Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller. Photo courtesy of Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com

Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller will send sophomore Brody Brecht to the mound Thursday afternoon when the third seeded Hawkeyes play second seeded Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha. Brecht is 5-2 and gave up two hits in seven innings of work in Iowa’s 7-1 win over the Hoosiers in early April.

Indiana will counter with sophomore Luke Sinnard. He blanked the Hawkeyes for six innings and struck out 12 in a 2-0 Hoosier victory as they claimed two of three games in the series.

“The best pitched game against us this season was by Sinnard, without question”, said Heller. “Just a tough matchup because he throws so many different pitches and everything is moving.”

The Hawkeyes erupted for 12 runs in the final four innings in a 13-3 victory over Michigan in Tuesday’s opening round. Indiana opened with a 4-3 win over Illinois. The Hoosiers are 41-16.

“Indiana is in a really good place and they are playing extremely well”, added Heller. “It will be a really good battle.”