Iowa

Brody Brecht Strikes Out 13 in Iowa Win

Published

2 months ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

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.

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Related Topics:Brody Brecht Featured Hawkeyes Iowa Baseball

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Iowa

Flooding, bacteria impacting parks & beaches this 4th of July

Published

5 hours ago

July 4, 2024

Press Room

Flooding, bacteria impacting parks & beaches this 4th of July

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowans will want to check before heading to their favorite state parks and beaches this 4th of July holiday.

The Iowa DNR says flooding and higher levels of bacteria are impacting several parks and beaches, including some in eastern Iowa.

In Black Hawk County, George Wyth State Park will be closed until at least July 9th because of flooding on the Cedar River. The DNR says the park is closed to all traffic, cars, bikes, walking, hiking and people. With trails flooded, gates will be closed for safety.

In Delaware County, the Iowa DNR says the North, East, and West gates at Backbone State Park are closed because of flooding. The DNR also says swimming at Backbone Lake is not recommended because of higher levels of E. Coli.

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Iowa

Ex-Iowa police chief gets 60-month sentence in illegal firearms case – UPI.com

Published

12 hours ago

July 4, 2024

Press Room

Ex-Iowa police chief gets 60-month sentence in illegal firearms case – UPI.com

July 3 (UPI) — A police chief in a small Iowa town has been slapped with a 60-month federal prison sentence for illegally possessing a machine gun and making false statements to authorities, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Bradley Eugene Wendt, former chief of police in Adair, Iowa, and owner of a firearms supply business in nearby Denison, Iowa, was found guilty by a jury of one count of conspiracy to make false statements to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and eight counts of making a false statement to the ATF, federal prosecutors in Des Moines said in a statement.

Authorities accused Wendt of buying machine guns for the Adair Police Department but later reselling the weapons via his gun dealership at a personal profit of nearly $80,000 by falsely using “demonstration law letters.”

Among the weapons he illegally obtained was a .50 caliber machine gun called a “Ma Deuce,” which prosecutors say he “immediately mounted to his personally owned armored Humvee.”

Wendt also personally possessed a belt-fed, M60 machine gun registered to the Adair Police Department, which authorities said he allowed members of public to shoot for a fee during an event held in April 2022.

During his trial, Wendt insisted he had talked with ATF officials and was under the impression all of his transactions were legal, but prosecutors countered there was no plausible reason for a town of fewer than 1,000 people to acquire such heavy weaponry, the Des Moines Register reported.

They also pointed to texts and emails sent by Wendt to friends bragging about how he was using his post as police chief to obtain and sell firearms.

“We expect law enforcement officers to uphold their oath to protect and serve our communities. Instead, Brad Wendt broke the law and betrayed the community by unlawfully obtaining and selling firearms for his own personal profit,” said FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel. “The FBI remains steadfast in aggressively investigating and bringing to justice those who misuse their authority for personal gain.”

The former police chief was fined $50,000 and will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon completion of his 60-month prison sentence.

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Iowa

These Iowa communities want traffic cameras

Published

19 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

These Iowa communities want traffic cameras

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray TV Iowa State Capitol Bureau) – The Iowa Department of Transportation confirmed to Gray TV Iowa that 25 cities and one county have applied to operate traffic cameras. Lawmakers passed legislation this past session that requires communities to apply for a permit through IDOT if they want traffic cameras.

IDOT reported that these communities applied for a traffic camera permit by the July 1st deadline:

Buffalo
Cedar Rapids
Charles City
Chester
Davenport
Des Moines
Fayette
Fort Dodge
Fredericksburg
Hazleton
Hudson
Independence
La Porte City
Le Claire
Lee County
Marion
Marshalltown
Muscatine
Oelwein
Postville
Prairie City
Sioux City
Strawberry Point
Tama
Waterloo
Webster City
West Union

Some lawmakers have tried for the past several years to ban traffic cameras. Instead, legislators agreed to require changes that took away some of the local authority.

Communities have to demonstrate the need for the cameras, provide annual reports detailing collisions and citations at the intersections, and they can only give a ticket if a driver is going at least 11 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.

There are several changes for drivers. Previously, the owner of the vehicle that received the traffic citation received the ticket. Owners can now notify the jurisdiction if someone else was driving.

Drivers will also notice standardized fines in all communities, another state mandate by the legislature.

Fines for speeding offense:

11-20 miles per hour above the speed limit: $75
21-25 miles per hour above the speed limit: $100
26-30 miles per hour above the speed limit: $250
More than 30 miles per hour above the speed limit: $500

About the author: Midwest native Dave Price is Gray Television’s Iowa Political Director for 10 stations that broadcast in the state and has been covering local, state and national politics from Iowa since 2001.

Dave produces and hosts “Inside Iowa Politics,” a weekly, in-depth show focused on interviews with top leaders on politics, issues, challenges and solutions that impact the state.

He has written two books about the Iowa Caucuses (“Caucus Chaos” and “Caucus Chaos Trump”). Email him at dave.price@gray.tv. Follow him on X (Twitter): @idaveprice Meta/Facebook: DavePriceNews Instagram: idaveprice and LinkedIn: Dave Price.

Dave welcomes your thoughts on what answers to seek from politicians and what issues challenge our communities.

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