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A baseball player in a white and gold uniform with the word "Iowa" on the chest is in a ready stance on the field.A baseball player in a white and gold uniform with the word "Iowa" on the chest is in a ready stance on the field.
Brian Ray
Baseball

Hawkeyes Down Illinois in Big Ten Tournament

The eighth-seeded Iowa baseball team rallied from an early four-run deficit to defeat No. 9 seed Illinois, 10-6, on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. — The eighth-seeded University of Iowa baseball team rallied from an early four-run deficit to defeat No. 9 seed Illinois, 10-6, on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

"We’ve talked from day one that we don’t play the scoreboard we play the game,” said head coach Rick Heller. “We try and play the game one pitch at a time, the right way, there’s only one way to go about your business. If you do that it always gives you a chance to come back."

Illinois struck for four runs in the first inning to take an early 4-0 lead.

The Hawkeyes responded in the second inning, scoring three times to cut the deficit to one. Redshirt sophomore Max Burt drove in two runs with a double before redshirt junior Jaylen Ziegler added an RBI single to make it 4-3

Iowa evened the game in the third inning when senior Gable Mitchell stole home as part of a double steal to tie the contest at 4-4.

After falling behind again, 6-4, the Hawkeyes answered again in the fifth as redshirt sophomore Jaixen Frost delivered an RBI single to pull Iowa within one.

Iowa broke the game open in the seventh inning, scoring five runs to take control. Frost tied the game with a sacrifice fly before Burt followed with another sac fly to give Iowa its first lead of the game. Senior Joey Nerat delivered the decisive blow with a three-run home run to right-center that traveled 405 feet, pushing the lead to 10-6.

Jaron Bleeker earned the win in relief, allowing one run on three hits over five innings while striking out five. Maddux Frese started and allowed five runs over four innings while striking out five.

Offensively, Caleb Wulf led the Hawkeyes with three hits and three runs scored. Burt and Nerat each finished with three RBIs in the win.

NOTABLES

  • Iowa moves to 33-21 on the season.
  • Iowa totaled 10 runs on 13 hits in the victory its fourth straight game with at least 10 runs and 10 hits.
  • Iowa has won at least one game in 10 of the last 11 Big Ten Tournaments and is 19-12 over the past nine tournaments.
  • Head coach Rick Heller is 21-17 in the conference tournament.
  • The Hawkeyes have overcome deficits to win 130 games since the start of the 2017 season. Iowa has come from behind to win 14 games this year.

UP NEXT 

The Hawkeyes face No. 12 seed Michigan State at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.