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Iowa baseball: Spartans come to town for three-game series

By Ryan Sikes

HOUSTON, TX - JUNE 03: University of Iowa Hawkeyes infielder Mitchell Boe (4) makes the throw to first for the out during the Houston Regional baseball game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Texas A&M Aggies on June 3, 2017 at Schroeder Park in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - JUNE 03: University of Iowa Hawkeyes infielder Mitchell Boe (4) makes the throw to first for the out during the Houston Regional baseball game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Texas A&M Aggies on June 3, 2017 at Schroeder Park in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Iowa baseball team will be hosting the Michigan State Spartans at Duane Banks field this weekend.

The Iowa baseball team is fresh off winning a huge series last weekend against then ranked number 18 UC Irvine. That was good enough for Iowa to appear at number 24 in the Top 25 rankings released earlier this week.

Iowa has an overall record of 29-17 and 11-7 in the Big Ten but will be facing a bad Michigan State team this weekend that enters with an overall record of just 11-30 and 5-12 in the Big Ten. It has all the makings of a let-down series after playing at such a high level last weekend against a really good opponent.

Cole McDonald will be on the bump tonight for the Hawkeyes and knows the importance of this series in regards to their NCAA tournament seeding:

"“We know that we don’t have much leeway with RPI to potentially lose a game against Michigan State or Western Illinois,” Iowa Friday starter Cole McDonald said. “We just need to go out and play the way we know we can, and if we lose that way, then so be it. But it’s not going to be the opposite where we’re losing focus.” – via DailyIowan"

Both Baseball America and D1 Baseball have the Hawkeyes as a projected number 3 seed in the tournament but a series loss against the Spartans would obviously adversely impact that. As previously noted, Cole McDonald will get the start tonight for the Hawkeyes.

On the season, he has a record of 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA.  In his last start against UC Irvine, he tossed 7.0 innings of 1 earned run ball with five strikeouts. The Spartans will kick-off this series with Mason Erla who has an overall record of 2-8 with a 5.07 ERA.

The Hawkeyes need to take care of business this weekend against a bad team, especially at home. Sophomore Cam Baumann (4-2, 4.50 ERA) and junior Grant Judkins (4-6, 2.24 ERA) will get the start on Saturday and Sunday for Iowa, respectively.

Next. Iowa Baseball big series win vs. UC Irvine taking 2/3. dark

Iowa is currently just 3.5 games out of first place in the Big Ten and just a half game back for third place, which is currently occupied by Nebraska. With just four games left after this weekend’s series against the Spartains, the Hawkeyes will have very little wiggle room for error before the Big Ten Tournament begins.

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