Iowa coach Rick Heller would like to see Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park become the permanent home of the Big Ten Conference Tournament. The home of the College World Series will host the league tournament for a second time this week and the Big Ten announced an agreement in April to have Omaha serve as host from 2018 through 2022.

Heller says the fan support in Omaha gives the tournament an outstanding atmosphere. The championship game in 2014 set an all-time attendance record of 19.965 fans. Iowa is the eighth seed in the tournament and plays regular season champion Minnesota in Wednesday’s opening round. Nebraska is the second seed. The Hawkeyes played their way into the tournament by winning five of their last six games and Heller hopes they can maintain that momentum.

Iowa sends sophomore C.J. Eldred to the mound and will face Gopher ace Matt Fiedler. Heller says starting pitching sets the tone in a tournament. Minnesota took two out of three games from the Hawkeyes back in early April.

(Learfield Sports)