If there was one series to circle on the Indiana baseball calendar, this weekend’s three-game set against Iowa would be a strong contender.
Both teams represent schools whose names begin with the letter I, both have mascots with names beginning with the letter H and both are favorites to contend for the Big Ten title. Parallels aside, only one team boasts a dual-sport athlete whose fastball can light up the radar gun at 104 mph.
His name is Brody Brecht. He is a sophomore right-hander who typically starts Friday games for the Hawkeyes. He is a good candidate to put a triple-digit velocity reading on the scoreboard at Bart Kaufman Field, provided he toes the rubber for the series opener at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Brecht will undoubtedly prove to be a tough nut to crack. He was named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watchlist, an award given to the top amateur baseball player in the country. He is holding opponents to a batting average under .200 and has an earned run average south of 3, as well as boasting 59 strikeouts over 33.2 innings pitched.
Brecht is primarily a two-pitch guy. He tends to sit between 95 and 100 mph with his fastball, and he relies heavily on a slider that sits in the low 90s. Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said this two-pitch mix lends itself to a unique gameplan.
“It’s not complex,” Mercer said on Thursday. “You have to establish that you can manage a fastball and then be able to read the offspeed pitch from there. Velocity is relative. You can make a 90-mile-an-hour fastball look like 100 or 80.”
Mercer said that when hitters have trouble catching up to fastballs, it comes down to being preoccupied with off-speed pitches.
“He’s going to throw a ton of pitches,” Mercer said of Brecht. “He’s either going to be behind in the count and we’re going to be able to manage and put balls in play, or he’s going to have 15 strikeouts. Either way he’s going to have a ton of pitches thrown in the middle innings.”
Despite Brecht’s flashy scouting report, Indiana senior shortstop Phillip Glasser said the offensive gameplan remains unchanged.
“We’ve got to be on time and get him in the zone,” Glasser said on Thursday. “We’ve been training the whole offseason to hit fastballs. We’ll be ready.”
A pitcher with a ledger like Brecht’s is probably low on the list of things Indiana wants to see after being shut out by Indiana State on Tuesday. The Hoosiers were robbed of a couple would-be home runs in the 4-0 loss. Bad breaks aside, the home nine enter this weekend’s series with a 20-9 record this season. They are 5-1 in conference play and a perfect 15-0 at home.
A bright spot for Indiana is that freshman outfielder Devin Taylor was named a Midseason All-American by Perfect Game on Wednesday.
Taylor is currently batting north of .370 with 20 runs batted in and a team-leading 5 home runs. Along with Taylor, Glasser, sophomore first baseman Brock Tibbitts and freshman infielder Tyler Cerny are all batting over .300 this season. Glasser and Taylor are both slugging over .600, making them formidable extra-base threats.
Mercer said senior southpaw Ben Seiler will start the series opener, sophomore righty Luke Sinnard will start on Saturday and junior right-hander Seti Manase will start on Sunday.
“Illinois State had some success against (Iowa) with lefties,” Mercer said.
With Seiler being the lone lefty slated to start, Mercer said he made that decision based on the matchup. Sinnard usually pitches into the sixth or seventh inning, which Mercer said will allow for bullpen pitchers to be available on both Friday and Sunday.
Sophomore Ryan Kraft and senior Craig Yoho have established themselves as late-inning bullpen arms, but Mercer also mentioned junior Brooks Ey, freshman Brayden Risedorph, graduate Wes Burton and senior Nathan Ball as bullpen arms to expect this weekend.
“Those guys give us a little bit of depth,” Mercer said.
Iowa enters the weekend series with a 21-7 record following a victory at Bradley University on Wednesday. Prior to the midweek win, the Hawkeyes dropped two out of three games versus Maryland, which dethroned them from ranked status. They were ranked at No. 25 for just a week.
Led by Brecht, Iowa’s pitching staff is the class of the Big Ten. They hold a conference-best earned run average of 4.34 and tend to keep opposing bats quiet. Opponents are batting just .217 against Hawkeye hurlers this season. Formidable bullpen arms include freshman lefty Cade Obermuller and redshirt junior righties Luke Llewellyn and Jacob Henderson. All three bullpen pitchers have ERAs under 3.70.
The high-flying Hawkeye offense has scored double-digit runs 11 times this season, including 12 in an eight-run victory over No. 1 Louisiana State University in Round Rock, Texas on Feb. 25 and two 20-run affairs.
They are spearheaded by graduate catcher Brennen Dorighi, redshirt sophomore utility player Keaton Anthony and redshirt junior Kyle Huckstorf. Iowa can cause problems on the basepaths – they have swiped over 50 bags this season, tallying over two times as many stolen bases as Indiana. Huckstorf leads the team with 10 stolen bases on 11 tries.
Big Ten play is in full swing, and this weekend’s series is shaping up to be a good one. Friday’s game begins at 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday are both slated for noon starts. All three games will be available for viewing on B1G+.
Follow reporters Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) and Nick Rodecap (@nickrodecap) for updates throughout the Indiana baseball season.
