By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A week that was filled with distractions, stress and uncertainty for Rick Heller and the Iowa baseball team couldn’t have gone much better on the field where the Hawkeyes swept Michigan State.

Iowa defeated the Spartans 5-1 on Senior Day on Sunday at Duane Banks Field to complete the three-game sweep as Brody Brecht rediscovered his command of the strike zone.

The hard-throwing right-hander allowed just one hit over six innings and finished with eight strikeouts, improving his record to 4-2 on the season.

Brecht walked five batters, including four in the sixth inning that allowed Michigan State to score its only run.

But he also worked through the jam by recording three strikeouts to quell the potential rally.

Jack Whitlock then pitched the final three innings and recorded five strikeouts to secure the sweep.

Brecht was asked after Sunday’s game if he was surprised that Iowa head coach Rick Heller stuck with him after he had walked in a run in the sixth inning.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but it just shows that he continues to trust me, and it means a lot,” Brecht said. “I think most of the year I’ve shown that I’ve been able to get out of it, and I was just thankful that I was able to get out of that one.

“But yeah, I appreciate him trusting me and we’ve just got to keep this thing going.”

Heller said he was close to replacing Brecht in the sixth inning, but Heller stuck with his talented sophomore from Ankeny, and Heller was rewarded for his trust.

“I thought it was important that he fight through it,” Heller said. “I liked the matchup he had with the hitter he was facing. But probably one more and we would’ve had to go. I mean that’s kind of where it was at.”

And though Brecht dug himself a hole by walking four batters in the sixth, he limited the damage by recording all three outs with strikeouts.

“I wanted Brody to end it himself because he had such a good day to go out on a good note,” Heller said. “It was exactly what we needed, and I think it was exactly what Brody needed to get him to the next step, and hopefully, finish this season really strong for us.”

Iowa improved to 37-12 overall and 13-7 in the Big Ten, while Michigan State fell to 29-19 and 10-11.

The Hawkeyes will finish the regular season with a three-game series at Northwestern beginning on Friday.

Iowa was previously scheduled to play Illinois-Chicago this coming Tuesday at Duane Banks Field, but that game has been cancelled.

Brecht said he never stopped believing himself despite his recent struggles on the mound, and he credits his teammates for helping him persevere and stay confident.

His teammates also combined for 11 hits in Sunday’s win and were flawless on defense, committing no errors.

“They stuck with me through these past couple weeks and just continued to have faith in me,” Brecht said. “They hit the ball well today and made plays behind me.

“It was a really good team effort today.”

Brecht has been playing baseball long enough to know that there there are no miracle cures for when a pitcher struggles to throw strikes.

“It’s just continuing to trust the process and continue to keep working,” Brecht said. “That’s part of baseball. There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs.

“But just the way I prepared this week, and the way I went about my business, and just being in control and being in a rhythm out there really paid off.”

Brecht came to Iowa as a two-sport athlete, but he recently decided to stop playing football where he was receiver for the Hawkeyes.

But even with his focus solely on baseball, Brecht still hit a rough stretch on the mound.

“I think for the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading stuff that really doesn’t matter to me,” Brecht said. “But this week I just really focused on my prepration and just trusted my ability and not hearing the outside noise and just trusting my stuff.”

To sweep a Big Ten opponent is impressive under any circumstance, but for Iowa to have accomplished it during such a turbulent week speaks volumes about the team’s focus and character.

Iowa played its sixth straight game without Keaton Anthony, who is one of the top hitters in the Big Ten.

Anthony is being withheld from games as an investigation into alleged sports gambling that involves 26 UI student-athletes is conducted.

Iowa has a 5-1 record since Anthony was removed from the lineup.

“It definitely says that we’re resilient and we’re in a good spot,” said Iowa shortstop Michael Seegers, who hit his fourth home run of the season in Sunday’s win. “Everyone is just doing their part and not trying to go outside themselves, which is really good to see. Teammates are picking each other up, and it’s a team game.”

Anthony is among four Iowa players that have been unavailable since the gambling investigation was launched barely one week ago.

The others are relief pitcher Jacob Henderson and catchers Ben Tallman and Gehrig Christensen.

None of the four were in the dugout for the Ohio State series last week, but they all returned for the Michigan State series.

Heller was asked after Sunday’s game if having all four players back in the dugout is an indication that things have changed with the investigation.

“I would say the change is there’s hope that maybe that they could rule on something and get a decision,” Heller said. “I don’t think any of us have any gut feeling or anything like that as what could happen.”

Heller felt that having the four players in the dugout for the Ohio State series would have been a distraction since the investigation had just been launched.

“And quite frankly, those guys did not want to be a distraction and that’s what their message was,” Heller said of the four players. “And then after that, we welcomed them back and we’re just all hopeful that there could be a decision, and there might not be.”

Heller took a chance by shuffling his starting pitchers as Marcus Morgan replaced Brecht as the Friday starter for the Michigan State series.

Morgan seized the opportunity by tossing six no-hit innings in a 9-0 victory, and then Brecht followed with a strong performance on Sunday.

Junior Ty Langenberg started the second game of the series on Saturday and pitched five innings as Iowa prevailed, 8-6, in that game.

“Anytime you flip things like we did, it doesn’t always work that way,” Heller said. “It could have went the other way. I’m just super happy that it did, and I’m glad that those guys stepped up. It’s just great to see them growing and growing with confidence.

“And the bullpen was in a good place. We’ve got guys that didn’t throw this weekend that I think are in a pretty good place.”

Despite his team’s current hot streak, Heller is reluctant to say that Iowa is peaking at the right time.

“Maybe we are a little bit, but I feel there is more in the tank, and that is what we talked about in there,” Heller said of his post-game message to his players. “We’ve said that this team has a chance to be special since the fall. We’ve talked about it a lot. But it takes what it takes, and I feel like they’ve finally figured out what it takes.”

 

Michigan State 000 001 000 – 1 3 1

Iowa 110 100 20x – 5 11 0

W – Brody Brecht (4-2), L – Nick Powers (5-2).