Breaking down the Iowa baseball schedule
With Iowa Baseball returning in under three weeks, it is time to take a look at the Hawkeyes schedule and who they will face this season.
Unfortunately, due to Covid concerns last season, the Big Ten played a conference-only schedule, which forced teams like UC Irvine, Connecticut, Arizona State and San Diego State off of the schedule.
Ultimately, that ended up being the main reason why they were left out of the NCAA Tournament field.
This season the non-conference slate is back, and Coach Rick Heller has built a schedule that can pay dividends down the road when it comes to fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid.
“The schedule is really strong, at least on paper…Everybody is excited to hopefully, fingers crossed, to have a fairly normal year,” said Coach Rick Heller. “The midweek games for me, that’s the most exciting part because the midweek games are so vital in your younger players development.”
The Hawkeyes will play in a trio of early season tournaments in warmer climates to kick off the season, starting with a trip to Charleston, SC for the Swig & Swine Classic. The two notable opponents there include a decent Air Force squad headlined by preseason All-American UT Paul Skenes, as well as the Ball State Cardinals, who just barely missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
They follow that up with a trip to Corpus Christi, TX for the Kleberg Bank Classic. Wichita State is the headlining opponent there, led by head coach Eric Wedge. His Shockers team was in the NCAA Tournament conversation last season and figures to be right there again in 2022. They will also face Pepperdine and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Finally, the Hawkeyes will travel down to Frisco, TX for the Frisco Classic and that one has the most intrigue of the three tournaments. Iowa will meet the Wichita State Shockers for the second time in a week’s span, before facing the Texas A&M Aggies, who will be looking to bounce back from an uncharacteristic down year, as first year coach Jim Schlossnagle comes over from a storied career at TCU. The weekend will wrap up with a game against Washington State. The Cougars are not known as a premier team in the PAC 12, but they have the pieces to possible throw their hat into the NCAA Tournament conversation.
From there, Iowa journeys out west for a weekend series against a perennial NCAA Tournament team in UC Irvine, before facing San Diego State in an intriguing midweek matchup.
“That’s a really tough weekend for us on the road and you’ve got to go to the West Coast, and they are one of the best teams on the West Coast,” said Heller on the UC Irvine series. “Then we have the opportunity to stay and play a Tuesday game against San Diego State since we are on spring break…It will be a good experience and a really big challenge for the pitchers who aren’t throwing a lot on the weekend.”
Duane Banks Field will play host to a pair of tournament teams for weekend series, with the first one being a massive series against Top 15 Texas Tech led by MLB prospect INF Jace Jung.
“From a ranking standpoint in non-conference, it probably is (the biggest home series ever).”
The other visitor will be the Chippewas from Central Michigan, a team that made the regional final vs Notre Dame last season. CMU has a preseason All-American pitcher Andrew Taylor on their starting staff.
“Central Michigan is a really strong opponent, that has an All-American pitcher back…Off that team last year, they have a lot of guys back.”
The midweek games during Big Ten play feature weaker teams from the Midwest, including Illinois State, Milwaukee, Western Illinois, Bradley, but a road trip to an Illinois-Chicago team that went 30-18 last season offers some intrigue.
“They are vital in getting guys innings on the mound that aren’t getting them on the weekend,” said Heller. “It gives you a chance to make an easy flip, if somebody starts to falter on the weekend and somebody is doing a good job on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
In Big Ten play, Iowa will host just two teams that finished in the top 8 in the conference last season in Illinois and Indiana, while they will travel to Michigan, Rutgers and preseason favorite Nebraska. The Huskers boast the D1Baseball preseason Big Ten Player of the Year in 3B Max Anderson. That’s nine really big road games that will determine a lot in not only the conference standings, but the RPI rankings. The Hawkeyes avoid Maryland and Ohio State.
Overall, Coach Heller’s squad will face five teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, accounting for 28% (15 games) of their schedule. On top of that, they face another seven teams (10 games) that will potentially be in the discussion for an NCAA bid.