Minnesota is heading back on the road after a midweek contest hosting St. Thomas for the second time this season.
After back-to-back wins, Minnesota (10-20, 1-5) moves back into conference play to Iowa in a three-game series starting Friday. The Hawkeyes (17-12, 3-3) are coming off a series loss at the hands of Illinois the weekend prior and a midweek 16-2 victory over Milwaukee Tuesday.
The Gophers were able to avoid the sweep against Maryland with a 4-3 win in the third game.
Minnesota’s starting pitching has continued to have an up and down season, but now its ace is falling into that narrative. After a red-hot start from junior Sam Ireland, he has run into some trouble in three of his previous four starts. He’s given up 11 of his 17 total earned runs in those three starts, dropping his ERA to 3.53.
The Maroon & Gold could really use the dominant pitching from Ireland to return down the stretch against conference foes. That role could be coming into fruition with redshirt junior Aidan Maldonado who has given up more than two earned runs just twice.
As the No. 3 starter for the Gophers, Maldonado has been impressive in the majority of his starts, even if his ERA doesn’t show. Currently sitting at a 5.02 ERA, he does a good job limiting opponent hits as well as managing his strikeout to walk ratio. Coming into the series with 42 strikeouts, Maldonado’s WHIP sits at 1.65.
On offense, outfielder Jack Kelly is still leading the way for Minnesota with a .375 average, 10 doubles and three triples. He now stands as the only everyday starter for the Gophers to hold an average above .300.
Catcher Chase Stanke is still leading the team in home runs with nine, but has hit a big road block with just two in his past 17 games. Outfielder Brett Bateman has been sitting around the .300 mark for about a month and a half, and is currently at .296. Bateman isn’t much of a power hitter, with just six of his 35 hits going for extra bases.
Looking at the Hawkeye roster, the Gopher offense won’t have an easy road ahead of them. Iowa’s pitching staff has been dominant in the first two months of the season and lead the nation in strikeouts per nine innings with 12.7. It’s also second in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings at 5.98.
The Minnesota offense has been hit or miss this season, and it won’t come easy against a pitching staff that allows an opponent batting average of .187.
Iowa’s offense ranks ninth in the Big Ten sitting at .268, and they’ve scored just 11 more total runs than the Maroon & Gold. The Hawkeyes are on a hot streak right now, winning nine of their previous 13 and have scored 10 or more runs five times. Minnesota has only done that twice.
Minnesota is coming off back-to-back wins and will look to get its second three-game win streak of the season. The Gophers face the easiest Big Ten opponent of their season so far, but Iowa is still a dangerous team that the Gophers will need to play disciplined against.
