The ISU club baseball team will be playing a four-game series against in-state rival Iowa this Saturday and Sunday. The first three games are Mid-America Conference North games.

Last weekend the Cyclones (3-1, 2-1 conference) took three out of their first four games at the South Dakota and went 2-1 in conference games. After dropping the first game 6-4, the Cyclones came back to win the remaining three games by scores of 10-7, 15-7 and 17-1.

“We were kind of expecting the bats to be a little slow, because usually your first game, your bats aren’t really up to speed with the pitching,” said club vice president Ben Butler, who is a senior pitcher. The Cyclones exceeded expectations since they had “eight or nine hits a game.”

This is something Butler said they want to carry into this weekend against Iowa along with their lack of errors on the defensive side, which was a problem they had in seasons past.

Freshman Dalton Hauer said he wants “keep my same mentality at the plate, just put it out in play and hopefully I’ll find some holes, just keep playing my brand of baseball.”

Last weekend the Hawkeyes (3-5) had their series against Southern Illinois cancelled due to weather conditions. The Hawkeyes currently have three players batting better than .400: Outfielder Greg Lagan (.474), third baseman Alex Cooke (.429) and third baseman Nick Peterson (.412).

The Hawkeyes lost their last game to Indiana by a score of 6-5.

The Cyclones are not used to playing the Hawkeyes this early in the year, and Butler thinks it will be to their advantage this year.

“The last two years when we played them we were already out for the conference championship, but this year it’s still anybody’s race, obviously because it’s early,” Butler said. “They bring a lot of guys, and they’re always well prepared.”

Butler said he anticipates he will pitch the first game against the Hawkeyes, but with a weak elbow he is not sure how long he will last.

The Cyclones start their four-game series against the Hawkeyes this Saturday and Sunday at Cap Timm Field. The games on Saturday start at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and Sunday’s games begin at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.