Iowa at this point in the season is Mitchell, though, who extended his hit streak to 14 games, going 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs as well as scoring two runs.
Mitchell’s approach is simple and hasn’t changed all year, leading to his success at the plate.
“I mean, it’s a pretty simple one,” Mitchell said about his approach. “I like to look at the scouting report a little bit. I feel like lately it’s really getting a lot of ‘mix,’ as you would call it, but just being on time and looking to drive something hard over the shortstop’s head.”
Moore also had a monster game, leading the team with three hits on the night while driving in two runs and scoring one. He seemed to see the ball extremely well in his first three at-bats where he went 3-for-3 with two doubles.
“Just getting the pitch up, seeing it up,” Moore said about what was working for him offensively. “Getting it in my zone and pushing it out over the plate, looking for something to drive to left field. Got some pitches that I did that on and was on time, and everything felt good.”
Mitchell and Moore have excelled the high expectations placed on them at the start of the year, and they are both hitting over .360 with 30 or more RBIs this season.
Not only has the production been on point: The rest of the Iowa lineup has followed the leadership of Mitchell and Moore.
“I think a lot of it is just not doing too much,” Moore said. “Whoever is in the lineup, we’ve got nine tough outs. There are no holes in our lineup.”
Head coach Rick Heller acknowledged that while Mitchell and Moore have different styles of leadership, they both play a huge role in the team’s offensive production.
“Gable is a leader for the whole team, being one of the captains, not so much from his production but from what he brings every day to practice,” Heller said. “He’s a guy on the team that everybody respects and can hold people accountable from a player’s side to be able to play at a high level. When you have a guy like that on your team, it’s a big bonus.
“Reese’s production this year has been exceptional,” Heller added about Moore. “Starting to come into more of a leadership role, he’s been super consistent this season and one of the big reasons why our offense is one of the best in the Big Ten and why we’re scoring a lot of runs and winning a lot of games.”