Spencer Wagen / 1600 ESPN
When the University of Iowa Baseball team lost three out of four games to Washington State six weeks ago, the sky wasn’t literally falling for the Hawkeyes, but a 4-6 record through the first 10 games was certainly a disappointing mark after Rick Heller’s team entered this year eager to wash away the frustrations of last season that saw lofty expectations go unmet.
If you recall, Iowa began last year nationally ranked and was expected to be in contention for a regional berth again. Instead, the Hawks stumbled to a 31-23 record (14-10 in conference) and were knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament in just two days.
This year looks like it has a chance to be different. Despite their slow beginnings, the proverbial switch has flipped since Big Ten play has started, and the Hawkeyes are carrying a streak of six-straight series wins into this week of action. Pretty impressive for a team that started below .500, right?
The most recent series win, taking two out of three against Nebraska at Duane Banks Field, was full of entertaining moments. Last Friday, the Hawkeyes won a pitchers duel 1-0 thanks to a lights-out performance from staff ace Cade Obermueller. The son of former MLB-er Wes tossed seven shutout innings, striking out 11 Husker batters in the victory.
On Saturday, in front of a record crowd for the Rick Heller era of 2,654 fans, the Hawkeyes exploded for six runs in the eighth inning to stun Nebraska 11-6. Ben Wilmes got the rally going with a game-tying solo home run, with Daniel Rogers putting Iowa ahead for good on a sac fly. Andy Nelson capped off the scoring with a three-run homer to left field, which sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Unfortunately for Hawkeye fans, Iowa couldn’t capitalize on some Huskers mistakes in Sunday’s series finale and lost 6-4.
This recent run of success has Iowa sitting near the top of the Big Ten standings, but the final month of the season will really show us just how far this team has come since the start of the year — as their toughest series, both in and out of conference, still await them.
In the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes head to Michigan this week, host Indiana, travel to Washington and then host Oregon. They’ll also play a non-conference series against top-10 ranked Oregon State in Des Moines May 9-11. All of Iowa’s remaining series in conference are against teams with winning records, and how the Hawkeyes perform will determine not only where they end up in the Big Ten Tournament but also a potential spot in an NCAA regional.
Right now, Baseball America has the Hawkeyes as one of their last four into the NCAA field and earning a trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for regional play. Their projection has five Big Ten teams getting into the field, with Oregon, USC, UCLA, Michigan and Iowa earning a berth. A different national site, Warren Nolan.com, projects the Hawkeyes will finish 32-21 overall and 20-10 in conference. It’ll be interesting to see how the Hawkeyes finish out the season as they look to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Spencer Wagen is the host of “Spencer on Sports,” weekdays from 4-6 p.m. on 1600ESPN. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @SWOnTheRadio.
