Iowa baseball team seems to be in a good spot for NCAA berth

IOWA CITY — Are they in?

Let’s just say the Iowa baseball team is in a good position when it comes to being a NCAA tournament qualifier.

The Hawkeyes sit with a 37-12 overall record going into their final regular-season series at Northwestern. Games are Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

They are 13-7 in the Big Ten Conference, which is good for third place, 1 1/2 games behind co-leaders Indiana and Maryland. They’ve got an RPI of 29, which puts them solidly in at-large bid territory.

“I feel like there’s more in the tank, and that’s what I told them,” Iowa Coach Rick Heller said. “We’ve said that this team had a chance to be special since the fall, been talking about it a lot. But it takes what it takes. I think they’ve finally figured out what it takes, if that makes sense.”

Iowa can remove all doubt about that NCAA thing if it wins the Big Ten tournament next week in Omaha, of course. It can — and quite frankly should — pad its win total this weekend against the Big Ten’s worst team.

Northwestern is 9-38 overall and 3-18 in the league. It comes by that record honestly, as the Wildcats rank 12th out of 13 teams in the Big Ten in batting and dead last in pitching with an unsightly team earned run average of 8.64.

“We’ll just go play. That’s all we can do,” Heller said. “We know that if we don’t play well, we can lose to anybody. If we play well and they play great, you can lose to anybody. But we also know that if we take care of our business like we’ve been doing and play great baseball, more than likely we’re going to be all right.”

Iowa swept its home series last weekend against Michigan State and has won five of six without leading hitter Keaton Anthony, presumably one of 26 student-athletes at the school involved in a law-enforcement investigation into gambling. Sports wagering is illegal in Iowa for those under 21 and also is against NCAA rules.

Heller said Sunday after Iowa’s 5-1 win over Michigan State that he was hopeful the multiple suspended players on his team would be allowed to play again this season, though he had no knowledge of what was going on with the investigation.

⧉ Related article: What we know, don’t know about Iowa, Iowa State’s sports betting investigations

The Hawkeyes have been a balanced offensive team, especially without Anthony, getting something from just about everyone in the lineup. Heller especially lauded first baseman Brennen Dorighi, the graduate transfer from Wofford, who is hitting .355 with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs in 49 games.

Heller said Dorighi’s quiet leadership has been important for his team and said he expects him to get taken later this summer in the Major League Baseball Draft.

“How lucky we are that he’s here, and that we have him,” Heller said. “Professional approach to the game. He’s quiet, he’s confident, and it rubs off on people.”

Heller even brought up the possibility of hosting one of the 16 NCAA regionals if Iowa can continue playing as well as it has. But, really, first things first.

The Hawkeyes just need to make sure they get into regional play.

“It definitely feels a lot different this year,” said Iowa infielder Michael Seegers. “It feels really special because the whole team, we’re relying on everybody, not just a few guys here and there. It’s really just a whole team effort. It’s definitely a lot easier that way when you know guys are going to pick you up.”

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com