Hawkeyes 'Make Baseball Fun Again'

May 29, 2016

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Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in the University of Iowa’s Hawk Talk Daily, an e-newsletter that offers a daily look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, delivered free each morning to thousands of fans of the Hawkeyes worldwide. To receive daily news from the Iowa Hawkeyes, sign up HERE.

By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com

OMAHA, Neb. — With its season in the balance, the University of Iowa baseball team did its best to follow Washington Nationals’ outfielder Bryce Harper’s mantra.

It started with the team’s back squarely against its clubhouse wall following a 5-1 loss to Michigan State at Duane Banks Field on May 13. It was a defeat that saw the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten record fall to 8-11 with six league games to play.

“That lit a fire under us,” said senior outfielder Joel Booker. “We realized our fate was in our hands. We were pressing, pushing and trying so hard to do it and nothing was happening. Everything was going in the wrong direction.

“We all looked at each other and were like ‘We need to relax and have fun… make baseball fun again.'”

Iowa won the next two games against the Spartans to climb to 10-11 in Big Ten play, and it followed with a road series win at Penn State — its first road series win of the season — to clinch the team’s third straight Big Ten Tournament appearance.

The “fun” continued in the postseason with an 8-2 victory over Big Ten regular season champion Minnesota in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament before the team’s “Hellerball” magic led to a rally where the Hawkeyes overcame a 4-0, ninth-inning deficit to stun Ohio State, 5-4, in 10 innings.

The mojo was back and in full force Saturday with an 11-0 thrashing of Maryland in the tournament semifinals, sending the eighth-seeded Hawkeyes to the league’s title game for the first time in six seasons. Iowa has never been the last team standing in the Big Ten Tournament, which debuted in 1981.

“We’re taking it game-by-game and not making it bigger than it is,” said freshman Robert Neustrom. “We’re playing the same game we played all year, we’re just playing it a lot more relaxed and fun. If you look at us, I am sure you can tell we’re having fun out there.”

Sure winning translates to fun. The Hawkeyes have picked a great time to get hot and play their best baseball of the season, winning three straight and eight of its last nine, but it is more than winning for this team.

They don’t want their Big Ten Tournament Cinderella story nor the 2016 season to end.

“We want to keep playing together,” said UI head coach Rick Heller, who is aiming to win his fifth career conference tournament title. “This team has a good culture, our program has a good culture. We don’t want it to end; we want a chance to keep playing games together.”

That won’t happen without a win in today’s championship game, one that begins at 1 p.m. (CT) from TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Iowa will face either Michigan State or Ohio State in a one game, winner-take all contest.

The winner earns the league’s automatic berth into next week’s NCAA Regionals. It would give the Hawkeyes back-to-back Regional appearances for the first time in program history.

“We talk at the beginning of the season in August that we want to be playing in June,” said Heller. “The only way we were going to do it this year was to win the tournament. You’re seeing a bunch of guys fighting, but not fighting with panic.

“They’re fighting because they enjoy playing the game and playing with each other. They want a chance to keep playing next week. We’ll go out (Sunday) with that in mind so we have a chance to keep playing together.”