UNI watches and roots for another in hopes of tourney bid

It is a good thing the Northern Iowa baseball team wears purple because that’s the color of the team the Panthers will be backing this weekend. Evansville will host Illinois State this weekend in a four-game series and if the Purple Aces can win more than one of the games, U-N-I will sneak into the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. U-N-I coach Rick Heller says it’s very possible the Aces can win because they have a good closer.Heller says it’ll take a big weekend by Illinois State to prevent the Panthers from returning to the tournament. He says it’s not an easy task for a team to win three on the road.The Panthers put themselves into contention by sweeping a four-game series at Bradley. Heller says it was a tough weekend jus to get the games in with the weather the way it was.U-N-I has completed its conference schedule and will close out the regular season with a series at Missouri.