2008 Woodie Awards
Getting back to baseball basics 101
Ryan Young - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports
Iowa baseball coach Jack Dahm said it himself: The Hawkeyes aren't a group composed of superstars.
Instead of his hitters bombing walk-off home runs, they're more likely to win using a series of hits and sacrifice bunts. Instead his pitchers striking out 15-consecutive batters, they're more likely to end an inning on a ground out or a pop fly.
That's just the type of team Iowa is, Dahm said, but he also noted that he feels his players are straying from that style of groundwork - at times, striving to force a highlight-reel play rather than staying relaxed and aggressive.
And after such techniques yielded a four-game winning streak prior to a dismal weekend, Dahm hopes his Hawkeyes will make a turnaround when Iowa (14-21, 5-11) hosts Wisconsin-Milwaukee (12-24, 5-8) today at 6 p.m.
"We need to understand what type of team we are," he said. "That's something we shoot for every day, not just because we lost three out of four against Northwestern [over the weekend].
"We need to learn from it and try to get back to what we did against Indiana and Creighton, and that's playing the game pitch to pitch, trust our abilities, and don't try to do too much.
"Believe me, our guys are going up there trying to win those games."
Iowa and Wisconsin-Milwaukee stand nearly identical on the stat sheet. Both have a 6.35 team ERA, with only two pitchers allowing fewer than five earned runs per game. They also bat similarly - Iowa having a slightly better average (.307) than the Panthers (.291).
But Wisconsin-Milwaukee has played primarily on the road all season, faring quite poorly on its way to a 7-22 away record and 3-2 mark at neutral sites.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes have a month to rise out of the Big Ten basement and remedy whatever ails them before the conference tournament begins on May 21.
Iowa's pair of double-headers over this past weekend significantly dented the Hawkeyes pitching staff, and Dahm said he will experiment a little this week - starting with Iowa's projected starter tonight, senior right-hander Joe Singer, who has yet to pitch an inning this season.
"We're going to give some guys opportunities - some guys who haven't had a chance to pitch a lot," the fifth-year coach said. "They deserve an opportunity to show us what they can do, and I hope to see some guys pitch well and earn some more opportunities."
Singer ended last season with a 10.97 ERA in six appearances and one start, which amounted to 102?3 innings. He struck out two batters, walked nine, and allowed four home runs.
But past struggles don't ruffle Dahm. Nine fielding errors and 38 surrendered runs over two days against Northwestern are what gets his goat.
"We had some breakdowns this past weekend defensively, so I'd like to see us get back to playing better defense and playing extremely hard again," he said. "We want to get better every day, and we need to get back to what's made us successful. And that's being a fundamentally sound team."
E-mail DI reporter Ryan Young at:
ryan-c-young@uiowa.edu
Instead of his hitters bombing walk-off home runs, they're more likely to win using a series of hits and sacrifice bunts. Instead his pitchers striking out 15-consecutive batters, they're more likely to end an inning on a ground out or a pop fly.
That's just the type of team Iowa is, Dahm said, but he also noted that he feels his players are straying from that style of groundwork - at times, striving to force a highlight-reel play rather than staying relaxed and aggressive.
And after such techniques yielded a four-game winning streak prior to a dismal weekend, Dahm hopes his Hawkeyes will make a turnaround when Iowa (14-21, 5-11) hosts Wisconsin-Milwaukee (12-24, 5-8) today at 6 p.m.
"We need to understand what type of team we are," he said. "That's something we shoot for every day, not just because we lost three out of four against Northwestern [over the weekend].
"We need to learn from it and try to get back to what we did against Indiana and Creighton, and that's playing the game pitch to pitch, trust our abilities, and don't try to do too much.
"Believe me, our guys are going up there trying to win those games."
Iowa and Wisconsin-Milwaukee stand nearly identical on the stat sheet. Both have a 6.35 team ERA, with only two pitchers allowing fewer than five earned runs per game. They also bat similarly - Iowa having a slightly better average (.307) than the Panthers (.291).
But Wisconsin-Milwaukee has played primarily on the road all season, faring quite poorly on its way to a 7-22 away record and 3-2 mark at neutral sites.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes have a month to rise out of the Big Ten basement and remedy whatever ails them before the conference tournament begins on May 21.
Iowa's pair of double-headers over this past weekend significantly dented the Hawkeyes pitching staff, and Dahm said he will experiment a little this week - starting with Iowa's projected starter tonight, senior right-hander Joe Singer, who has yet to pitch an inning this season.
"We're going to give some guys opportunities - some guys who haven't had a chance to pitch a lot," the fifth-year coach said. "They deserve an opportunity to show us what they can do, and I hope to see some guys pitch well and earn some more opportunities."
Singer ended last season with a 10.97 ERA in six appearances and one start, which amounted to 102?3 innings. He struck out two batters, walked nine, and allowed four home runs.
But past struggles don't ruffle Dahm. Nine fielding errors and 38 surrendered runs over two days against Northwestern are what gets his goat.
"We had some breakdowns this past weekend defensively, so I'd like to see us get back to playing better defense and playing extremely hard again," he said. "We want to get better every day, and we need to get back to what's made us successful. And that's being a fundamentally sound team."
E-mail DI reporter Ryan Young at:
ryan-c-young@uiowa.edu
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