247Sports picking someone other than Indiana State in Terre Haute Regional
The Iowa Hawkeyes (42-14, 15-8 Big Ten) will play North Carolina (35-22, 14-14 ACC) at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, June 2, to open up their sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the third under current head coach Rick Heller.
On paper, this looks like one of the best Regionals nationally. Indiana State (42-15, 24-3 Missouri Valley Conference) is the No. 14 overall seed, but Iowa opened its season by beating the Sycamores down in Port Charlotte, Fla., as part of the Snowbird NCAA Baseball Classic.
It was Kyle Huckstorf that delivered the walk-off, extra innings grand slam that day to propel Iowa to a 6-2 win.
Meanwhile, our Terre Haute Regional Encyclopedia informs you that North Carolina has a bevy of top-50 RPI wins. Nineteen of them to be precise. Even the No. 4 seed Wright State has five NCAA Tournament wins over the course of its program history.
All of which is to say, it feels like this Regional is wide open for the taking.
247Sports’ Brad Crawford agrees with that assessment, picking the Tar Heels to advance out of the Terre Haute Regional in his list of projected Regional winners.
Indiana State is hosting a regional for the first time in program history and has won 34 of its last 38 games coming into the postseason, including both the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships. The Sycamores join Dallas Baptist (2015), Missouri State (2015), and Wichita State (2002 & 2007) as the lone regional hosts in the MVC since 2000.
Will Indiana State be able to handle the pressure of being the favorite at home in a competitive foursome? It’s hard to say, but the Sycamores are loaded and have one of the best pitching staffs in college baseball. Their notable non-conference wins included Indiana and Vanderbilt this season, but did finish with a losing record against top 20 teams. North Carolina is a team to watch here and Iowa will be a tough out. – Crawford, 247Sports.
Iowa fans would sign up for the idea that Indiana State isn’t advancing out of the Terre Haute Regional. Not so much for the idea that it’s North Carolina instead of Iowa marching on, though.
At any rate, it’s another indication that this Regional feels and looks like it could wind up being one of the best this weekend. Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller certainly likes his team’s chances.
“I mean, I would have told you that anywhere we went, but I do think if we play like we can and pound the strike zone like we’ve done here recently, this team can go a long way. We also know that baseball’s a funny game. You’ve got to catch some breaks. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t, but we will be as prepared as we can be.
“I think we’ll go down there and give it a good run, but, I mean, you never know. You could go down and run into a pitcher that just absolutely deals on you and shuts you down. You just never know, but, if everything goes kind of how it’s gone most of the year, I feel really confident,” Heller said.
The Regional gets underway with Indiana State versus Wright State on Friday at noon CT on ESPN+. Fans can tune in and watch the Hawks later that night on either the ACC Network or on ESPN+.
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