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Iowa Baseball Ready To Take On Lofty Expecations In 2016

By Derek Helling

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The expectations for the University of Iowa baseball team are as high as they have ever been in 2016, but so are the experience and skill levels of the coaching staff and roster.

Coming off a 2015 season in which the Hawkeyes were selected for the NCAA tournament for the first time in decades, getting back to an NCAA regional is an expectation, and the goal this third season of “Hellerball” is to advance.

Gone from that 41-win 2015 squad are some key pieces to that Big 10 runner-up success. Outfielders Eric Toole and Kris Goodman, infielders Jake Mangler and Nick Day, starting pitcher Blake Hickman, designated hitter Dan Potempa and closer Nick Hibbing.

The rest of the roster returns with a talented group of newcomers, following is a positional breakdown:

Starting pitching

2015 was a fantastic year for the Hawkeye hurlers. Iowa posted the second-lowest ERA in the Big 10 and allowed the fewest hits in the conference. Two thirds of the starting rotation that helped accomplish those accolades is back for 2016.

Senior Tyler Peyton, a preseason All Big-10 pick, will be the Friday starter. He compiled a 3.03 earned run average in 2015 over 16 starts in that same role. Sunday starts will be handled by senior Calvin Mathews, whose 15 starts in 2015 produced a 2.45 ERA. The team has not yet decided on a Saturday starter, but it has been narrowed down to three candidates: sophomore C.J. Eldred, junior Ryan Erickson and sophomore Nick Gallagher.

Of the three Saturday candidates, Gallagher has the most starting experience on the mound at the DI level. He made five mid-week starts in 2015 and a total of nine appearances, logging 20.2 innings. Eldred transferred from Indiana after his redshirt freshman year (2014) and thus was ineligible for 2015.

Erickson walked on in 2015, and was a gem of a find for Iowa. He made 18 relief appearances and posted a 2.79 ERA with a save. If he doesn’t win the Saturday starting job, he is a contender to replace Hibbing as the team’s closer.

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Relief pitching

The bullpen was a strength of the 2015 squad, and despite the loss of Hibbing, that trend should continue in 2016.

The two already-mentioned pitchers who don’t lock down the Saturday starting job will return to the bullpen, and they will be joined by several returning role players and some new faces.

Redshirt junior Jared Mandel and redshirt sophomore John Forsythe will complement Erickson (if he isn’t the Saturday starter) as the lefties out of the bullpen, joined by true freshman Kyle Shimp.

If Erickson or Gallagher don’t start and neither win the closer job, they would be favorites as setup-men. Other contenders for that job are senior Tyler Radtke (19 appearances in 2015) and redshirt junior John Martsching (11 appearances with a 3.44 ERA in 2015).

Senior Luke Vandermaten is the odds-on favorite to replace Hibbing as the closer. In 2015, Vandermaten posted a 1.06 ERA (the lowest in the conference among pitchers who made at least 20 appearances) over 42.1 innings and 22 appearances, logging four saves in the process.

Iowa has five other right-handed true freshmen on its roster right now, who represent a good chunk of the recruiting class which Perfect Game USA ranked third-best in the Big 10 and 26th nationally.

Defense

Obviously, Iowa couldn’t have had the success it did in 2015 without playing solid defense. The Hawkeyes were second in the conference in team fielding percentage.

Peyton will occupy first base when he isn’t starting on the mound. In Friday games, first base figures to be manned by sophomore Grant Klenovich.

Taking over for the graduated Mangler at second base will be junior college transfer Mason McCoy, the 2015 Northwoods League MVP who set records at the plate last season in that league. Preseason All-Conference selection Nick Roscetti will return at shortstop to complete Iowa’s double-play duo.

On the hot corner replacing the departed Day is junior Corbin Woods, who got into 15 games at that position last season. Right field will continue to be occupied by senior Joel Booker, but the other two outfield spots will have new faces in them.

Senior Eric Schenck-Joblinske made 10 starts in left field last season. His primary competition for that spot is senior John Barrett, who logged 20 appearances with six starts in left field as a junior. Redshirt junior Devin Pickett also made a start in left in 2015.

Freshmen Robert Neustrom and Luke Farley are the only other outfielders on the roster. The likelihood is that Schenck-Joblinske could start in center while Barrett occupies left, but we won’t know for sure until the first lineup cards of the season are swapped.

The catching part of the battery will be occupied by senior Daniel Aaron Moriel, who the Hawkeyes are hoping will show improvement defensively from his junior year. Moriel was a big reason why the Hawkeyes led the conference in passed balls, although he did a decent job of limiting opponents’ running games.

Freshmen Mitchell Boe and Zach Daniels should see playing time on the infield, either in spot starts or off the bench. Moments for them and other young Iowa players will come over the course of the long season, along with opportunities at the plate as well.

Offense

Iowa hit .268 and scored 293 runs as a team in 2015, both of which were pretty pedestrian in comparison to the rest of the Big 10. They were second in the conference in both stolen bases and attempts, however.

A lot of that running game has moved on, unfortunately. Toole logged 27 stolen bases in 34 attempts, and the next-most belonged to Goodman, who recorded 10 steals on 14 attempts. Only Booker, with 14 attempts, remains on the team with double-digit stolen base attempts last season.

Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, many other elements of the offense are back. Peyton, with his team-leading and 11th-highest in the Big 10 .337 batting average will be in the lineup when he isn’t pitching. Roscetti also batted over .300 last season, as did Klenovich in his limited plate appearances.

Last season, the defense and pitching was good enough to more than make up for any offensive deficiencies. That may be the case again this year, but it’s still an area that Iowa needs to improve upon if they want to advance in the NCAA tournament this season.

Schedule

The Hawkeyes begin the season this weekend at Dallas Baptist, which was also a 2015 NCAA regionals qualifier and is ranked 31st in the preseason NCBWA poll. On March 18, Iowa will return to the site of its 2015 NCAA regional and face the opponent who ousted them, the No. 28 Missouri State Bears.

Conference play will begin on March 25 with a weekend series at home against conference title contender Maryland. The highlight of the conference slate will be a weekend home series against nearly consensus Big 10 favorite No. 25 Michigan, which will take place on April 22-24.

Iowa’s first home game is March 8 against Northwestern (Iowa) College and the home finale will be May 15 against Michigan State. The regular season finale will be May 21 at Penn State, and the Big 10 tournament in Omaha begins on May 25. NCAA regional play is slated to start on June 3.

Outlook

Perfect Game USA and the Big 10 coaches both selected Iowa to finish fourth in the conference standings, which depending on how the Big 10 performs as a whole and how the Hawkeyes fare in the Big 10 tournament, may or may not be sufficient to earn another at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.

While the departures from 2015 are significant, the retained core and the additions are sufficient to make up for them. If these players play up to their potential individually and cooperatively, Iowa should see another at-large bid in 2016. For the Hawkeyes to earn consecutive berths is in and of itself enough of a huge accomplishment for this program, but advancing beyond regional play is important to show that the program is continuing to move forward.

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