Iowa baseball and softball always begin the season playing several games away from home, given the less-hospitable conditions you tend to find around Iowa City in February. Trips out west (or south) offer opportunities to play in warmer weather; they also offer chances to see different opponents than the midwestern mid-major and Big Ten opponents that comprise the majority of Iowa's schedules in baseball and softball. Occasionally, those trips across the country even provide the opportunity for the Hawkeyes to pit themselves against top-tier opponents.

That's the case this weekend, as both Iowa baseball and Iowa softball will be taking on the #1-ranked team in their respective sports. Those games figure to be enormous challenges for these Iowa teams -- but they're also enormous opportunities to score potentially huge, resume-building wins. And if nothing else, they're an excellent chance to see how Iowa stacks up against the best of the best.

Iowa baseball is headed south, to the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, TX on February 24-26. Iowa is set to face Sam Houston (3-2) on Friday, 2/24 at 6 PM CT, #1 LSU (4-0) on Saturday, 2/25 at 12 PM CT, and Kansas State (4-1) on Sunday, 2/26 at 12 PM CT. Iowa's game against #1 LSU is the Hawkeyes' first game against a top-ranked opponent in over 50 years, since a 3-2 loss to #1 Arizona State at the 1972 College World Series.

Iowa got off to a 3-0 start at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, FL, last weekend. Iowa outscored Indiana State and Quinnipiac 23-3, and the pitching staff really excelled, posting a 0.96 ERA over the opening weekend. Iowa's pitchers struck out 35 batters and allowed just three runs on 16 hits. Brody Brecht had a brilliant season debut: throwing five perfect innings (15 batters up, 15 batters down) and striking out 10. He was named D1 Baseball Pitcher of the Week and Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week.

He'll get a chance to follow up that excellent debut with a massive test from #1 LSU's lineup on Saturday. (More on them in a moment.)

PROBABLE STARTERS

Friday: RHP Ty Langenberg (0-0, 3.60 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Brody Brecht (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Marcus Morgan (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

OF Kyle Huckstof leads the team in hitting (.455), slugging percentage (.727), hits (5), RBI (6), and HR (1). Utility player Brennan Dorighi is also hitting .400 with a home run among four hits. OF Brayden Frazier only played in two of Iowa's first three games, but went 4/6 with a pair of doubles and 5 RBI in his appearances.

LSU

Iowa and LSU have played nine times previously, though this is the first meeting since 1947 (a 6-3 LSU win). LSU rolled through Western Michigan to start the season, then beat Southern 18-4 in seven innings earlier in the week. On the season, LSU has outscored opponents 42-9 thus far. LSU, who made the NCAA Regionals a year ago, were the unanimous preseason #1 team and features four preseason All-America picks (CF Dylan Crews, 1B Tre' Morgan, 3B Tommy White, and RHP Paul Skernes).

The Tigers' projected starter on Saturday is LHP Riley Cooper, who threw 5.1 no-hit innings while striking out seven and walking two against Rhode Island. In fact, LSU's top three starting pitchers (Cooper, Skernes, and RHP Christian Little) have combined to give up four hits and zero runs over 17 innings so far this season. Right-handed IF/OF Gavin Dugas leads the team in hitting (.700), slugging percentage (1.400), hits (7), and home runs (2). Three other Tigers are hitting .400 or better, including Crews (.400), OF Brayden Jobert (.444), and C/1B Jared Jones (.600).

SAM HOUSTON

Sam Houston, preseason conference runner-up pick in the WAC, has outscored opponents 50-26 in the first five games of the season, though 25 (!) of those runs came in a 25-2 win over Rhode Island on 2/19, and another 18 runs came in an 18-6 win over McNeese State. on 2/20. The Bearkats are hitting .331 with 50 runs on 59 hits, including 9 home runs and 9 doubles. They've also drawn a whopping 27 walks through five games.

RHP Colin Atkinson is their projected Friday starter; he gave up two runs on four hits in five innings of work in his first start of the season. He also had four strikeouts, two walks, and a wild pitch. C Walker Janek leads the team in slugging percentage (.882) and OPS (1.427); four of his seven hits have been doubles or home runs and he's also drawn four walks. IF Tyler Davis leads the team in hits (9) and hitting (.563). OF Lane Brewster and Clayton Chadwick, both left-handers, lead the team in home runs (3).

KANSAS STATE

K-State completed a four-game sweep of Stephen F. Austin to start the season, but lost 4-3 to Lamar earlier in the week. K-State has outscored opponents 48-27 through the first five games of the season. Iowa has played Kansas State 26 times previously, with the Wildcats winning 17 of those games. Iowa did win the last game, a 12-11 victory in 11 innings in 2017.

RHP German Fajardo is expected to start for K-State on Sunday against Iowa; he allowed three runs on seven hits in four innings in his season debut last weekend. The Wildcats are hitting .287 as a team with a slugging percentage of .517, though they have blasted 11 home runs so far. OF Brendan Jones is leading the team in hitting (.400), hits (8), and doubles (2). OF Cole Johnson is hitting just .217 (5/23), but leads the team in home runs (3) and RBI (11). IF Kaelen Culpepper also has double-digit RBI (10).

Iowa softball is headed west, for five games in the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, CA, on February 24-26. Iowa is set to face Bethune-Cookman (1-8) and #1 UCLA (12-0) on Friday, Cal (9-2) and Cal State Northridge (5-5) on Saturday, and Oregon State (4-6) on Sunday. The Hawkeyes last faced a #1-ranked team when they took on #1 Oklahoma last season. The Sooners won 20-0 in five innings; hopefully this year's game against UCLA goes a bit better.

Iowa is 6-3 on the season and coming off a 2-2 weekend at the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, splitting a pair of games with Syracuse and NC State. RHP Breanna Vasquez has made three starts so far, with a 2.19 ERA in 23.0 innings and giving up 8 runs on 15 hits while posting a team-high 17 strikeouts. RHP Devyn Greer has made two starts, posting a 2.71 ERA in 10.1 innings. RHP Jalen Adams has only made one start, but she has a 0.00 ERA over 19.1 innings work, allowing just seven hits and two (unearned) runs in that time.

Among Iowa's regular hitters, OF Nia Carter and IF Tory Bennett lead the Hawkeyes in batting average (.414) and hits (12). IF Denali Loecker leads Iowa in home runs (3); in fact, she has 3 of Iowa's 4 home runs on the season.

OPPONENT QUICK HITS

* Bethune-Cookman is 1-8 on the season and hitting .167 as a team. The Wildcats' pitching staff has an ERA of 4.93.

* UCLA is 12-0 this season with five wins over Top 25-ranked opponents. The Bruins are hitting .364 as a team with 93 runs scored and a slugging percentage of .558; UCLA hitters have also mashed 13 home runs. Utility player Maya Brady leads the team in hitting (.568), slugging percentage (1.081), hits (21), home runs (5), and RBI (15). Five other Bruins are hitting .300 or better, and two are hitting .400 or better.

UCLA's pitching staff has a combined ERA of 1.12 with seven complete games and five shutouts. They've allowed just 12 earned runs on 36 hits, while striking out 107 against 14 walks allowed. Their top two pitchers have been Megan Faraimo, 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 39.0 innings, and Brooke Yanez, 3-0 with a 0.65 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 21.2 innings.

* Cal is 9-2 this season and on a 4-game winning streak. The Golden Bears are hitting .298 as a team and with a .516 slugging percentage. C Makena Smith ranks second on the team in batting average (.382), but leads the team in slugging percentage (.794), hits (13), and home runs (4). Cal's top two pitchers have been Haylei Archer, 4-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 22.1 innings, and Annabel Teperson, 2-0 with a 1.09 ERA and 5 strikeouts in 19.1 innings.

* Cal State Northridge is 5-5 overall. The Matadors are hitting just .228 as a team with a .299 slugging percentage. Only two players are hitting better than .300, led by Kaylee Escutia, who's hitting .400 with a .500 slugging percentage and 8 hits. Matador pitchers have an ERA of 2.17, led by Isabella Alonso, who is 1-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 21.0 innings, and Alexis Martinez, who is 3-2 with a 2.20 ERA in 28.2 innings.

* Oregon State is 4-6 overall with a team batting average of .229 and a team slugging percentage of .354. They've been outscored by opponents 45-24 so far this season. Madison Simon leads the team in batting average (.435), OPS (1.393), slugging percentage (.913), hits (10), and home runs (2). The Beavers have a team ERA of 3.63 with an opponent batting average of .270. Tarni Stepto, 1-2 with an ERA of 2.85 in 19.2 innings, has been their most effective pitcher.

WATCHING/LISTENING TO THE GAMES

Iowa baseball's games are being streamed on D1Baseball.com ($). Use promo code IOWAKRR to get 15% off weekend pass. Radio coverage is available on the Hawkeye Radio Network, which is also streamed on YouTube.

Iowa softball's games are being streamed on FloSports ($). No radio broadcasts are available.