Iowa Baseball Final Notes: 2026

THIS SEASON
The Hawkeyes closed the 2026 season with a 33-23 overall record and made its 11th straight Big Ten Tournament appearance.

MITCHELL AND SCHULTE DRAFTED  TO MLB
The Hawkeyes had two players selected in the 2026 Major League Draft.
• Gable Mitchell was a 6th round (193rd)  pick by the Toronto Blue Jays 
• Kooper Schulte was a 20th round pick (600th) by the New York Mets

THE NORM — 30
The Hawkeyes posted their 30th victory of the 2026 season in their 10-7 victory over Purdue on May 14.  It was the 11th 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).

30 WINS X 11
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: 33-22-1 
2026: 33-23

IOWA’S B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Iowa made its 11th straight Big Ten Tournament appearance and the 19th in program history.
• The Hawkeyes are 28-35 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 10 of the last 11 Big Ten Tournaments and is 19-14 over the past eight tournaments
• Head coach Rick Heller is 21-19 in the conference tournament.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT STREAK
Since Heller took over the program in 2014, only two schools -- Iowa 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.)

52 HITS
The 52 hits in the series against Purdue were the most hits in a weekend under Coach Heller surpassing the previous mark of 50 in four games vs. Maryland/Northwestern in 2021.

GABLE MITCHELL LOCKING IT DOWN
The Hawkeyes’ everyday second baseman made just one error in 211 chances and has helped turn 28 of Iowa’s 39 double plays.

VIDEO GAME NUMBERS
Caleb Wulf and Gable Mitchell combined for 169 hits, 92 RBIs and 105 runs. In 451 at bats, the duo struck out just 31 times.

SCORE EARLY AND OFTEN
Iowa was 15-7 when scoring in the first inning, 22-8 when scoring first and 29-6 when scoring 6 or more runs. 
• Iowa is 19-1 when scoring 10 or more runs. 

1,100 AND 400 FOR HELLER
Coach Rick Heller earned his 400th win at Iowa on March 31 at Bradley and his 1,100th career win at Indiana on April 26.
• He has the fourth most wins among active D1 coaches. 
• He is the third head coach in program history to reach 400 wins (Duane Banks, 810; Otto Vogel, 440).
• His .616 winning percentage is the best among Iowa head coaches with at least 35 games.

ALL-BIG TEN
Iowa had four student-athletes earn Big Ten recognition. Senior Gable Mitchell earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors and was named to the All-Defensive Team. Senior Caleb Wulf was selected to the All-Big Ten Third Team, while freshman Kyle Alivo earned All-Freshman Team recognition. Redshirt junior Kellen Strohmeyer was Iowa’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.
• Iowa’s three All-Big Ten selections give head coach Rick Heller 51 selections in his 13 seasons in Iowa City. 
• Heller has coached at least one first-team All-Big Ten selection in 10 of his 12 seasons when awards were handed out (there were no honors in 2020). 

ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN
Iowa had nine student-atheltes earn academic All-Big Ten honors. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. 
• Ganon Archer (Management)
• Max Burt (Enterprise Leadership) 
• Tyler Guerin (Pre-Business)
• Justin Hackett (Economics)
• Ty Mikkelsen (Interdepartmental Studies - Business) 
• Gable Mitchell (Enterprise Leadership) 
• Kooper Schulte (Sport and Recreation Management)
• Kellen Strohmeyer (Exercise Science)
• Ben Swails (Sport and Recreation Management)

B1G DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS
Archer, Burt, Mikkelsen and Swails all earned the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award.
• Recipients must have earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled full time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better

4.00 FOR TY
Redshirt freshman Ty Mikkelsen was the only Big Ten baseball player with a perfect GPA this spring. 

O CAPTAINS! MY CAPTAINS!
Ganon Archer, Tyler Guerin, Gable Mitchell and Kellen Strohmeyer were voted team captains for the season. 

LEADOFF DAMAGE
Eight different Hawkeyes homered 13 times to lead off an inning (Schulte 5x, Mitchell 2x, Wood, Nerat, Risley, Geffre, Wulf, J. Frost). Iowa opened the game with a home run four times this season. 
• Iowa is 8-4 in those contests.

IMPACT TRANSFERS
The Hawkeyes added six Division I transfers to their 2026 roster: Matthew Delgado (UNA), Joe Husak (Illinois St.), Joey Nerat (DBU), Bryce Phelps (Wagner), Logan Runde (FIU), and Brett White (Baylor).

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Iowa's 37-man roster featured four graduates, six seniors, three redshirt juniors, three juniors, two redshirt sophomores, two sophomores, five redshirt freshmen and 12 freshmen.
• Iowa returns 12 letterwinners and welcomes 20 newcomers (eight of which are transfers) to the squad.

I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!
Iowa's roster featured five sets of previous 
teammates:
• Archer/Moore: Van Meter (2022)
• Archer/Risley/Runde: Kirkwood CC (2023)
• Frese/Schulte/Wulf: Southeastern CC (2024)
• Wulf/Phelps: Southeastern CC (2023) 
• Husak/Ziegler: DMACC (2023)

PEARSON RETURNS
David Pearson is back for his second stint with the Hawkeyes after being named an assistant coach on Jan. 6, 2026. 
• Pearson previously served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Hawkeyes in 2021.
• Pearson spent the 2025 fall semester on the Illinois State baseball staff after more than two years as a Midwest area scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, covering Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
• During his one season in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes won 36 games, the eighth-most wins in a single season in program history, and finished tied for second in the Big Ten with a 17-7 record. Iowa won 20 of 27, 23 of 32 and 30 of 42 games down the stretch, including six straight series to close out the regular season, putting itself in NCAA Regional conversation at season’s end. The Hawkeyes qualified for the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2017.

IOWA BASEBALL FAMILY
Iowa had five sets of family ties on this year's roster. 
• Gable Mitchell's father Brian Mitchell played baseball for the Hawkeyes (1996-99). 
• Caleb Wulf is the son of Troy Wulf, a former pitcher for the Hawkeyes (1996-99).
• Kooper Schulte is the son of former Iowa pitcher Justin Schulte (1994-95). 
• Maddux Frese is the son of former Iowa pitcher Nate Frese (1996-99).   
• Brian Mitchell, Troy Wulf, Nate Frese were all teammates and roommates together from 1997-1999. 

BANKS MAGIC
The Hawkeyes are 170-56 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 20 walk-off victories at Duane Banks Field since the start of 2015.

DON'T COUNT 'EM OUT
The Hawkeyes have overcame deficits to win 130 games since the start of the 2017 season and posted 21 walk-offs. 40 of those victories have come with Iowa trailing or being tied entering or through seven innings. 24 have come in the final at-bat.

PLAYING FOR GB
The Hawkeyes wore a patch in their uniforms this season in honor of former public address announcer Gregg Bentler who passed away at the age of 59 on July 23, 2025.
• Bentler was the event voice for many Hawkeye sporting events for over two decades, primarily for baseball and gymnastics. In recent years, Bentler was the lead public address announcer for men’s basketball.
• Born in Burlington, Iowa, Bentler graduated from Marquette High School (West Point, Iowa) in 1984 and from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business in 1988 with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

MOVING THE NEEDLE
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 Ryan Campbell along with lead on-field manager Luke Sheridan and lead data analyst Keithan Sharp. 
• The program is broken into four departments: Operations Assistants (4 students), Data Analysts (8 students), On-Field (11 students) and Video & Technology (4 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, 5 Minor League Organizations, 6 college baseball teams, 4 summer ball/independent league teams, 3 training facilities, and numerous other careers outside of baseball. 

#HELLERBALL
• Head coach Rick Heller recorded his 1000th career win against Ohio State (5/6/23) winning 15-3.
• Heller recorded his 400th win at Iowa against Bradley (4/31/26)
• 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 regional appearances in its history prior to his arrival.
• Heller is third in school history in career wins with 417 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 10 of his 12 (full seasons), and has 34 Major League Baseball Draft picks in 13 seasons (47 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 seven All-Big Ten selections in 2025, the most since having six in 2015. The Hawkeyes have had 47 All-Big Ten honorees in 12 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.

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