Iowa heads into Big Ten baseball tournament with high hopes

IOWA CITY - In the four years since Rick Heller has taken over the Iowa baseball program, a lot has changed.

There's a revamped field, a newly minted Big Ten player of the year in Jake Adams, 18 all-Big Ten selections during Heller's tenure and four straight appearances in the conference tournament - and a magical run to the finals last year.

Junior Nick Gallagher has turned into an ace, a parade of solid infielders have backed the pitching staff well and have excellent bats to boot. There's even been a run of solid catchers.

Most importantly, however, Iowa baseball is winning.

'We've been working really hard to get this program back to where it needs to be,” Gallagher said. 'I think we're on the climb right now, I don't think there's a ceiling.”

The Hawkeyes have a tough task ahead of them in the Big Ten tournament. Seeded fifth, Iowa will take on fourth-seeded Maryland at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind., trying to make a return trip to the conference title game.

The Terrapins likely will start uber-talented Brian Shaffer on the mound. He leads the conference with a 1.67 ERA. There hasn't been a meeting between the Hawkeyes and the Terps this year, though Iowa did win a series against them last season.

Gallagher threw four scoreless innings in the second, series deciding, game. This time around he's the first pitcher in the rotation and Iowa's season may very well come down to how he pitches.

Getting a win in the first game is a huge boon in the tournament as it means the Hawkeyes won't slip immediately to the losers' bracket and have to play extra games. For a team without a whole lot of pitching depth, this will be critical.

Even so, there's confidence around the team and for good reason. Owning the fourth-best team batting average (.285) in the league is nice, as is having a league-best 58 home runs.

Adams is absolutely mashing balls right now and has a home run in six of his last seven games, including two contests where he blasted multiple balls out of the park.

'I've been seeing the ball pretty well the last couple weeks,” Adams said. 'I'm feeling pretty good at the plate right now.”

Adams did go through something of a slump earlier in the year, though the junior has just 10 hitless games all season. A few weeks ago Heller mentioned Adams would start to hit better once the weather warmed up and it's been a correct assessment.

In fact, the whole team has been hitting quite well as of late. It was a similar story last season when the Hawkeyes' production ticked up to end the year. It led them to three wins in the Big Ten tournament and a berth in the championship game against Ohio State, where the Hawks fell 8-7.

There's a bit of a revenge factor, but there's also a bit of desperation as well. With an RPI of 94, the only way the Hawkeyes are going to get into the NCAA tournament is if they win the conference tournament.

A tall task, but one this squad is up for.

'You just have to keep playing and doing the things you've been doing all year,” Heller said. 'You need to control yourself and you can't let the moment get to you.

'If you try to make big of a deal out of it, it usually backfires and flops.”

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com