It’s not really a cliché when Brody Brecht says he takes everything one pitch at a time.

It’s an approach that is now making him, as his coach described it, a “really polished pitcher.”

Brecht matched a career high with 13 strikeouts, allowing just two hits and one run over eight innings in Iowa’s 9-2 win over Northwestern on Saturday at Duane Banks Field.

The Hawkeyes (27-18 overall, 12-8 Big Ten) clinched the series against the Wildcats (13-29, 2-15) behind Brecht, who is putting together an impressive run to close the regular season.

Brecht (3-2), over his last three starts, has struck out 36 in 22 ⅔ innings, allowing just five hits, three runs (two earned) and eight walks in that stretch.

“I continue to preach the mental side of the game — just control what I can control,” Brecht said. “Take it one pitch at a time — it’s been a big focus for me.”

Iowa coach Rick Heller appreciates that approach.

“I just think from a confidence standpoint, from a focus standpoint, he’s in a great place right now,” Heller said. “He isn’t putting the weight of the world on every pitch. He’s just going out and playing and having fun and helping the team, not worrying about anything but the next pitch. That’s great to see, because that hasn’t always been the case.”

Brecht’s confidence could be seen early. Northwestern’s Preston Knott doubled into the right-field corner on Brecht’s second pitch of the game. Knott ended up scoring — he moved to third base on Bennett Markinson’s fly ball to right field and scored on Jackson Freeman’s sacrifice fly. But those two outs started a streak of 12 consecutive hitters retired by Brecht.

Brecht was consistently working ahead of the hitters during that run.

“That’s the name of the game — getting ahead,” he said. “When you get ahead, the chase rates go up.”

Brecht finally got a lead in the fifth inning, when Iowa scored three runs off a bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice fly, and a double steal.

Brecht had six of his strikeouts in the three innings after the Hawkeyes had taken the lead.

“He was in control the entire time, I felt like,” Heller said. “He’s in a really good zone right now. When he would hit a little spell when he wasn’t getting ahead, he stepped back, found a way to get back in the zone. When we did score, he had shutdown innings.

“He was just really, really in control. That was the third one in a row where he looked like a really polished pitcher.”

Iowa got a run in the sixth on Raider Tello’s run-scoring single, then broke open the game in the eighth with five runs. Andy Nelson had a two-run double, Tello drove in a run with a double, then Reese Moore hit a two-run home run.

“I was really happy,” Heller said. “There were so many quality at bats today where there was no reward. To finally have it break through shows you that the mentality was right.”

Brecht’s long outing — he threw 115 pitches — allowed Heller to conserve his bullpen for Sunday’s series finale. Heller had planned on using Ben DeTaeye in the eighth if Brecht needed help, and then Jack Young in the ninth, but the big lead allowed him to save both.

“That was exactly what we needed to be in good shape for tomorrow’s game,” Heller said.