Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller says the Hawkeyes have accepted their identity and it is one of the reasons they take a share of the Big Ten lead to Northwestern for Friday’s start of a three game series. The Hawkeyes are the top hitting and pitching team in the Big Ten and are tied at the top of the league standings with UCLA at 10-2.

Heller says the Hawkeye offense has managed to succeed in all types of weather conditions. The lead the Big Ten with a .327 averaged and are also tied for the lead in home runs with 25.

With only two starters back from last year’s team Heller says a key has been how quickly the new players have bought in to their system of hitting.

Northwestern enters the series with a 5-4 record in Big Ten play.