Iowa Baseball: Ole Miss and Western Illinois on the 2024 schedule
The Iowa Baseball team is coming off a season, where they tied the single-season school record for wins in a season (44) and made it to an NCAA Tournament regional for the first time since 2017. The Hawkeyes have a lot to be excited about next season. Marcus Morgan, Brody Brecht and reliever Jack Whitlock return to headline the pitching staff, while they also return six of eight starting position players.
Today, HawkeyeReport learned the first couple of pieces to the 2024 schedule puzzle through a public records request. The Hawkeyes have signed contracts to play three-game series’ against both Ole Miss and Western Illinois.
The Ole Miss Rebels are one of the premier programs in the country, having won 40+ games ten times over the last 20 seasons. They have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 17 of the last 20 seasons, including two trips to the College World Series and a national title in 2022. This past season Ole Miss finished with a 25-29 record, including a 6-24 mark in SEC play. Still, they finished with a #86 RPI due to 32 games against Q1 opponents.
The Rebels are going to look very different next season with several players headed to the MLB Draft and an additional 14 players entering the transfer portal. They have added First Team All-SoCon Mercer transfer OF Treyson Hughes, Freshman All-American Duke transfer 3B Andrew Fischer and Freshman All-American Arkansas State transfer RHP Kyler Carmack.
The Hawkeyes and Rebels have met seven times dating back to 1926, with Ole Miss leading the series 4-3. The teams last met for two games in Oxford in 1997, with the Rebels winning both matchups.
The Western Illinois Leathernecks are a much more familar opponent for the Hawkeyes, as the teams have met 107 times dating back to their first meeting in 1934. Iowa leads the all-time series 77-28-2 and has won seven of their last eight games against the Leathernecks. The last time the two teams met for a weekend series was back in 2011, with the Hawkeyes winning two out of the three games.
Western Illinois finished with a 12-40 record last season, including a 6-16 mark in Summit League play. They were 0-17 against Q1-Q3 opponents and finished all the way down at #287 in the RPI.
WIU has lost several players to the transfer portal, but are set to return UT Kyree Alexander (.257 AVG, 4 HR) and OF Chase VanDerGinst (.271 AVG, .366 OBP).
