Sunday Night Thoughts

[coolonetoo]

I had family stuff going on so I was on radio/TV delay all weekend. I just finished today's game. My $.02:

1. When are sports programs at the University of Nebraska--in particular, football and baseball--going to stop expecting to beat Iowa just by showing up? The Hawkeyes have seemed to want it more for about five straight years now and it is maddening. Schreiber's Friday tweet was confirmation this team expected to roll the Hawkeyes effortlessly.
2. Friday night really hurt. Blowing a three-run lead set the tone for the weekend on both sides. No lead felt comfortable the rest of the way. Somehow, Nebraska finally out-Iowa'ed Iowa with today's 8th-inning rally.
2. Jake Adams might be Kyle Schwarber part deux. I'll be OK with him turning pro and never having to face that guy again.
3. Disaster was avoided by salvaging a win on Sunday. Some of the goodwill by beating Maryland has melted away, though. MUST TCB against Creighton.

 

[huskerfan_12_05]

Agree with most, need to stop underestimating Iowa... they always show up to play when it's Nebraska v Iowa & we don't seem to. I know if we can take series from the likes of Maryland & Indiana we should be able to roll Iowa without problems but we always seem to struggle putting them away..

Iowas lineup is actually pretty decent from what I saw. Jake Adam is legit ...

Also what tweet from Schreiber? Don't even see an account for Schreiber other than the parody account ??

 

[coolonetoo]

Also what tweet from Schreiber? Don't even see an account for Schreiber other than the parody account ??

OK, I got sucked in on that one. Never mind. I stand by my statement about overlooking Iowa, though.

 

[RobsterMobster]

Iowa has a pretty good coaching staff and will make noise this year. In my honest opinion a couple decent starting pitchers are all they are really missing. They have a decent bullpen to win some games, especially with that lineup supporting them.

 

[k9_r]

Iowa has a pretty good coaching staff and will make noise this year. In my honest opinion a couple decent starting pitchers are all they are really missing. They have a decent bullpen to win some games, especially with that lineup supporting them.

Very much like their coach.

 

[bigredrl]

Iowa has a pretty good coaching staff and will make noise this year. In my honest opinion a couple decent starting pitchers are all they are really missing. They have a decent bullpen to win some games, especially with that lineup supporting them.

You brought this up in a different thread we were engaged in and I had actually forgot Heller was the coach there. Very good baseball coach. We lived in Indiana for 7 years while my oldest son was in HS. Rick showed some interest in my son and recruited several kids from his HS, 1 that actually played for Indiana State.

Underrated coach IMO, but dont know anything about his staff.

 

[RobsterMobster]

You brought this up in a different thread we were engaged in and I had actually forgot Heller was the coach there. Very good baseball coach. We lived in Indiana for 7 years while my oldest son was in HS. Rick showed some interest in my son and recruited several kids from his HS, 1 that actually played for Indiana State.

Underrated coach IMO, but don't know anything about his staff.

He is an up and coming coach imo and has assembled a pretty good staff. Sutherland and Moore are a couple assistants that I believe both contribute to the hitting and honestly they do a pretty good job. I will say they had some lower division teams to beat up on earlier in the year so the stats may be a tad inflated but they did pretty well against the same Nebraska staff that for the most part shutdown Indiana and Maryland the last couple weeks.

I don't know too much about their recruiting but they do seem to be developing guys fairly well. You can tell they don't have the depth at pitching and their lineup drops off big time after the 5th guy in the lineup. Seeing them almost win the Big Ten Tourney last year as an 8 seed showed me the potential that staff has if they stay together and don't leave for greener pastures.

The only thing with them is what plagues many young staffs around the country and that is consistency.

 

[2bagger22]

He is an up and coming coach imo and has assembled a pretty good staff. Sutherland and Moore are a couple assistants that I believe both contribute to the hitting and honestly they do a pretty good job. I will say they had some lower division teams to beat up on earlier in the year so the stats may be a tad inflated but they did pretty well against the same Nebraska staff that for the most part shutdown Indiana and Maryland the last couple weeks.

I don't know too much about their recruiting but they do seem to be developing guys fairly well. You can tell they don't have the depth at pitching and their lineup drops off big time after the 5th guy in the lineup. Seeing them almost win the Big Ten Tourney last year as an 8 seed showed me the potential that staff has if they stay together and don't leave for greener pastures.

The only thing with them is what plagues many young staffs around the country and that is consistency.

Just to clear the air, Iowa's offensive approach was totally revamped over the off season. Initially, Iowa hired Pete Lauritson from North Iowa Community College as the hitting coach and volunteer assistant. Lauritson's teams at NIACC hit the crap out of the ball and he preaches launch angle and really unloading when you find your pitch. The best example is Jake Adams. Lauritson actually left in October after the Cleveland Indians hired him and Sean Moore replaced him.

Regarding Iowa's arms, they've done a fair job despite numerous injuries. Prior to the season, LHP Nick Allegyer underwent TJ and he was the likely Sunday starter. Saturday starter CJ Eldred pitched in one game before being sidelined with TJ, forcing Cole McDonald from his midweek role into the weekend rotation. Finally, LHP Kyle Shimp was diagnosed with mono last week and is out the next few weeks. He had done a great job of pitching out of the Hawkeye bullpen.

I'm not going to complain about injuries but they certainly make you wonder what if. It was a fun series with you all last weekend. I was in Lincoln in 2012 for the first B1G series and boy, you guys really show and support your team. Our players were very impressed that whole weekend.

 

[RobsterMobster]

Just to clear the air, Iowa's offensive approach was totally revamped over the off season. Initially, Iowa hired Pete Lauritson from North Iowa Community College as the hitting coach and volunteer assistant. Lauritson's teams at NIACC hit the crap out of the ball and he preaches launch angle and really unloading when you find your pitch. The best example is Jake Adams. Lauritson actually left in October after the Cleveland Indians hired him and Sean Moore replaced him.

Regarding Iowa's arms, they've done a fair job despite numerous injuries. Prior to the season, LHP Nick Allegyer underwent TJ and he was the likely Sunday starter. Saturday starter CJ Eldred pitched in one game before being sidelined with TJ, forcing Cole McDonald from his midweek role into the weekend rotation. Finally, LHP Kyle Shimp was diagnosed with mono last week and is out the next few weeks. He had done a great job of pitching out of the Hawkeye bullpen.

I'm not going to complain about injuries but they certainly make you wonder what if. It was a fun series with you all last weekend. I was in Lincoln in 2012 for the first B1G series and boy, you guys really show and support your team. Our players were very impressed that whole weekend.

Makes sense, It seemed they turned it on offensively during the tourney and just never looked back. Hopefully they don't get to the point of relying too much on the long ball which is what hurt Indiana a few years ago when making their CWS run. Nebraska does the opposite and I wish they would get a couple big long ball hitters myself but can't argue with the oppo side of the field approach Erstad utilizes considering we play is a pitcher friendly ballpark.

You are correct with injuries which tend to be part of the game. Nebraska has lost 3 bullpen pitchers and for the first time we saw how much of a loss they were when our starters couldn't go beyond 5 innings each game. That is where Iowa's staff will take that next step, if they are able to stack that depth so injuries don't hurt as much.

Regardless it has been fun to watch the Big Ten the last couple seasons. I worried after Indiana's run ended with Tracy Smith the conference would dip back into mediocrity but that hasn't been the case the last couple years.

 

[2bagger22]

Makes sense, It seemed they turned it on offensively during the tourney and just never looked back. Hopefully they don't get to the point of relying too much on the long ball which is what hurt Indiana a few years ago when making their CWS run. Nebraska does the opposite and I wish they would get a couple big long ball hitters myself but can't argue with the oppo side of the field approach Erstad utilizes considering we play is a pitcher friendly ballpark.

You are correct with injuries which tend to be part of the game. Nebraska has lost 3 bullpen pitchers and for the first time we saw how much of a loss they were when our starters couldn't go beyond 5 innings each game. That is where Iowa's staff will take that next step, if they are able to stack that depth so injuries don't hurt as much.

Regardless it has been fun to watch the Big Ten the last couple seasons. I worried after Indiana's run ended with Tracy Smith the conference would dip back into mediocrity but that hasn't been the case the last couple years.

As was I. It was pretty clear Tracy was the best coach in the conference when I was a young freshman. My buddy and I knew he would only stay in the B1G for so long and it's tough to turn down Arizona State.

Looking back at the conference in 2009, Indiana and Purdue are to thank for much of today's success. I think once the TV money started rolling in and you all joined in 2012, administrators woke up and realized they needed to invest in college baseball. Gone were the days of petitioning for summer baseball to level the playing field (though, I think Anderson at Minnesota would be making the argument if they hadn't won the conference last year).

 

[donahues17]

Makes sense, It seemed they turned it on offensively during the tourney and just never looked back. Hopefully they don't get to the point of relying too much on the long ball which is what hurt Indiana a few years ago when making their CWS run. Nebraska does the opposite and I wish they would get a couple big long ball hitters myself but can't argue with the oppo side of the field approach Erstad utilizes considering we play is a pitcher friendly ballpark.

Solely relying on the long ball is bad especially when if you do happen to make it to Omaha. A good balanced attack is what I prefer. 3 guys that can change the game with one swing of the bat. Erstads hitting style sucks in my opinion as it is so inconsistent. It is sad that one player for Iowa has 4 more homeruns than the entire Husker offense. As for playing in a pitcher friendly park, Iowa's hitters thought Nebraska's pitchers were very friendly.