Wartburg NOT the IIAC baseball tourney favorite

Wartburg, the underdog? If you go by the seeds for this weekend's Iowa Conference baseball tournament, then, yeah, the Knights aren't going in as one of the favorites for the first time in over a decade.

Wartburg is the fourth seed in a double-elimination, six-team tournament that begins Thursday afternoon and runs through Saturday at Daniels Park and Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. The winner qualifies for the NCAA Division III regional tournament.

This is the first time in 13 years the Knights haven't at least shared the regular-season championship in the IIAC, an incredible streak ended.

"I guess if it's an advantage to think of ourselves as the underdog, then we'll try to use it," laughed Wartburg Coach Joel Holst.

Loras (25-12 overall) and Luther (27-11) tied for first in the regular season with identical 15-7 conference records, with Loras the tournament's top seed because it won two of three games from Luther. Coe (21-17) placed right behind the winners at 14-8, with Wartburg (22-17) next at 14-10.

"This is the largest number of seniors we've had here (12), so it was a little bit unexpected, in terms of our uneven play this season," said Holst, who has won over 500 games in his college career at Wartburg and Loras. "But that's where we're at. The (12 straight conference championships) have ended, and now we move on.

"It's been a lot of little things this season. Sometimes when you've got a lot of seniors, it's not always a good thing. They sometimes get preoccupied with the real world, graduating and getting a job."

All that being said, it'd be a surprise for Wartburg not to be a threat this weekend.

"There are six teams, and anybody can win it," said Holst, whose team plays fifth-seeded Buena Vista in a first-round game Thursday afternoon. "I don't think there is a dominant team in our league. We've spent the season beating up on each other."