The Iowa baseball team secured a three-game sweep at Michigan over the weekend.

It marks the seventh consecutive series win for the Hawkeyes, who advance to 27-11 overall and 17-4 in Big Ten play. Iowa remains in first place in the Big Ten standings with three conference standings to go. 

The sweep also moves the Hawkeyes to the No. 57 spot in the Ratings Power Index rankings, a number that improves Iowa’s chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. 

Here are some takeaways from the weekend: 

Savary and Beuter shove

With the Hawkeyes winning Friday’s contest, head coach Rick Heller leaned on starting pitchers Aaron Savary and Reese Beuter to secure the weekend win. 

Both players didn’t disappoint. 

On Saturday, the Hawkeye offense struggled to generate much action on the base paths, mustering three runs on just six hits. This forced Savary to keep Wolverine batters on their toes all afternoon, which wasn’t a problem for the righty. 

Savary dazzled the Michigan offense, throwing seven innings while totaling seven strikeouts and allowing one earned run. 

The ball was in the hands of Beuter with a chance to complete the first weekend sweep of the season. 

Coming off a shaky start against Nebraska last weekend — with three earned runs in five innings pitched  —- Beuter was aiming to bounce back and give Iowa a chance to win. 

With plenty riding on the line, Beuter pitched one of his best performances of his Hawkeye career. Throwing 100 pitches in six innings, Beuter allowed one earned run while striking out eight batters. 

Both arms now have earned run averages under four and over 45 innings pitched, respectively. 

Offense comes up with timely hits

It wasn’t the most explosive weekend for the offensive unit, but when it mattered, the team delivered consistently with clutch hits. 

The biggest example of this was in Sunday’s victory. 

Through five innings, the Hawkeyes found themselves down 1-0 with one hit to show for. 

With bases loaded after a pair of free passes, center fielder Miles Risley found a gap on the right side of the infield to drive in a pair of runs with two outs. 

Iowa headed into the ninth inning with the score tied at three after a pair of Michigan runs late. A single and a walk by Gable Mitchell and Reese Moore put runners on the corners with no outs. Risley again came through for the Hawkeyes with a deep sacrifice fly to bring in the lead run. 

Later in the inning, the Hawkeyes loaded the bases with two outs, hoping to gain more insurance runs to support their bullpen. 

Heller decided to put Mitch Wood in to pinch hit for right fielder Kellen Strohmeyer, and Wood delivered with another timely hit after ripping a double to right field and clearing the bases.

The box scores say that it might have been a down series for Heller’s offense, but game after game, his team found ways to generate runs when needed. 

Up Next

The Iowa baseball team returns to action this week with a pair of midweek contests against Western Illinois and St. Thomas. Both games will start at 6:02 p.m. with coverage on Big Ten Plus and the Hawkeye Sports Network.