Hawkeyes Drop Season Opener in Tampa

TAMPA, Florida – The University of Iowa baseball team lost its season opener to South Florida, 5-4, at USF Baseball Stadium on Friday evening.

Junior Cade Obermueller got the nod on the mound for Iowa. The left-hander allowed one run on one hit while striking out a career-high 10 Bulls in five innings of work. Obermueller walked two batters. 

After South Florida took a 1-0 lead in the first frame, Obermueller settled in on the hill, sitting down the Bulls in order in the second, third and fourth innings. 

"It was a tough loss in game one," head coach Rick Heller said. "The guys played hard but we made some costly mistakes. Obermueller had a rough first inning and we came out of it down one. Cade settled in after that and gave us five scoreless innings."

The Iowa offense scored its first run of the 2025 season in the third inning after junior Gable Mitchell laid down a bases loaded sacrifice bunt to plate redshirt freshman Jaixen Frost. 

The Hawkeyes took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning when Mitchell hit an RBI single to score senior Ben Wilmes.

Junior Anthony Watts came in to relieve Obermueller, going 1-2-3 in the sixth frame before giving up a grand slam in the seventh to put the Bulls ahead, 5-2. Watts struck out two hitters and walked three in two innings of work.

Fifth-year Brant Hogue entered in relief to start the eighth inning and rung up two Bulls. 

Down three runs in the ninth inning, the Hawkeye offense rallied but ultimately fell short. Frost worked a leadoff walk and then scored on a triple from junior transfer Miles Risley. Wilmes then hit an RBI groundout to first base to cut Iowa's deficit to one, but that was it for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa finished the game with four runs on eight hits and had two errors. USF had five runs on three hits and one error.

"The offense got off to slow start but strung some good at bats together in the 3rd, tying it up," Heller said. "We had chances to break it open a few times in the middle innings but didn’t get the big hit.  I liked how we battled offensively. With a 2-1 lead in the 7th, two, two out walks and a two strike grand slam did us in. Brant Hogue came in with runners at first and second with no outs and pitched great getting us out the jam.  The guys didn’t quit, and I’m proud of our effort. We rallied in 9th with two runs and had the tying run at the plate. Jaixen Frost, Kooper Schulte, Miles Risley and Caleb Wulf all had their first hits as Hawkeyes. There were lots of positives, but when you out hit the opponent 8-3 and lose, you don’t sleep well."

OF NOTE
* Iowa is 6-6 in season openers under head coach Rick Heller.
*Catcher Daniel Rogers, shortstop Kooper Schulte, third baseman Jaixen Frost and center fielder Miles Risley made their Hawkeye debuts.
*South Florida now leads the all-time series against Iowa, 3-1.

NEXT UP
The Hawkeyes (0-1) return to action Saturday, facing South Florida at 1 p.m. (CT) in Game 2 of the series.