Former Ankeny star Brody Brecht tossed a career-high 7 2/3 innings and recorded 12 strikeouts to lead the Iowa baseball team past Rutgers, 5-1, to sweep the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.
Brecht allowed just one unearned run and one hit in his best outing of the year.
“It felt good to be out there and to feel like myself again,” said Brecht. “Just give the team an opportunity to win the game. I think everything was working for me, the fastball kind of teetered late there but I felt good. I thought (pitching coach) Sean (McGrath) called a great game and the position players made a lot of good plays. I have to give credit to them, too.”
Ben DeTaeye threw the final 1 1/3 innings and struck out two without allowing a hit. The Hawkeyes allowed just one hit for the first time since Feb. 18, 2022 against Air Force.
Rutgers scored its only run of the game in the eighth when Pete Durocher walked and came around to score on a groundout, a wild pitch and an error.
“There are weird days like that,” said Iowa coach Rick Heller, whose team had just two hits but took advantage of four walks in the win. “Very rarely have you been to this ballpark and seen a game like that with three hits (total) for both teams. Happy that the guys really stepped up with a great effort this weekend.”
Brecht opened the game by fanning the first three batters that he faced. He later retired seven consecutive batters, six of them by strikeout, to keep the Scarlet Knights scoreless through seven innings.
“Great series,” Heller said. “Couldn’t be prouder of the guys. They went out and fought hard. That is what we talked about this week, fighting as hard as we can. Get rid of what people say and what people think and all the things you can’t control and go play as hard as you can and see what happens.”
Iowa improved its records to 9-6 in the Big 10 and 22-15 overall. The Hawkeyes have won their last four games.
It was the first win of the season for Brecht, who entered Sunday’s game with an 0-2 mark and a 4.91 ERA in nine starts. He has now recorded 84 strikeouts in 48 innings but has struggled with his control at times, allowing 35 walks.
The Hawkeyes will play a three-game series against Florida International on May 16-18 at Principal Park in Des Moines.