Notes: Iowa Heads To 2024 B1G Tournament in Omaha

THIS WEEK

The University of Iowa baseball team takes on Michigan at 2 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska at the Big Ten Tournament.

WATCH/LISTEN LIVE

All tournament games will be played on the Big Ten Network.

All games will be broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network with John Leo and John Evans on the call.

Live stats will be available on hawkeyesports.com and live updates will be available on X (@UIBaseball).

SERIES RECORDS

Iowa’s all-time record against Michigan is 60-122. The first meeting between the teams was in 1895, with Michigan winning 16-4.

Michigan won the most recent series between the teams. The two met in early April with Iowa winning game one 3-2 (10) and Michigan taking the next two; 4-3 and 10-6.

Iowa and Michigan met twice in the Big Ten Tournament in 2023, with the Hawkeyes winning both games. Iowa beat Michigan in game one, 13-3 (8), and in game three, 5-0.

Iowa is 6-7 against Michigan all-time in the Big Ten Tournament.

IOWA’S B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Iowa is making its ninth straight Big Ten Tournament appearance and the 17th in program history.

The Hawkeyes are 26-29 all-time in tournament history, including winning its first ever Big Ten Tournament title in 2017. Iowa has made championship game appearances five times (1983, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2023).

Iowa has won at least one game in eight of the last nine Big Ten Tournaments and is 17-9 over the past seven tournaments.

Head coach Rick Heller is 19-13 in the conference tournament.

2024: IOWA-MICHIGAN

The Hawkeyes and Wolverines have met three times during the 2024 season. Michigan won the series 2-1, winning a doubleheader on Saturday, 4-3 and 10-6. The Hawkeyes won the series opener on Friday, 3-2 (10).

THE NORM — 3-0

The Hawkeyes posted their 30th victory of the 2023 season in the 16-0 victory over Upper Iowa.  It was the eighth time in the Rick Heller era that the program has won 30 or more games.

Iowa has had 30 or more wins in each of the “non-COVID” seasons under Heller (2020 and 2021 were altered because of the pandemic).

BB14

In his last three B1G starts Brody Brecht has gone 3-0 with a 0.79 ERA over 22.2 IP.

He has allowed five hits and two earned runs while striking out 36 and walking eight.

Brecht has allowed a 0.71 BAA and has a 0.57 WHIP

Right handers are 0-29  and left handers are 5-41. Teams are 1-22 with runners on base.

RECORD WATCH

Brody Brecht became Iowa’s career leader in strikeouts with 247 on April 28 at Nebraska passing Allen Rath who had 246 from 1987-90.

Brecht passed Jim Magrane (110, 1999) for the single season program record on May 11 at Illinois.

BRODY AND OBE

Junior RHP Brody Brecht and sophomore LHP Cade Obermueller  were named to the College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List.

The Pitcher of the Year award, college baseball’s version of the Cy Young Award, was created in 2009, and is given annually to the nation’s top collegiate pitcher. The initial watch list headlines 54 of the most talented pitchers in Division I college baseball.

WHO’S COACHING FIRST?

Iowa has used a rotation of players as first base coach this season.

Kyle Huckstorf (9), Will Mulflur (42) and Merrick Matthews (41) are the most frequent coaches.

Connor Hennings (7), Davis Cop (24), Cade Moss (40), Kellen Strohmeyer (44) and Blake Guerin (45) have also coached first during games.

KYLE “GRAND SLAM” HUCKSTORF

Senior Kyle Huckstorf has hit 4 grand slams in his Hawkeye career.

In 2022 he hit one against Indiana (5/19). He was 6-for-7 with three home runs, 12 RBIs and Iowa won 30-16.

In 2023 he hit a walk-off grand slam in the 11th inning on opening day against Indiana State (2/17).

He has hit two grand slams this year one against Loras (2/20) and one against Rutgers (4/20).

B1G GAME BRODY X2

Brody Brecht was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on April 22 and April 29.

The Ankeny, Iowa, native allowed one hit in a career high 7.2 innings pitched against Rutgers on April 21. Brecht struck out 12 and allowed just one unearned run to earn the win.

Brecht threw seven innings striking out 11 and allowing two hits and one earned run against Nebraska on April 28.

CADE’S B1G WEEKS

Sophomore Cade Obermueller was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on March 11 and May 20.

The Iowa City, Iowa, native took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Jacksonville State. Obermueller ending up pitching a career-high 5.2 innings and struck out nine, also a career-high. The lefty allowed just two hits in the win.

He threw  five innings of one-hit ball against FIU in Des Moines, Iowa. Obermueller struck out seven while walking one.

STOP  WATCH

Redshirt junior Zach Voelker and junior Sam Hart have been named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List by the NCBWA. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball.

The Hawkeye duo are two of 73 players in the country named to the Watch List, including two of six pitchers from the Big Ten.

PRESEASON HONORS

RHP Brody Brecht was named preseason first team All-America and Big Ten Preseason Pitcher of the Year by D1Baseball and Perfect Game.

Brecht, Marcus Morgan and Sam Petersen were named to the preseason All-Big Ten team by Perfect Game.

Freshmen Elliot Cadieux-Lanoue was named an impact freshmanl.

GOLDEN BOY

University of Iowa junior pitcher Brody Brecht was named to the preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List by USA Baseball. Since 1978, the award has been given to the top amateur baseball player in the country. The preseason list includes 55 players across high school and college baseball.

Former Hawkeye Jake Adams was a semifinalist for the award in 2017. Tim Costo was a finalist in 1990.

Brecht was named a preseason first-team All-American by Perfect Game, D1Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Brecht posted a 3.74 ERA in 17 appearances as a sophomore. The Ankeny, Iowa, native allowed just 38 hits and 28 runs over 77 innings. He allowed just nine extra base hits and a .174 batting average against. Brecht led the nation with 4.32 hits allowed per nine innings and tallied 109 strikeouts, the second most in program history.

Brecht was named a third-team All-American by the NCBWA and Perfect Game last season and a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game in 2022

ROSTER BREAKDOWN

Iowa’s 41-man roster features three redshirt seniors,  seven seniors, three redshirt juniors, seven juniors, nine sophomores, three redshirt freshmen and nine freshmen.

Iowa returns 18 letterwinners, and welcomes 18 newcomers (nine of which are transfers) to the squad.

MR. WORLDWIDES

The Hawkeyes roster features 24 Iowa guys, a California quartet, two confident Canadians, two magic Minnesotans, two Nebraska natives, two wonderful Wisconsinites, one charming Coloradoan, one Georgia peach, one Illinois boy, one Missouri man, and one Washington winner.

I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!

Iowa’s roster features seven sets of previous

teammates:

Hart/Mathews: Indian Hills CC (22-23)

Brosius/Savary: Dubuque Wahlert (20-22)

Beuter/Moss: Kirkwood CC (21)

Huckstorf/Hogue: Iowa Western (21)

Archer/Moore: Van Meter (19-22)

Obermueller/Mitchell: City High (19-22)

Wilmes/Moss: Johnston (18-20)

O CAPTAINS! MY CAPTAINS!

Junior Brody Brecht, redshirt junior Zach Voelker, and seniors Cade Moss and Michael Seegers have been voted team captains for the 2024 season.

MORE MOORE!

The Hawkeyes welcomed back former Hawkeye player (class of 2015) and assistant coach Sean Moore to the baseball staff as director of player development.

The Coralville native was a volunteer assistant coach for the Hawkeyes from 2017-2018  before his departure  for Happy Valley – he is returning after five seasons on staff at Penn State.

IMPACT TRANSFERS

The Hawkeyes added five Division I transfers to their 2024 roster. Brant Hogue (Oklahoma State), Reese Beuter (Dallas Baptist), Davis Cop (Utah), Anthony Watts (Creighton), and Justin Hackett (TCU).

30 WINS X 9

Since head coach Rick Heller’s first season in 2014, the Hawkeyes have reached the 30-win plateau in every “non-COVID affected” season.  The program’s six consecutive year stretch was the longest since posting seven straight 30-win seasons from 1979-85.

2014: 30-23

2015: 41-18 (2nd-most wins all-time)

2016: 30-26

2017: 39-22 (5th-most wins all-time)

2018: 33-20

2019: 31-24

2020: 10-5 (*pandemic shortened)

2021: 28-16 (*Big Ten-only schedule)

2022: 36-19 (8th-most wins all-time)

2023: 44-16 (Tied for most wins all-time)

2024: 31-21

WINNING BASEBALL

The Hawkeyes have posted ten consecutive winning seasons under head coach Rick Heller.  For perspective, the program had just two winning seasons from 1997-2013 and five from 1990-2013.

Since Heller took over the program in 2014, only three schools — Iowa, Indiana and Michigan — have qualified for the Big Ten Tournament each season it has been contested. (There was no tournament in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID.)

RANKED OPPONENTS; RANKED WINS

Iowa went 2-2 against ranked opponents last year having defeated #1 LSU at the Round Rock Classic on February 25 before going 1-2 at Texas Tech on March 10-12.

The Hawkeyes have defeated a top 10 team in back-to-back seasons having defeated No. 8 Rutgers in 2022.

Head coach Rick Heller has defeated at least one ranked foe in each season as Iowa’s head coach.

HUCKSTORF: 5-for-5

Iowa defeated Jacksonville State 20-1 on March 9. The Hawkeyes were led by Kyle Huckstorf, who drove in five runs, scored five of his own and clubbed two home runs.

The five runs scored tied a school record and are the most by a Hawkeye since Ben Norman crossed the plate five times against Georgetown on March 7, 2020.

HEAT ALERT

Freshman RHP Brody Brecht had a blazing debut in his first career appearance at Duane Banks Field in 2022.  The Ankeny, Iowa, native hit triple digits on his first three pitches, going 101, 101 and 100 in a 1-2-3 inning against Cornell College on March 2.

Brecht hit 100 or higher on the radar gun 37 times in 2022 (in games where Trackman data was available).

Brecht hit 100 or higher on the radar gun 31 times in 2023 (in games where Trackman data was available).

Brecht has hit 98.5 or higher on the radar gun 25 times and 99.0 or higher six times in 2024 (in games where Trackman data was available).

BANKS MAGIC

The Hawkeyes are 140-44 at home since the start of the 2015 season.

Iowa won 19 games in 2019, the third-most in a single-season in school history, trailing only the 22 wins in 1977 and 20 wins in 2018.

Iowa has 18 walk-off victories at Duane Banks Field since the start of 2015.

DON’T COUNT ‘EM OUT

The Hawkeyes have overcame deficits to win 108 games since the start of the 2017 season and posted 18 walk-offs. 37 of those victories have come with Iowa trailing or being tied entering or through seven innings. 23 have come in the final at-bat.

#HELLERBALL

Head coach Rick Heller recorded his 1000th career win against Ohio State (5/6/23) winning 15-3

The Hawkeyes have won 30 or more games in each of Heller’s eight full seasons as the helm of the program. It’s a first for the team since winning 30 or more in seven straight seasons from 1979-85.

Heller has led the Hawkeyes to three NCAA Regional appearances; the program had three regional appearances in its history prior to his arrival.

Heller is third in school history in career wins with 351 at Iowa, including being tied for the most (44), second (41), fifth (39) and eighth-most (36) wins in a single-season in school history.

Heller led Iowa to its first Big Ten Tournament title in 2017 — the first conference title since 1990 — and he guided the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Tournament title game in consecutive seasons. Iowa advanced to the league tournament in six straight years for the first time in program history.

Heller has coached at least one first-team All-Big Ten selection in seven of his nine (full seasons), and has 27 Major League Baseball Draft picks in nine seasons (29 players have gone on to play professional baseball).

Heller had three players drafted in the top 10 rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft — a first in program history.  That included Adam Mazur, who was the 53rd pick overall (San Diego) — the highest pick by a Hawkeye since 1990.

Iowa had a school-record six All-Big Ten selections in 2015 and five in 2017. The Hawkeyes have had 30 All-Big Ten honorees in nine seasons under Heller.

Heller has coached one Big Ten Player of the Year (Jake Adams), two Big Ten Pitcher of the Years (Trenton Wallace, Adam Mazur) and one Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Keaton Anthony) during his time as a Hawkeye.

Iowa has posted winning streaks of nine games (in 2015) and eight games (in 2017) — the longest streaks for the program since 2012.

FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES

Iowa baseball fans can follow the Hawkeyes on Facebook @iowabaseball, X @UIBaseball, and Instagram @UIBaseball in addition to coverage on hawkeyesports.com.