ISU Baseball Club prepares for intrastate rivals

Tommy Birch

With three games coming up in two days for the ISU Baseball Club team, the most stressful thing on the ISU Baseball Club president Bryan Scholar’s mind is his schedule.

The Cyclone’s Tuesday doubleheader with the UNI Panthers was postponed because of rain. The cancellation marked the fifth time this season the Cyclones have been forced off the field because of weather, and has sent Scholar scrambling to find days to make up games.

“It’s frustrating,” Scholar said. “Just rescheduling games is annoying. I’m kind of getting sick of it.”

Iowa State has been forced out of action against Missouri, Iowa and now Northern Iowa twice this season. The Cyclones (1-1) currently sit one game below the University of South Dakota (2-1, 7-4) for first place in the Central Plains North Conference. Scholar said the most difficult part is finding time in all of his players’ schedules to make up the games. In order for his team to compete for the conference title, he said every game will have to be played.

“Every game is important to us,” he said. “We don’t have much room for error, especially now that we’ve lost one game.”

The Cyclones will make up Tuesday’s doubleheader with Northern Iowa on April 18 when the Panthers travel to Cap Timm Field for two games, weather permitting.

“I’m hoping we don’t get cheated out of any games,” Scholar said. “But I guess we’ll wait and see.”

The Cyclones return to action Thursday when they travel to Cedar Falls for one game against the Panthers. They conclude the week with a doubleheader in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes. After more than a week off from games, many of the Cyclones are ready to just get back on the field.

“We’re eager to play,” said pitcher and third basemen Blake Wilken. “It’s always difficult when you take days off, but we’ll be ready.”