Hawkeyes douse NCAA drought, seek splash vs. Ducks

The last time Iowa played in an NCAA baseball tournament:

* The Chicago Cubs were only 45 years removed from their last World Series appearance.

* Barry Bonds was four months from winning the first of his seven National League MVP awards.

* The Hawkeyes' ballpark wasn't named for Duane Banks, but their head coach was named Duane Banks.

* No current Iowa player had been born.

So this first NCAA appearance since 1990 is a big deal for Iowa. College baseball is no different from college basketball in that you can't be taken seriously as a program until you start going to NCAA tourneys.

It's unclear if this is a big deal in these parts, or just a nice novelty. Like anything else, winning will have to be consistent over time for Hawkeye baseball to gain traction in the hearts of area sports fans. You can't blot out a quarter-century of tepid interest with a sparkling few months.

But this season has certainly been a good start. Though Iowa (39-16) stumbled in the last two weeks in dropping two of three games to Rutgers (11th-place in the Big Ten) and two of three in the Big Ten tourney, the season was a model of consistent success.

Rick Heller's second Iowa club got where it's going this week because of pitching and defense. The Hawkeye rank 18th out of the nation's 295 Division I teams in earned run average (3.00) and are 12th in fielding percentage. You would take your chances with those numbers every year.

Iowa's offense is ordinary by D-I standards. The team has good hitters, and good speed. But of the 64 teams in the NCAAs, only Stony Brook has fewer home runs than Iowa's 14. The Hawkeyes are 12th in the Big Ten in slugging percentage, 218th nationally.

So the margin for error is slim. If Iowa's hurlers aren't in good form Friday afternoon against Oregon and Saturday against Missouri State or Canisius in Springfield, Mo., the Hawkeyes' NCAA stay will probably be brief in the double-elimination event.

But that's baseball, and that's been baseball since the game was concocted. If your pitchers are dialed in, you can keep going and going. The same will apply to Oregon (3.66 team ERA) and Missouri State (7th in the nation at 2.74).

Oregon's starting pitchers have ordinary stats, but the Ducks' relievers are big trouble for opponents. The closer, Garrett Cleavinger, has 66 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings with a 1.59 ERA, and has a team-high six wins to go with nine saves. He has 172 career strikeouts in 116 innings. He'll be a high Major League Baseball draft pick next month.

Oregon's last two games were 11-inning home wins over UCLA, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAAs. UCLA didn't score after the sixth inning in the first of those two games, and was shut out in the final three innings of the second one. Cleavinger got the win in both games.

But to be the best, you've got to beat the team that's beaten the best. Or something like that.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com