Notes: Michigan

The University of Iowa baseball team travels to Ann Arbor for a three-game series against Michigan on April 18-20.First pitch of the series is slated for 5 p.m. (CDT) on Friday. Game two is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. (CDT), and theseries finale will begin at noon (CDT) on Sunday.

 

• All three games will be broadcast on B1G+ and the Hawkeye Radio Network with John Leo and John Evanson the call. Fans can access the stream free on YouTube or by downloading free The Varsity Network app.

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

 

Iowa and Michigan have met 183 times. The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 123-60. Michigan has won the lastthree matchups with Iowa, including a 3-2 extra-inning win in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes are5-5 in the last 10 contests versus the Wolverines.

 

• Tracy Smith is in his third season as head coach of the Wolverines. He has over 25 years of Division I headcoaching experience and is one of just eight coaches all-time to bring three different Division I schools to the NCAA Tournament (Michigan, Arizona St., Indiana).

• Benjamin Casillas leads the Wolverines with a .416 batting average followed by Mitch Voit with a .362, rank-ing second and eighth in the Big Ten, respectively. As a team, Michigan ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 352hits and sixth with a .292 batting average.

• David Lally Jr. leads the pitching staff with 47.1 innings under his belt. He is 3-3 this season with a 4.37 ERA.

 

Junior Gable Mitchell extended his on base streak to 36 games dating back to 2024. He has not struck out in 14games and 59 at bats. His last strikeout came on March 21 against Ohio State. He ranks as the 24th toughest batterto strikeout in the nation. Teammate Caleb Wulf ranks 18th.

 

LHP Cade Obermueller has produced four straight quality starts on the mound, including a seven-inning completegame against Northwestern on April 4. In the 12-1 win over the Wildcats, Obermueller struck out a career-high 12batters while allowing one hit – a single – one walk and one unearned run. In his last four starts, the junior hasfanned 43 hitters, giving up just one run (zero earned) on nine total hits. He leads the pitching staff and is secondin the Big Ten with a 2.18 ERA.

 

Tyle Guerin was named to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List, it was announced April 15 by the College Baseball Foundation. Guerin has appeared in 18 games for the Hawkeyes this season. In nine appearances on the mound, the Shoreview, Minnesota, native has an 0.87 ERA. He's allowed one earned run on three hits. He has struck out 17, allowed a .088 batting average against and recorded one save. At the plate, Guerin has eight at bats with a .375 average with three RBIs, a double and a run scored. Former Hawkeye Tyler Peyton was a semifinalist for the Olerud Award in 2015, and Keaton Anthony was on the midseason watch list in 2023.

 

Juniors Cade Obermueller and Kooper Schulte earned Big Ten weekly recognition on April 7. Obermueller was tabbed the league’s Pitcher of the Week after throwing a seven-inning complete game with a career-high 12 strikeouts against Northwestern. Schulte garnered Player of the Week honors, slashing .600/.692/1.200 and tallying seven RBIs and five runs scored on the week. It is the sixth time in program history that the Hawkeyes brought home the two awards in the same week.

 

The Hawkeyes rank eighth in the nation and lead the Big Ten with a +169 run differential.

 

The Iowa pitching staff is tied for second in the nation with seven shutouts.

Iowa ranks fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (6.96), 16th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.7) and has the 12th best ERA in the NCAA (3.74).

 

Iowa leads the Big Ten in batting average (.314), ERA (3.74) and strikeouts (355). The Hawkeyes have the 26th best batting average in the nation.

 

Redshirt sophomore Reese Moore had an impressive month of March at the plate. He was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on March 24.

• He hit .453 in the month of March with 27 RBIs and eight bombs, including two dingers each against Ohio State on March 21 and Minnesota on March 28.

• Over Iowa's 18 games in March, Moore set or tied his single-game career-highs in at-bats (6), hits (4), RBIs (4), runs scored (3), home runs (2), triples (1), walks (2) and stolen bases (1).

 

Junior and right-handed pitcher Aaron Savary earned B1G Pitcher of the Week honors; the conference announced on March 10. This came after a solid performance against Rutgers on March 8 when Savary allowed three hits and struck out six batters over five innings of work. He leads the Iowa pitching staff with a 5-0 record.

 

RHP Reece Beuter threw seven innings of shutout baseball in Iowa's win over UMBC.

• Beuter was the first Hawkeye to throw 7+ shutout innings since Adam Mazur against

Nebraska in 2022.

• Brody Brecht threw 7 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run in 2024.

 

Iowa's weekend rotation of Obermueller, Savary and Beuter have combined to go 13-2 with a 3.42 ERA, striking out 170 and allowing 104 hits.

 

LHP Cade Obermueller has been named to the preseason All-Big Ten Team and named the preseason Big Ten Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game.

 

Iowa's 40-man roster features three graduates, four redshirt seniors, six seniors, 14 juniors, two redshirt sophomores, one sophomore, two redshirt freshmen and 8 freshmen.

• Iowa returns 20 letterwinners and welcomes 16 newcomers (eight of which are transfers) to the squad.

 

The Hawkeye roster features 29 Iowa guys, threeIllinois boys, two confident Canadians, two magic Minnesotans, one wonderful Wisconsinite, one cool Californian, one charming Coloradoan, two Georgia peaches, one hardworking Hoosier, one Kansas kid, one Missouri man, one nice New Yorker, and one tenacious Texan.

 

The Hawkeyes added five Division I transfers to their 2025 roster: Jackson Beaman (Missouri), Daniel Wright (Houston), Bryson Walker (Houston), Mitch Wood (Northern Kentucky) and William Pearson (Georgia).

 

Iowa's roster features 8 sets of previous teammates:

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

• Archer/Risley: Kirkwood CC (23)

• Archer/Moore: Van Meter (19-22)

• Obermueller/Mitchell: City HS (19-22)

• Wilmes/Risley: Johnston HS (19-22)

• Wright/Hogue: Iowa Central CC (22)

• Wright/Walker: Houston (23-24)

• Guerin/Guerin: Mounds View HS (21-22)

 

Brant Hogue, Gable Mitchell, Andy Nelson and Jack Whitlock have been voted team captains for the 2025 season.

 

Cade Obermueller was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 19th Round of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft but elected to return to the Hawkeyes for his junior year.

• Obermueller was the 585th pick overall.

• Obermueller is the 34th player drafted under

 

Iowa has five sets of family ties on this year's roster.

• Gable Mitchell's father Brian Mitchell played baseball for the Hawkeyes. 

• Cade Obermueller is the son of Wes Obermueller, a former pitcher for the Hawkeyes and the current director of player development.

• Caleb Wulf is the son of Troy Wulf, a former pitcher for the Hawkeyes.

• Brian Mitchell, Wes Obermueller, and Troy Wulf all played for the Hawkeyes from 1997-99.

• Kooper Schulte is the son of former Iowa pitcher Justin Schulte. 

• Blake and Tyler Guerin are brothers.   

 

The Hawkeyes are returning to Des Moines, Iowa for a series for the second straight year. 

• The Hawkeyes faced FIU for a three-game series in 2023 which was the first time since 2018 (and first regular season game since 2004) that the Hawkeyes played at Principal Park. 

• Eight Hawkeyes hail from the Des Moines metro area (Two from Johnston, two from Clive, one from Adel, one from Grimes, one from Van Meter, and one from Winterset.

 

Dating back to 1969 (roster availability) Daniel Wright is the tallest baseball Hawkeye at 6-9.

 

Sean Kenny has been named the pitching coach for the University of Iowa Baseball team.

• Kenny brings 28 years of coaching experience to Iowa City. He spent the 2024 season as the pitching coach at the University of Houston and spent the previous seven years at the University of Georgia.

• Kenny coached the last 15 seasons with Power 5 programs, tutoring 45 pitchers who were selected in the MLB Draft.

 

Of the newest additions to the Big Ten the Hawkeyes have only ever played Oregon. Iowa holds a 2-0 record in those contests, winning both games against the Ducks in a 2015 regional. 

 

The Hawkeyes welcomed back former Hawkeye (class of 2018) Tyler Cropley to the baseball staff as director of programs and player strategies.

• Cropley played for Heller and the Hawkeyes from 2017-18. He hit a team-best .342 with 20 doubles, nine home runs, 50 RBIs and 43 runs scored as a senior. 

• He was a named a second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and was a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award.

• Cropley was selected in the eighth round of the 2018 Major League Draft by the Washington Nationals with the 251st pick. • He was the first Hawkeye catcher drafted in top eight rounds since 1972. The Sioux City, Iowa, native made his MLB debut on August 19, 2023, for the Kansas City Royals. He appeared in two games for the Royals.

 

The Hawkeyes welcomed back former Hawkeye (class of 1999) Wes Obermueller to the baseball staff as director of player development. 

• Obermueller played for Iowa from 1997-1999 before being selected by Kansas City in the second round of the MLB Draft. In 1999 he had a 6.83 ERA while recording 91 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings. He also had a .352 batting average with 24 RBIs. • Obermueller started his career at Iowa as a shortstop and then a right fielder before making his debut on the mound as a junior. He locked down a spot in the starting rotation in 1999.

• The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native made his major league debut on September 20, 2002, and played parts of five seasons in the big leagues (Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins) starting 48 games and appearing in 80. He had a 5.82 ERA over 315 1/3 innings tallying 166 strikeouts. He also pitched for the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball League and the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. 

• Obermueller is the father of junior LHP Cade Obermueller.

 

The Hawkeyes have three series against teams ranked in the preseason top 25, and 10 games against 2024 NCAA tournament teams. Iowa will face Stetson once, Indiana three times, #7 Oregon State three times,  #12 Oregon three times, and #24 Nebraska three times. 

 

The Iowa Baseball program has a team of 27 student managers. It is one of the largest and most progressive student manager programs in the country.

• They are led by head manager Gabe Hester along with lead on-field manager Zack Anderson and lead data analysts Connor Curtiss and Keithan Sharp.

• The program is broken into four departments: Operations Assistants (three students), Data Analysts (eight students), On-Field (12 students) and Video & Technology (four students). 

• The data team uses HawkDashboard: Iowa's own internal information system that centralizes interactive player profiles, post-action reports, and statistics leaderboards. This application increases the program’s capability to process advanced analytical information into actionable feedback for coaches and players. 

• The program has had graduates move on to 18 MLB organizations, five Minor League Organizations, six college baseball teams, four summer ball/independent league teams, three training facilities, and numerous other careers outside of baseball. 

 

The Hawkeyes posted their 30th victory of the 2024 season in the 15-2 victory over Florida International. 

• It was the ninth 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).

 

The Hawkeyes have posted 11 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.)

The Hawkeyes are 176-50 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

 

The Hawkeyes have overcame deficits to win 110 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.

 

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.)

 

The Hawkeyes had five players selected in the 2024 Major League Draft and had Raider Tello agree to terms as an undrafted free agent.

• Brody Brecht became Iowa's highest drafted player under Rick Heller when he was selected with the 38th pick in the CB-A round by the Colorado Rockies

• Sam Petersen was chosen in the 8th round (230th pick) by the Washington Nationals

• Jack Young was selected in the 9th Round (259th pick) by the Chicago White Sox

• Marcus Morgan was a 9th round (282nd)  pick by the Philadelphia Phillies 

• Cade Obermueller was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 19th round (585th pick.

• Raider Tello signed as an undrafted free agent with the Philadelphia  Phillies. 

 

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: 31-23

 

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 full seasons at the helm of the program. 

• Heller has led the Hawkeyes to three NCAA Regional appearances; the program had three regio nal appearances in its history rior 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 nine of his 10 (full seasons), and has 34 Major League Baseball Draft picks in 10 seasons (36 players have gone on to play professional baseball).

• Heller had four players drafted in the top 10 rounds of the 2024 MLB Draft -- a first in program history.  That included Brody Brecht, who was the 38th pick overall (Colorado) -- the highest pick by a Hawkeye since 1990.

• Iowa had a school-record six All-Big Ten selections in 2015 and five in 2017 and 2024. The Hawkeyes have had 40 All-Big Ten honorees in 11 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.

 

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

 

Following the three games against Michigan, the Hawkeyes will have a midweek contest versus Western Illinois on Tuesday at 6:02 p.m. (CDT) at Duane Banks Field.