The Iowa Yellow Jackets are hoping lightning does strike twice.

A year ago, Iowa barely made out of the regular season with a winning record, then proceeded to march through the nonselect Division II playoffs with seven consecutive wins to claim its second state title in program history.

Head coach Daniel Hennigan said he has a feeling the Yellow Jackets can do it again.

“It was super cool,” Hennigan said. “I feel pretty similar to the end of last year. It was a great experience.

“We caught some lightning and had some really good breaks, and we were able to capitalize. That is a thing going into this year is realizing that we did have some breaks, so we have to get to work so that if we don’t get the breaks this year we can create some.”

Iowa went 14-12 in the regular season and finished 21-12 while Hennigan was named the American Press All-Southwest Louisiana Big Schools Coach of the Year.

Hennigan said he’s not worried if the Yellow Jackets experience rough patches early in the season again as they are more prepared to handle it.

“We have a crazy, tough schedule, if not a little bit harder than last year,” Hennigan said. “I think we are going into the year with less depth.

“There are going to be times because of our depth we are going to be limited, and we are going to take our lumps. We are looking forward to embracing that a little bit. It is part of our growth, hopefully.”

Iowa returns the bulk of last year’s young lineup and looks to fill two spots, one in the outfield and another in the pitching rotation.

“I do think we have some solid baseball players,” Hennigan said. “We have some talented guys that love to play.

“Baseball is what they do, especially some of the guys that play football. (Cole) Corbello is tough as nails, and Tyler Lavergne had a really good year at football. Hayden LeBleu had a good year. We have guys that have been together for a long time, and I think that is really important.”

Corbello, a senior, and juniors Tyler Dartez and Reed Dupre pitched the bulk of the innings last year. Dartez pitched a complete game in Iowa’s 4-0 win over Lakeshore in the finals. Dupre earned American Press All-Southwest Louisiana Big School honors last season after going 7-5 with a 2.39 earned run average.

“Dupre is very balanced and commands three pitches really well,” Hennigan said. “Corbello is a flamethrower.

“Dartez hasn’t 100 percent established who he is as a pitcher. Over the course of last year he was still growing. I think he still has some more growing to do as far as identity on the mound. At times, he was a fastball/breaker kind of guy. At other times, he was an offspeed guy. I don’t quite know what he is going to morph into.”

Hennigan said he wants all three to double as relievers.

“If they can take the next step of growth, that would be really big for us,” he said. “We have to be able to adjust our style a little bit based on the situation rather than being kind of one-dimensional, which is not a bad thing at all. It is just being able to match up and navigate with anybody. We have to be more flexible.

“For instance, normally we pitch one, then the second then the third one game by game. Maybe, if we can cross over and have one of them close out one game and still go three days later. We want to be able to use them as both a starter and reliever. That is a big thing that we don’t normally do, but it would really help us.”

Iowa returns its top three hitters from last season in third baseman Tyler Lavergne (.338), LeBleu (.345) at catcher and first-team all-state shortstop Lucas Alexander (.355).

While they may lack the big-time home run hitters that other programs thrive on, Hennigan said he likes the consistency throughout the lineup.

“I think that we have a really balanced crew,” he said. “I think that might be a strength.

“All those returners can all do a little bit of everything. They can hit a double at times. They can drag (bunt) at times and steal bags at times. They can work the count and draw a walk. They can hunt fastballs early.

“There is a good bit of flexibility rather than one person who is a bopper. We like the hustle-double guy. We like the shoot-it-through-the-four-hole kind of guy. When big things happen, and the ball leaves the yard, awesome. I think that we are at our best when we are finding gaps.”

Other returners include first baseman Reggie Ball and designated hitter Deago Denison.

Hennigan said he is looking to senior Cole Bourne to fill the hole left in the outfield since Landon Langley graduated and said sophomore Kohen Boudreaux could be in the mix as well as on the mound.