Iowa baseball hitting its stride as it enters Big Ten Tournament

Iowa baseball's turnaround didn't begin with a dramatic win against a perennial powerhouse like Nebraska. It started after a maddening defeat at Penn State two weeks ago.

The Hawkeyes

(27-26 overall, 13-11 Big Ten) dropped the opener 6-2 in a three-game set. Iowa sat in last place in the Big Ten at 6-10  (19-25 overall) and the potential for postseason play seemed beyond grasp.

"We had an offensive meeting with (assistant) coach (Ryan) Brownlee,

and we took it upon ourselves that we need to step it up," Iowa center fielder Kurtis Muller said. "Our pitchers were really throwing the ball well throughout the whole year. We just really focused on staying focused, playing pitch-to-pitch and win every pitch and our ourselves in position to help the team win."

The meeting must have helped. Iowa won seven of its last eight to finish in a third-place tie in the league standings. Iowa enters Wednesday's Big Ten Tournament as the No. 4 seed and opens against Purdue at 11 a.m. in Columbus, Ohio (Big  Ten Network). It's Iowa's first Big Ten Tournament appearance since 2007.

Muller, a junior from Sun Prairie, Wis., is one of the primary reasons for Iowa's success. Twice in the last three weeks he was named one of the Big Ten's players of the week. After the opening loss at Penn State, Muller went 5-for-6 in the series finale and hit a three-run homer. The the series' middle game, he hit two triples and was a home run from hitting for the cycle.

Last weekend in a three-game sweep against Purdue, Muller went 10-for-14  with two doubles, two homers, three stolen bases, five runs scored and six RBIs to lead Iowa to a series sweep. Muller, who bats lead-off, leads the team in 11 statistical categories, including batting average (.384), at-bats (198), runs (49), hits (76), triples (6), slugging percentage (.556), walks (21), hit-by-pitches (21), on-base percentage (.458), stolen bases (24) and fielding percentage (1.000).

Muller said the team isn't looking past Purdue, which plans to throw ace Matt Bischoff (9-2, 3.45 ERA). Iowa will throw sophomore Jarred Hippen (5-4, 3.62 ERA), who was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after stonewalling Purdue in the series opener. Hippen earned a conference-leading fourth complete game and struck out a career-best nine batters.

"We're still at the base of the mountain," Muller said. "You can't win the championship all in one day. Purdue will want to get after us after we swept them."