In Iowa’s last 10 games, its offense had averaged 9.7 runs per game. With an offense that potent Iowa doesn’t need a starting pitcher to go out and throw seven scoreless innings. All the Hawks really need is for the starter to eat some innings and keep the team in a position to win. On most nights against most opponents, Iowa’s offense will come through eventually.
Against Indiana on Thursday afternoon, Brody Brecht didn’t have his best stuff or his best command. He got off to a rocky start. But he also battled back and was able to pitch into the fifth inning. He limited Indiana to three runs and kept Iowa in the game. And in the seventh inning, Iowa’s offense rewarded that effort with four runs to take the lead. Iowa ultimately won the game 9-4 after tacking on four more runs in the ninth inning.
Brecht’s Line
4.2 IP, 5 K, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 3 H, 3 ER
Beyond the Box
Score
Pitch Count: 94 Balls: 41 Strikes: 53 Contact Strikes: 32 Strikes Looking: 8 Swings and Misses: 13 First Pitch Strikes: 11/22 (50%) Batters that Took a First Strike: 8/20—one batter was hit with the first pitch, one batter walked on four pitches First Time Through Order: 2-5, 2 K, 2 BB, 2 HBP, double, single Second Time Through Order: 1-9, 3 K, 0 BB, single Third Time Through Order: 1-3, 0 K, 1 BB, single vs Lefties: 2-6, K, 3 BB, HBP, 2 singles vs. Righties: 2-8, 4 K, HBP, double, single Results with First Pitch Strike: 3-9, 2 K, BB, HBP, double, single, single Results with First Pitch Ball: 1-8, 3 K, 2 BB, HBP, single
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Bad Luck First
Brecht’s first inning started like this: walk, hit batter, strikeout, double, walk, strikeout. Two earned runs scored in the inning. On the surface, that looks like a bad inning from Brecht. While the results were certainly poor, bad luck also played a notable role in those results.
The bad luck started with the second batter of the game, Indiana’s Bobby Whalen. Baseball is a game of inches, and that’s perhaps most apparent on foul balls. On most foul balls, the batter barely makes contact with the pitch. If the ball was just a fraction further up or down, the batter would miss and the pitcher would have a strikeout.
Brecht got ahead of Whalen 0-2, then fell victim to foul balls. Whalen managed to foul off six pitches after getting to two strikes to keep himself alive. On Brecht’s 12th pitch of the at-bat, he missed his target and hit Whalen on the hands. Whalen certainly deserves credit for keeping himself alive, but hitting six foul balls with two strikes requires a certain amount of good fortune. On a day when Brecht’s command was on and off, he threw 8 strikes to the same batter but wasn’t able to record an out.
Brecht’s next bit of bad luck came on BrockTibbetts’ double to right. As he had with Whalen, Brecht got ahead on Tibbetts 1-2. Tibbetts then fouled the fourth pitch off, before Brecht just missed a strikeout with his next two pitches. On a 3-2 count, Tibbetts connected on a shot to right.
Iowa’s right fielder—Brayden Frazier—initially broke in on Tibbetts’ hit. When he realized the ball was hit harder than he thought, he went back and tried to recover. The ball flew just over his glove and bounced off the wall. If Frazier hadn’t come in initially, he likely would have been able to make a relatively easy catch in right. One run still would’ve scored on the play, but the second runner would’ve been stuck at third. Brecht finished with a walk and a strikeout, so the second run likely would have been stranded on third base.
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In baseball, sometimes the breaks don’t go your way. That was true of Brecht’s first inning. If Whalen had struck out instead of fouling off six pitches, Brecht might have escaped with a scoreless first. If Frazier made a better initial read on the ball on the double, Brecht would have had a flyout and likely only would have allowed only one run in the first. Instead, he surrendered two run and the Hawks were down 2-0 after the first inning.
Finding a Groove
Brecht started the second inning with another hit batter and a single, and it looked like the second inning might go as poorly as the first had. Then Brecht managed to find his groove. He retired nine of the next 10 hitters, allowing just a single in that stretch.
Brecht usually has his best success when he gets a first pitch strike, but in that 10-batter stretch he only threw a first pitch strike five times.
The key to Brecht’s success in that stretch was the work he did after the first pitch. Against the first eight batters he faced, Brecht got to a three-ball count against four of them. Against the next 10 batters, he only had one three-ball count, and he got a groundball out on a 3-1 pitch.
Brecht deserves plenty of credit for finding the zone more in his middle innings, but Indiana also helped him out a bit. Brecht threw 53 strikes in the game and Indiana swung at 45 of them. Teams are hitting well below .200 against Brecht this season, so it’s fair to wonder why Indiana swung so often when swings against Brecht produce bad results the vast majority of the time.
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More Bad Luck in
the 5th
Brecht ran into trouble again in the fifth inning, but again bad luck had something to do with it. After a lead-off walk, Brecht got a groundball to third. Third baseman Raider Tello fielded it cleanly, but his throw to second was a little wide. Iowa got an out at second, but couldn’t turn two.
Brecht then gave up a single that was hit hard, but very close to second baseman Sam Hojnar. The ball bounced right before it got to Hojnar, then went past his glove and into the outfield for a hit. If the ball had stayed in the air just a little longer, or if it had been hit a little closer to Hojnar, it likely would have been an out. Instead Indiana had two runners on.
Brecht got a groundball from his final batter of the game. The ball was hit to first, and first baseman Brennen Dorighi did a good job fielding it and throwing to second. Shortstop Michael Seegers then fired to first where Brecht was covering, but the throw was just late and Iowa missed out on an inning-ending double play.
Instead, Iowa went to the bullpen, and reliever Jared Simpson got Iowa out of the jam.
Bouncing Back
Brecht deserves significant credit for bouncing back after a rough start to the game. Eight batters into the game, his start looked like a disaster for Iowa. Instead, he limited the damage that Indiana was able to do, worked through a few solid innings, and then got the ground balls he needed late. It wasn’t a banner start from Brecht, but he avoided potential disaster and ultimately did enough to keep Iowa close enough to be able to stage a comeback later in the game.
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Williamsburg’s Grant Hocker looks to throw for a 2-point conversion against Cedar Rapids Xavier earlier this season. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
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Here’s who all 71 Iowa high school football teams ranked in this week’s Gazette poll face in Week 7 games Friday night.
Class 3A gets the spotlight this week as its top two teams face top-seven opponents. No. 1 Algona visits No. 7 Humboldt, while second-ranked Williamsburg hosts a Solon team eager to bounce back from last week’s loss to Benton Community that dropped it from the top spot.
There is intrigue in the 8-Player top five as well, where three of the top five teams face fellow unbeaten foes. That includes No. 1 Remsen St. Mary’s taking on No. 10 Woodbine and No. 2 Algona Garrigan hosting Ruthven GTRA.
Class 5A
No. 1 West Des Moines Valley (5-1) vs. Waterloo West (5-1)
No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling (5-1) at Urbandale (3-3)
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No. 3 Bettendorf (6-0) at Davenport Central (2-4)
No. 4 Pleasant Valley (5-1) vs. Muscatine (2-4)
No. 5 Ankeny Centennial (4-2) vs. Des Moines Roosevelt (1-5)
No. 6 Linn-Mar (5-1) vs. Davenport West (0-6)
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No. 7 Johnston (4-2) vs. Council Bluffs Lincoln (4-2)
No. 8 Iowa City Liberty (5-1) vs. Ankeny (3-3)
No. 9 Waukee (4-2) at Southeast Polk (3-3)
No. 10 Sioux City East (4-2) vs. Des Moines Lincoln (1-5)
Class 4A
No. 1 Lewis Central (6-0) at Winterset (4-2)
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No. 2 Pella (6-0) at Des Moines Hoover (0-6), Thursday
No. 3 North Polk (6-0) at No. 10 Indianola (4-2)
No. 4 Gilbert (6-0) vs. Bondurant-Farrar (1-5)
No. 5 Decorah (6-0) at Marion (2-4)
No. 6 Adel ADM (5-1) at Ballard (3-3)
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No. 7 Cedar Rapids Xavier (4-2) at Oskaloosa (1-5)
No. 8 North Scott (4-2) at Clear Creek Amana (4-2)
No. 9 Newton (4-2) vs. Carlisle (0-6)
No. 10 Indianola (4-2) vs. No. 3 North Polk (6-0)
No. 10 Western Dubuque (4-2) at Waterloo East (2-4)
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Class 3A
No. 1 Algona (6-0) at No. 7 Humboldt (5-1)
No. 2 Williamsburg (5-1) vs. No. 5 Solon (5-1)
No. 3 Dubuque Wahlert (6-0) at West Delaware (4-2)
No. 4 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (6-0) vs. Carroll (4-2)
No. 5 Mount Vernon (5-1) vs. Fort Madison (0-6)
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No. 5 Solon (5-1) at No. 2 Williamsburg (5-1)
No. 7 Humboldt (5-1) vs. No. 1 Algona (6-0)
No. 8 Sioux City Heelan (4-2) at Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (1-5)
No. 9 Independence (4-2) at Maquoketa (1-5)
No. 10 Nevada (5-1) at Harlan (3-3)
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Class 2A
No. 1 West Lyon (6-0) at Sheldon (2-4)
No. 2 Monroe PCM (6-0) at West Marshall (5-1)
No. 3 Spirit Lake (5-1) at Garner GHV (1-5)
No. 4 Van Meter (5-1) vs. Centerville (4-2)
No. 5 Carroll Kuemper (5-1) vs. Saydel (1-5)
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No. 6 North Fayette Valley (5-1) vs. Oelwein (0-6) — canceled, Oelwein to forfeit
No. 7 Northeast (6-0) at Tipton (2-4)
No. 8 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (4-2) vs. No. 10 Western Christian (4-2)
No. 9 Roland-Story (4-2) vs. Des Moines Christian (4-2)
No. 10 Western Christian (4-2) at No. 8 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (4-2)
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Class 1A
No. 1 Grundy Center (6-0) at Alburnett (4-2)
No. 2 Wilton (6-0) at West Branch (2-4)
No. 3 Dike-New Hartford (5-1) vs. Aplington-Parkersburg (2-4)
No. 4 Emmetsburg (6-0) vs. Eagle Grove (0-6)
No. 5 Iowa City Regina (6-0) at Dyersville Beckman (4-2)
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No. 6 Ida Grove OABCIG (5-1) vs. No. 10 Hinton (5-1)
No. 7 South Hardin (5-1) at Hudson (5-1)
No. 8 Treynor (5-1) vs. Shenandoah (3-3)
No. 9 Sigourney-Keota (5-1) at Colfax-Mingo (1-5)
No. 10 Hinton (5-1) at No. 6 Ida Grove OABCIG (5-1)
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Class A
No. 1 West Hancock (6-0) at Lake Mills (4-2)
No. 2 Guthrie Center ACGC (6-0) vs. Mount Ayr (5-1)
No. 3 Saint Ansgar (5-1) at West Fork (1-5)
No. 4 Lisbon (6-0) vs. Danville (4-2)
No. 5 Earlham (5-1) at Oakland Riverside (4-2)
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No. 6 Tri-Center (5-1) vs. No. 8 Woodbury Central (5-1)
No. 7 Le Mars Gehlen (5-1) at South O’Brien (0-6)
No. 8 Woodbury Central (5-1) at No. 6 Tri-Center (5-1)
No. 9 North Linn (6-0) vs. Maquoketa Valley (5-1)
No. 10 Madrid (4-2) at North Mahaska (3-3)
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8-Player
No. 1 Remsen St. Mary’s (6-0) vs. No. 10 Woodbine (6-0)
No. 2 Algona Garrigan (6-0) vs. Ruthven GTRA (6-0)
No. 3 Don Bosco (6-0) vs. Turkey Valley (3-3)
No. 4 Audubon (6-0) vs. Collins-Maxwell (4-2)
No. 5 Lenox (6-0) vs. Southeast Warren (6-0)
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No. 6 Iowa Valley (6-0) vs. HLV (1-6)
No. 7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck (5-1) at Clarksville (5-2)
No. 8 Anita CAM (5-1) at Fremont-Mills (5-1)
No. 9 Bedford (5-1) vs. Lamoni (4-2)
No. 10 Woodbine (6-0) at No. 1 Remsen St. Mary’s (6-0)
Iowa State women’s basketball star Emily Ryan released a video Thursday in which she discusses her battle with an eating disorder.
Ryan, a senior from Claflin, Kansas, has been one of the Big 12 Conference’s best point guards for the past few seasons. She was a first-team all-conference pick in 2022, and a second-team selection in 2023.
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“By sharing my story, I hope to build awareness and provide hope to everyone else fighting an invisible battle,” Ryan said in the video.
Ryan said her sense of self-worth was dependent on Iowa State’s success and her individual performance. That led to increased time spent in the weight room in an effort to get stronger and faster. When Ryan didn’t see the results that she desired, she began to focus on her diet.
Ryan said the Iowa State medical staff expressed their concern about Ryan’s eating habits and what it was doing to her body. Ryan said she was in “complete denial” about having an eating disorder, but her health continued to worsen.
Ryan missed the first nine games of the 2023-24 season due to the eating disorder. When she returned, she said, “off the court I was really struggling. By the end of the season, I was physically and mentally hanging on by a thread.”
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During the offseason, Ryan spent 88 days at a treatment center in Denver.
“It took a long time but I finally came to the understanding that being sick wasn’t my fault, and eating disorders are real, complex illnesses,” she said.
How to get help
For resources on disordered eating, call the National Eating Disorders Helpline at 800-931-2237 or text NEDA to 741741.
It was an important date around the state for volleyball teams in Iowa, as the latest rankings were released and regional pairings in all five classes were revealed.
The two come into play once regionals reach the championship round, as the higher-ranked team will serve as the host for those games.
All five No. 1 squads remained the same, as Ankeny Centennial (Class 5A), Cedar Rapids Xavier (4A), Mount Vernon (3A), Denver (2A) and Ankeny Christian (1A) held serve.
New teams to the Top-15 include Iowa City West in 5A, Ballard in 4A, Wapsie Valley in 2A and Stanton in 1A. The entire 3A poll remained the same while Sidney made one of the biggest climbs, moving to ninth from 12th in 1A.
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Regional play for 1A and 2A begins Oct. 21 with 3A, 4A and 5A starting Oct. 22. The state tournament is scheduled for Nov. 4-7 in Coralville from the Xtream Arena. Complete regional pairings can be found on Bound.
Class 5A
1. Ankeny Centennial; 2. Pleasant Valley; 3. Ankeny; 4. West Des Moines Dowling; 5. Indianola; 6. Waukee Northwest; 7. Cedar Falls; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie; 9. Waukee; 10. Iowa City Liberty; 11. West Des Moines Valley; 12. Sioux City East; 13. Iowa City West; 14. Iowa City High; 15. Linn-Mar.
Class 4A
1. Cedar Rapids Xavier; 2. Sioux City Bishop Heelan; 3. North Scott; 4. Clear Creek-Amana; 5. Lewis Central; 6. Pella; 7. Glenwood; 8. Carlisle; 9. Marion; 10. Adel-ADM; 11. Norwalk; 12. Sergeant Bluff-Luton; 13. MOC-Floyd Valley; 14. Ballard; 15. Grinnell.
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