Hawkeyes Advance to B1G Semifinals

OMAHA, Nebraska – The third-seeded University of Iowa baseball team defeated 10th-seeded Rutgers, 4-3, in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night. 

With the victory, the Hawkeyes won their pool and clinched a spot in Saturday's semifinals, regardless of a win or loss against sixth-seeded Indiana tomorrow night. The Hawkeyes' last conference semifinals appearance came in 2023.

Head coach Rick Heller also improved to 20-15 in the conference tournament

"We needed that," said Heller. "I felt like if we could pull that one off it would be a good confidence boost for our guys. Really was happy with the way our guys came out and played tonight. They were locked in from the start."

Iowa totaled 10 hits and batted .333 with runners in scoring position. 

"We gave Cade some good run support early," said Heller. "We had opportunities to maybe add on, but the thing I liked was we were putting pressure on them every inning. We had traffic all the time."

The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after RBIs from Caleb Wulf, Daniel Rogers and Kellen Strohmeyer. They added another in the fourth as Miles Risley singled home Gable Mitchell.

"Just all day long being around the guys I felt like we were ready to go," Mitchell said. "This tournament is a big deal, but we try not to make it any bigger than it is. Things clicked today. Obviously they haven't the last couple weeks, but that doesn't matter anymore."

Risley and Mitchell led the offense, each totaling three hits and combining for three of Iowa's four runs on the night. Wulf was the lone other Hawkeye to have a multi-hit game with two. This marked Mitchell's 18th and Risley's 14th multi-hit game this season. 

LHP Cade Obermueller started on the hill and earned his fifth win of the season with seven shutout innings.

"I felt more like myself," Obermueller said. "I was ready for the big stage, and I wanted to come out on top for the boys."

Obermueller gave up zero runs on four hits and walked one. The junior fanned 10 batters to bring his season total to 117, which ranks second in program history. This marked his fifth double-digit strikeout perfromance this season.

"Cade stepped up and pitched a gem. It was exactly what we needed tonight," said Heller. "I think he touched 96 in the seventh inning, and we were tempted to throw him back out there, but he's on short rest and was over 100 pitches."

The Iowa bullpen gave up three runs on five hits, but LHP Brant Hogue ultimately got the save, stranding the tying runner at third and striking out two in the ninth.

"We knew Rutgers wouldn't go away," said Heller. "Brant Hogue stepped up at the end and finished it off for us."

Up Next
Iowa will finish up pool play with a game against Indiana on Thursday at 9:00 p.m (CDT). The game was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon. It will be broadcast on Big Ten Network and the Hawkeye Radio Network.