The Iowa baseball team opens the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Hawkeyes are the fourth seed and play fifth seeded Illinois in the tournament opener. Iowa coach Jack Dahm says it will be a tough matchup as they face Illinois’ top pitcher.
The Hawks won three of four against the Illini during the regular season but the one loss came against Illinois ace Tanner Rourke. Dahm says Rourke throws a slider that gives them some trouble, but hopefully they learned from the first game. And he says they know the Illini hitters, and his team will be prepared.
Dahm says a win the opener would be a great start but even with a loss he is confident the Hawks would be able to bounce back. He says they were only 2-6 in Friday games, but were able to come back and win games after that. He says that’s a sign of a very resilient ball club.
Host Michigan is the top seed.