Iowa baseball team motivated to return to postseason

IOWA CITY — This will be the ninth season for Rick Heller as head baseball coach at the University of Iowa. The Hawkeyes have qualified for the postseason in six of his eight previous years.

He’s obviously a bit biased, but Heller felt Iowa should have been in the other two as well. That included last season, when it was snubbed by the NCAA despite going 26-18 playing a Big Ten Conference-only schedule.

A lower RPI did them in. Take care of business this season, and that shouldn’t be a problem.

Heller said he feels the 2022 schedule is the toughest he has seen in his time in Iowa City. He said it might be the toughest schedule Iowa ever has had.

The Hawkeyes play 15 games against NCAA tournament qualifiers last season. That includes a three-game home series March 18-20 against Texas Tech, a Super Regional team in 2021.

“I think this team is really well fitted for this schedule,” said senior infielder Izaya Fullard. “It’s going to put us in talks for an at-large bid at the end of the year. We’re playing some really good non-conference teams: Texas Tech, (Cal) Irvine at Irvine, those are great RPI boosters. That’s what you want. You want a chance for an at-large bid. I think this team can handle it.”

“If we do well the first half of this season with the schedule we have, I don’t think there will be any doubt that we haven’t played a tough enough schedule or that the RPI (isn’t) good enough,” Heller said. “Whether or not we can handle this schedule, I don’t know.”

Iowa will have a brand-new weekend starting pitching rotation this season, though that rotation is fluid at this point. A pair of Division I transfers, Adam Mazur (South Dakota State) and Connor Schultz (Butler) are set as the Friday-Saturday guys right now, with freshman Marcus Morgan getting first crack on Sunday.

Morgan has increased his fastball velocity to the mid-90s, which was kind of expected once the multisport athlete from Iowa City West got to college and concentrated solely on baseball. The spin on that fastball also has increased, which means more movement.

“It’s exciting, something that definitely was one of the goals in my mind coming into this year,” Morgan said of getting a chance to start. “Just having the opportunity to hopefully take the most advantage of and do what I can with it.”

Heller likes the depth of the pitching staff, mentioning fellow freshman Brody Brecht, sophomores Ty Langenberg, Will Christophersen, Casey Day and Benjamin DeTaeye as probabilities and/or possibilities, as well as experienced junior Duncan Davitt and senior Cam Baumann.

Dylan Nedved will continue as a late-inning guy and position player. Brecht is a freshman from Ankeny who also plays receiver for the Iowa football team.

“God blessed me with the ability to play both at the D-I, Big Ten level, so it’s really cool to have that opportunity,” Brecht said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys battling for those three weekend spots,” Heller said. “The pitching depth is good. A lot of good problems to have (in) making decisions.”

Position player wise, senior Brett McCleary, an Iowa City High grad, will be the main catcher, with touted sophomore first baseman Peyton Williams fully healthy and seemingly primed for a very big season. Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad Brayden Frazier heads the list of outfielders.

Fullard, who hit .296 last season, will continue to be a key cog toward the top of the batting order. He has been slowed by a nagging wrist injury.

Iowa opens Feb. 18 against Air Force at a tournament in Charleston, S.C. The home opener is tentatively scheduled for March 1 against Loras, the Big Ten opener April 1 at Michigan.

“The guys that did come back for a fifth year, I think that was one of the main reasons. We wanted a chance to play in a regional,” Fullard said. “Last year, we came up short. We used the whole offseason, the fall and winter, too, to motivate us for this coming season.”

“I know they’re motivated to have a good year, to give ourselves a chance to get to postseason,” Heller said. “But I don’t think last year specifically is motivating them that much. This is a completely new team with a new set of goals. You guys have heard me talk before that we really don’t talk about that stuff a whole lot. Be the best you can be every day and go out and play as hard as you can and see what happens.”

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