Iowa baseball pitcher Brody Brecht has lived up to the expectation of being the team's ace and then some over the past three starts. Brecht, who found himself in a rough patch during the middle of the year, has shaken that off in a big way. In his last three appearances, Brecht has accumulated 36 strikeouts while only allowing five hits and two earned runs. He has earned the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week two times in the last three weeks. Brecht says a big part of his dominant stretch has been the development of a splitter; a pitch he said has become a huge part of his arsenal as the season has progressed."My slider really wasn't landing I had to develop a splitter," the Ankeny native said. "If you had told me that two months ago I would've laughed and called you crazy but that's become a legit pitch for me."Brecht also credits his mental approach as a major player in his recent surge. "I know it's a good day when I'm not just physically tired, but mentally tired too," he said. "That's how I know I'm committing to each and every pitch."Through 12 games this season, Brecht sports a 3.43 ERA with 108 strikeouts. He is three strikeouts away from setting the new Iowa single-season record for strikeouts.Iowa hits the road for a three-game series against Illinois starting Friday.