Notes: Rutgers

The University of Iowa baseball team opens Big Ten play with a three -game series against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in New Brunswick, N.J., March 7-9. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. (CT) on Friday, 1 p.m. (CT) on Saturday and 10 a.m. (CT) on Sunday.  

 

All three games will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required)

All three 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 Twitter (@UIBaseball)

 

This will be the 20th meeting between Iowa and Rutgers. Iowa leads the all-time series, 12-7, and has won three straight. The Hawkeyes won the last matchup, 5-1, on April 21, 2024.

 

Rutgers went 28-25 overall and 6-18 in the Big Ten in 2024. This marked the Scarlet Knights' third winning season in a row, a feat that had not been accomplished since 2005-07.

The Scarlet Knights are 5-7 this season with wins over Kennesaw State, Grand Canyon, St. Joe's and Delaware. 

The Scarlet Knights are led by sixth-year head coach Steve Owens, who ranked No. 5 among active Div. I coaches in wins (1,046) and No. 22 in winning percentage (.644) heading into this season.

 

The Hawkeyes open up Big Ten play against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights March 7-9. Iowa is 4-6 in Big Ten opening games under head coach Rick Heller.

 

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. 

 

Redshirt sophomore Reese Moore has gone 6-for-8 with a double, a triple and a home run in the last two games. He plated in a career-high four RBIs with a career-high four hits against Loras on March 3. 

 

Junior and Southeastern CC transfer Caleb Wulf has been on fire at the plate in the last five contests. In Iowa's four-game series against Washington State and home-opener versus Loras, Wulf went 10-for-18 with a double and drove in eight Hawkeye runs. In 10 games played this season, Wulf is slashing .471/.500/.500, which leads the team.

 

Iowa's weekend rotation of Obermueller, Savary and Beuter have combined to go 4-1 with a 2.19 ERA, striking out 59 and allowing 31 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, 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 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 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).

BIG HAWK

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

 

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.

 

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 Hawkeyes had five players selected in the 2024 Major League Draft and also 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.

 

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 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 141-44 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.

 

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.

 

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.)

 

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 in New Jersey, the Hawkeyes will head back to Iowa City for a game against Augustana at Duane Banks Field on Tuesday, March 11, at 4:05 p.m. (CT).