Jake Adams
Iowa slugger Jake Adams took an unusual path to the middle of the Hawkeye batting order. The native of Brandon, South Dakota, was a sophomore at Des Moines Area Community College last April when he was informed the school he signed with, North Dakota, was dropping the sport.
Adams began looking for options and Iowa came through with an offer. It has paid off. He leads the Big Ten with nine homers and 31 RBI and Hawkeye coach Rick Heller says at six-foot-two, 250 pounds, Adams is a rare find these days.
“With sports forcing guys to specialize like in football and basketball you are not seeing as many big, physical guys playing baseball because they have to pick a sport”, said Iowa coach Rick Heller. “When you see one you better grab hold of them because there are not a lot of them out there.”
Adams is not just high risk, high reward. He is hitting .344 and his on-base percentage is .427.
“He is just a great hitter”, added Heller. “He has done a super job with runners in scoring position all season long. He has just played extremely well.”
Iowa hosts UNLV in a three game non-conference series beginning Friday. Rebels coach Stan Stolte is a native of Lowden, Iowa, and played baseball at St. Ambrose.