Iowa Tops Big Ten Baseball Preseason Poll

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Iowa, coming off a program record-tying 44 wins, has been tabbed the favorite to win the 2024 Big Ten Championship, according to the Big Ten Preseason Poll released Wednesday. Balloting was conducted by the conference’s 13 head coaches.

Coaches also selected three student-athletes from their respective squads to comprise the 39-member Players to Watch List.

Iowa, Indiana and Maryland occupy the top three spots in the poll, all three programs participated in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Rutgers, Nebraska and Michigan round out the poll which projected the top six spots. In preseason Top 20 polls, Iowa is ranked 16th by Perfect Game, 20th by Baseball America, USA Today and D1Baseball and 21st by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

The Big Ten Players to Watch List features nine players who earned All-Big Ten honors last season, including four from the first team — Indiana’s Devin Taylor, Iowa’s Brody Brecht and Sam Petersen and Rutgers’ Christian Coppola.

The Big Ten baseball season commences Friday with Big Ten games beginning March 22.

BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Maryland
4. Rutgers
5. Nebraska
6. Michigan

BIG TEN PLAYERS TO WATCH LIST

Name	School	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown
Jack Crowder	Illinois	Sr.	RHP	Romeoville, Ill.
Ryan Moerman ^	Illinois	Jr.	OF	Lockport, Ill.
Logan Tabeling	Illinois	Sr.	RHP	Tuscola, Ill.
Connor Foley	Indiana	So.	RHP	Jasper, Ind.
Devin Taylor +	Indiana	So.	OF	Cincinnati, Ohio
Brock Tibbitts ^	Indiana	Jr.	C	New Albany, Ohio
Brody Brecht +	Iowa	Jr.	RHP	Ankeny, Iowa
Marcus Morgan ^	Iowa	Jr.	RHP	Iowa City, Iowa
Sam Petersen +	Iowa	Jr.	OF	Huxley, Iowa
Alex Calarco	Maryland	Jr.	C/DH	Wilmette, Ill.
Chris Hacopian	Maryland	Fr.	3B	Potomac, Md.
Sam Hojnar	Maryland	Sr.	2B	Naperville, Ill.
Jonathan Kim *	Michigan	So.	CF	Brookfield, Wis.
Dylan Vigue	Michigan	Fr.	RHP	Leominster, Mass.
Mitch Voit	Michigan	So.	RHP/1B	Whitefish Bay, Wis.
Joseph Dzierwa	Michigan State	So.	LHP	Haskins, Ohio
Jack Frank	Michigan State	Sr.	OF	Strongsville, Ohio
Nick Powers	Michigan State	Sr.	LHP	Flushing, Mich.
Brady Counsell	Minnesota	Jr.	2B	Milwaukee, Wis.
Weber Neels	Minnesota	So.	C/1B	Cottage Grove, Minn.
Connor Wietgrefe	Minnesota	Jr.	LHP	Prior Lake, Minn.
Dylan Carey	Nebraska	So.	SS	Castle Rock, Colo.
Gabe Swansen ^	Nebraska	Jr.	OF	Johnston, Iowa
Will Walsh	Nebraska	Jr.	UTL	Leawood, Kan.
Tyler Ganus	Northwestern	Gr.	OF	Los Angeles, Calif.
Owen McElfatrick	Northwestern	So.	INF	Tampa, Fla.
Garrett Shearer	Northwestern	Fr.	RHP	O'Fallon, Ill.
Landon Beidelschies	Ohio State	So.	LHP	Canfield, Ohio
Gavin Bruni	Ohio State	Jr.	LHP	Alliance, Ohio
Henry Kaczmar	Ohio State	So.	SS	Bath, Ohio
Adam Cecere	Penn State	Gr.	OF	Adams Township, Pa.
J.T. Marr	Penn State	Gr.	C	Fort Mill, S.C.
Bryce Molinaro	Penn State	So.	INF	Drums, Pa.
Mike Bolton Jr.	Purdue	5th	OF	Chicago, Ill.
Connor Caskenette	Purdue	Sr.	C	Duncan, British Columbia
Couper Cornblum	Purdue	Sr.	OF	Woodway, Texas
Christian Coppola +	Rutgers	So.	RHP	Galloway, N.J.
Josh Kuroda-Grauer	Rutgers	Jr.	SS	Somerset, N.J.
Tony Santa Maria	Rutgers	So.	3B	Absecon, N.J.

+ 2023 All-Big Ten First Team
^ 2023 All-Big Ten Second Team
* 2023 All-Big Ten Third Team