Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller. Photo courtesy of Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com
Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller wants his Hawkeyes to focus on tonight’s series opener at Ohio State and not the big picture.
Iowa (7-8) is tied for ninth in the Big Ten standings with Illinois as the stretch run begins and is a game behind the eighth place Buckeyes (8-7). The top eight team advance to the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
“We talked this morning about how we need to be as confident as we can and do anything we can to find a way to help the team”, said Heller. That’s all we can do and hopefully it is good enough.”
If the Hawkeyes finish in the top eight they will have earned it. Iowa has played or will play seven of the top eight teams in the league race. Rutgers, Northwestern and Purdue are the bottom three teams and the Hawks don’t play any of them.
“To make it even crazier is most years nine wins will get you into the tournament and this year 12 may not get you in. We have our work cut out for us but I think we can get there. It all starts tonight with nine games left and here we go.”
Sophomore right hander C.J. Eldred (2-6) goes to the mound for the Hawkeyes against Ohio State junior left hander Tanner Tully (5-3) in the series opener.