By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With the Iowa men’s basketball team now moving forward under new head coach Ben McCollum, and with the never-ending news from the transfer portal, it’s easy to overlook that the Iowa baseball team and the Iowa softball team are both exceeding expectations this spring.

The Iowa baseball team was considered a potential Big Ten contender last season due largely to having a loaded a pitching staff led by Brody Brecht.

And while the Hawkeyes would go on to finish a respectable 31-23 overall and 14-10 in the Big Ten, Brecht and his cohorts fell short in contending for the conference title and they failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

The current Hawkeye squad, on the other hand, entered this season with guarded optimism and with modest expectations from the outside.

Iowa head coach Rick Heller even said at media day in February that his team would have to pitch and play defense at an exceptionally high level, because unlike last season’s squad, his current team wasn’t built to score runs in bunches.

Or, so he thought.

To this point, Iowa has shown that it can score runs in bunches and can also win close games with pitching and defense.

A team doesn’t win 17 of its first 21 conference games, as is the case with Iowa, by being lucky or as a fluke.

This Iowa baseball team is the real deal as it showed by sweeping Michigan in a three-game series this past weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Iowa has now swept three Big Ten opponents and sits alone in first place in the Big Ten standings.

If the season ended today, Heller would win Big Ten Coach of the Year by a landslide.

A skeptic would try to minimize Iowa’s success by saying the toughest part of the schedule still has yet to be played.

And while that might be true, Iowa has won seven straight Big Ten series.

Overall, the Hawkeyes are hitting .310, and the pitching staff has a 3.65 ERA, leading the Big Ten in both categories.

The defense also has been rock solid.

Junior centerfielder Miles Risley made two spectacular defensive plays to help secure a 3-2 victory over Michigan in game three this past Sunday.

The Iowa baseball team is doing the big things and the little things that it takes to win games.

The challenge now is to keep it going against a schedule that includes five games this week weather permitting.

Iowa will host Western Illinois and St. Thomas on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before facing Indiana in a three-game series beginning on Friday at Duane Banks Field.

Even with Iowa’s success this season, there still are doubters and naysayers as evidenced by Iowa not being ranked in the top 25.

Oregon and UCLA are the only Big Ten teams currently ranked at No. 13 and No. 15, respectively.

Iowa will face Oregon in the final series of the regular season on May 15-17 at Duane Banks Field while UCLA is not on Iowa’s schedule.

The Iowa softball team, meanwhile, is also coming off a series sweep as it won three straight games against Penn State at Bob Pearl Field and has now won seven straight Big Ten games.

Iowa improved to 10-6 in conference play and 28-16 overall and currently sits alone in sixth place in the conference standings.

Iowa’s record is even more impressive when you take into account everything this team has had to endure on and off the field since the start of last season.

The Iowa players had to face the humiliation of not making the Big Ten Tournament last season when Iowa hosted the annual event.

It was then announced in December that Iowa head coach Renee Gillispie would miss the entire 2025 season because of a medical issue.

Brian Levin was named the interim head coach, but he and Iowa would part ways in early March following a dispute over some Iowa players kneeling during the National Anthem.

First-year pitching coach Karl Gollan was promoted to interim head coach, and it was easy to assume at the time that Iowa was destined for another brutal season.

But instead, the Iowa players have rallied behind their interim-interim head coach from New Zealand, and together, they continue to defy the odds.

The season could have easily unraveled when Levin moved on. But the controversy over the National Anthem seems to have unified the plyers on and off the field, and Karl Gollan certainly deserves some credit for helping to make it happen.

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Iowa wrestling roster addition: Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands has relied heavily on the transfer portal to sustain his roster with the latest addition being Massoma Endene, a three-time NCAA Division III national champion from Wartburg.

Endene, who is expected to compete at 197 pounds, compiled a 76-1 record with the Knights over three seasons.

He also had had success on international stages as well, winning 2024 and 2025 U23 Pan-American Championship gold and taking seventh at the 2024 U23 World Championships.

Prior to his time with Wartburg, he was a two-time NJCAA All-American with Iowa Lakes Community College.

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Building for the future: The Iowa football team received a verbal commitment from 2026 Illinois offensive lineman Gene Riordan on Monday.

He is the fifth offensive linemen to commit to Iowa’s 2026 class and is ranked as a four-star prospect by On3.

In fact, three of the offensive linemen in Iowa’s 2026 class are ranked as four-star prospects by On3.

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Spread the floor: With the addition of 6-foot-9 forward Alvaro Folgueiras, who signed with Iowa on Monday, Ben McCollum’s ability to spread the floor on offense is starting to take shape.

Folgueiras, who is from Spain, shot 41.3 percent from 3-point range for Robert Morris this past season. He also averaged 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game, and was named the Horizon League Player of the Year.

With Folgueiras playing alongside point guard Bennett Stirtz and Kansas State transfer Brendan Hausen, Iowa will have three established 3-point shooters, and that should help spread the floor and create more space near the basket.

The 6-4 Hausen signed his scholarship agreement on Tuesday after having made a verbal commitment about a week ago.

“Brendan is the type of shooter that can change the game quickly,” McCollum said in a release.

Iowa currently has nine players on the 2025-26 roster and could still use another frontline player and another point guard.

But with the nine players signed so far, the roster is starting to show an identity.