Notes: UCLA - Big Ten Tournament

The third-seeded University of Iowa baseball team faces No. 2-seed UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).

 

The Big Ten Network will broadcast every game of the tournament. Games will also be available on the FOX Sports App

Iowa's games will be broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network with John Leo and John Evans on 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 is making its 10th straight Big Ten Tournament appearance and the 18th in program history.

The Hawkeyes are 27-32 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 nine of the last 10 Big Ten Tournaments and is 18-12 over the past eight tournaments

Head coach Rick Heller is 20-16 in the conference tournament.

 

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.)

 

With a 4-1 win over Rutgers on Wednesday, Iowa punched its ticket to the semifinals for the first time since 2023.  This will be the Hawkeyes’ fourth Big Ten Tournament semifinal appearance in the last eight seasons.

 

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Hawkeyes and Bruins.

 

John Savage is the third-longest-tenured head coach in UCLA baseball program history. Under Savage, the Bruins have advanced to the postseason in 13 of the last 19 seasons, hosting an NCAA Regional six times during that span.

The offense is led by Big Ten Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky, who is second in the Big Ten with 22 home runs and is slashing .370/.513/.779.

Michael Barnett leads the pitching staff with a 4.23 ERA and 10-1 record in 66 innings of work. 

 

In the Hawkeyes' first two games of the tournament, Gable Mitchell and Caleb Wulf have led the Iowa offense, each hitting .500 (4-for-8) and combining for three runs scored. On the defensive side, Cade Obermueller pitched a gem against the Hoosiers on Wednesday. He gave up four hits and struck out 10 batters over seven shutout innings. It marked his fifth double-digit strikeout performance this season.

 

Iowa had eight student-athletes earn Big Ten recognition. Juniors Cade Obermueller and Aaron Savary and redshirt sophomore Reese Moore earned first-team All-Big Ten honors. Redshirt senior Reece Beuter and graduate student Daniel Rogers were second-team selections. Senior Ben Wilmes earned third-team honors. Jaixen Frost was named to the All-Freshman team, and redshirt freshman Max Burt was Iowa’s Big Ten Sportsmanship recipient. 

Iowa’s seven All-Big Ten selections give head coach Rick Heller 47 selections in his 12 seasons in Iowa City. 

Heller has coached at least one first-team All-Big Ten selection in 10 of his 11 seasons when awards were handed out (there were no honors in 2020). 

Iowa is the only school with all three of its weekend starters earning honors.

 

Over the last 10 games, including nine starts, junior transfer Caleb Wulf is slashing .417/.447/.556 with 15 hits and eight RBIs. He hit his first home run as a Hawkeye against No. 5 Oregon on May 16. In 48 games played this season, Wulf leads the team and ranks sixth in the Big Ten with a .368 batting average

 

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.

 

Caleb Wulf is slashing .545/.556/.667 with a 1.222 OPS while playing in 13 of Iowa's 16 night games this season. He has totaled 17 hits with seven RBIs and eight runs. He is 2-for-2 in stolen bases and has a 1.000 fielding percentage in those contests. 

 

Iowa's Friday night ace Cade Obermueller leads the Big Ten in multiple advanced metrics including strikeout rate (32.9%), K-BB% (23.9%), xFIP (3.92) and SIERA (2.45). 

 

Reece Beuter ranks third in the nation and leads the Big Ten in left on base percentage (88.1%). He also leads the conference with a .227 batting average on balls in play. 

 

A record-breaking 3,339 fans attended Iowa's game against No. 5 Oregon at Duane Banks Field on May 16. The previous attendance record at Banks was 2,999 fans for a doubleheader against Penn State in 1998.

 

The Iowa pitching staff is second in the nation with nine shutouts. 

Iowa ranks fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.09), 11th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and has the 15th best ERA in the NCAA (4.06).

 

Iowa ranks first in the Big Ten in strikeouts (550) and second in ERA (4.06). Iowa is second in the Big Ten in batting average (.297). 

 

Under first-year pitching coach Sean Kenny, Iowa's national rankings have improved in multiple categories:

123rd to 15th in ERA

134th to 19th in WHIP

147th to 43rd in K-to-BB Ratio

 

The Hawkeyes posted their 30th victory of the 2025 season in their 13-2 victory over Indiana on April 26.  It was the 10th 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).

 

Iowa's weekend rotation of Cade Obermueller, Aaron Savary and Reece Beuter have combined to go 17-3 with a 3.10 ERA. They've struck out 244 batters and walked 79 over 38 starts and 203 innings pitched. All three pitchers are ranked in the top five in the Big Ten in ERA and top six in opponent batting average.

 

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

 

Junior Gable Mitchell had an on base streak of 52 games dating back to 2024. He didn't strike out in 15 straight games from March 22-April 18. He ranks as the 24th toughest batter to strikeout in the nation. Teammate Caleb Wulf ranks 18th. Mitchell has the 15th best betting average in the Big Ten at .333.

 

LHP Cade Obermueller has produced five quality starts on the mound, including a seven-inning complete game against Northwestern on April 4. In the 12-1 win over the Wildcats, Obermueller struck out a career-high 12 batters while allowing one hit – a single – one walk and one unearned run. He leads the pitching staff and is fifth in the Big Ten with a 3.30 ERA.

 

RHP Reece Beuter threw seven innings of shutout baseball in Iowa's win over UMBC on Feb. 23 and again against Washington on May 2.

Beuter was the first Hawkeye to throw 7+ shutout innings since Adam Mazur against Nebraska in 2022. 

 

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 7-1 record.

 

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).

He currently leads the team with nine home runs.

 

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.

 

The Hawkeye roster features 29 Iowa guys, three Illinois 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.

 

Iowa's roster features 7 sets of previous 

teammates:

Archer/Risley: Kirkwood CC (23)

Archer/Moore: Van Meter (21-22)

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 head coach Rick Heller.

The Iowa City, Iowa, native is the second Hawkeye to return after being drafted under Rick Heller (Tyler Peyton, 2016)

 

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 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.   

 

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

 

The Iowa Baseball program has a team of 27 student managers. 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 are 180-55 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.

 

The Hawkeyes have overcame deficits to win 117 games since the start of the 2017 season and posted 19 walk-offs. 38 of those victories have come with Iowa trailing or being tied entering or through seven innings. 23 have come in the final at-bat.

 

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

2025: 32-20-1 (ongoing)

 

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 383 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.