Hawkeyes take the series opener over Rutgers on Friday night
There’s still nearly a month left in the regular season, but with the way the Big Ten standings are shaping up, this weekend’s series between Iowa and Rutgers could prove be a pivotal one for both sides. With the level of importance a notch higher, Cade Obermueller delivered an impressive performance on the mound. He fought through a couple of early jams and set for the tone for the Hawkeyes, as they picked up an 8-1 win in the series opener on Friday night.
“Winning on Friday’s are a huge thing,” said Obermueller. “I feel like they might be a little beat down right now, especially given how many runs they gave up in the eighth, so that’s a big one.”
The sophomore Iowa City native was a key contributor to the Hawkeyes win, allowing just one run on five hits over 6.1 innings of work. It’s the longest by an Iowa starting pitcher all season.
“I felt like my stuff was pretty good. Velocity wasn’t the best it has been, but I felt like I was executing my slider when I had to, especially later in the game and then my fastball was there, felt really good with that and then my splitter was really good, could get that below the zone.”
After a three up, three down top of the first inning, things got a little rocky for Cade. Ty Doucette led off the second inning with a solo home run to answer the Hawkeyes going up 1-0. The real trouble came later in the inning, with a walk and single putting two runners on, with nobody out. However, Obermueller buckled down and recorded back-to-back strikeouts to calm the threat down. Another walk loaded the bases, but he got leadoff batter Cameron Love to ground out to end the threat entirely.
Then, in the fourth inning, a two out double from Johnny Volpe put two runners in scoring position, but Cade got Pablo Santos to ground one right back at him to end another scoring chance. Outside of two scary jams, Obermueller retired 12 of the 14 batters he faced over the other 4.1 innings. He finished with six strikeouts to just two walks and threw 62 of his 98 (63.3%) pitches for strikes.
“The second inning was rocky, but I really just sat down and reset and was like, you have this one pitch at a time, and I went out there and executed one pitch fearlessly,” said Obermueller.
“He was able to hit with all of his pitches and that’s what would get him in trouble, when he can only hit with one and they can ambush,” said Coach Rick Heller. “Just kept telling him to stay locked in and pound the zone, and for the most part, he did that the rest of the way (after the second)…That’s how the Friday night game is supposed to go.”
As for the Iowa offense, they were facing a tough test going up against Rutgers left-hander Justin Sinibaldi, who came into the day averaging 6.2 innings per outing. The Hawkeyes put up a run in the first and got an RBI single from Michael Seegers in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but it was tough sledding from there. Sinibaldi allowed just two runs on two hits over 6.1 innings, but gave up six free bases. Although the results didn’t show on the scoreboard, the Hawkeye hitters forced the Scarlet Knights ace to work for every out.
“For the most part, the guys stuck to the plan all night long. The issue tonight was when we got pitches to hit, we had good swings or our best swing several times and fouled it off and just missed it,” said Heller. “He’s got a lot of movement (on his pitches) and he’s not an easy guy to hit off of, but I felt like our guys did a good job, as good a job as you can do when you only got two hits.”
In the top of the eighth inning, the Scarlet Knights threatened to tie or take the lead against Iowa reliever Anthony Watts. The Big Ten hits leader Josh Kuroda-Grauer legged out a one out double, which had Rutgers just 180 feet from tying the game. In the ensuing at-bat, Ty Doucette hit a fly ball that traveled about as many feet as it possibly could have without leaving the yard. Andy Nelson made the play on the warning track for the second out, but Kuroda-Grauer advanced to third, putting the tying run 90 feet from home. Watts stepped up in a big way and got power-hitter Tony Santa Maria looking with strike three to end the inning, leaving Kuroda-Grauer stranded.
“Anthony’s been really good for us here for a quite a while and when he’s in control of himself like he was tonight, his stuff is good and tough to hit,” said Heller. “We were hopeful that he could close it out and we wouldn’t have to go to the ‘pen, but once that (8th) inning became so long, it didn’t make a lot of sense to run him out there.”
In the bottom of the eighth, the Hawkeyes took a closely contested pitchers duel and turned it into a comfortable victory. With two runners on and just one out, Coach Heller dialed up a double steal attempt. Rutgers catcher Jackson Natili opted to throw down to second base to try to cut down Cade Moss, but instead threw it to his centerfielder Pete Durocher, which allowed Kyle Huckstorf to score from third.
On the next pitch, Ben Wilmes laid down a perfect squeeze bunt and Cade Moss beat the tag at the plate to make it 4-1 Hawkeyes. After a bases loaded walk and a sac fly from Raider Tello, Davis Cop delivered the knockout blow. Cop drove a single up the middle to score a pair and, all of the sudden, Iowa led 8-1. Jack Young retired the side in the top of the ninth to give the Hawkeyes a win in the series opener.
“We’ve been talking all week that we just have to put everything aside and just fight hard. Fight that kind of fight where you’re not afriad, that kind of fight, where you’re fighting for your life and when you’ve got a chip on your shoulder,” said Heller. “That was the challenge in the locker room tonight and it was a great way to start the series. Challenge is to come out and do it again tomorrow, do it again Sunday and do it the rest of the year.”
Rutgers outhit the Hawkeyes 7-6, but they were just 2/14 (.143) with runners on base and 0/9 (.000) with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Iowa was 5/14 (.357) with runners on base and 3/11 (.273) with runners in scoring position. Michael Seegers made five plays in the field and recorded a pair of hits at the plate to lead the way offensively. Gable Mitchell reached base three times, with a bunt single and two walks.
With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 7-6 in Big Ten play. Losses from Maryland and Penn State gives Iowa a full two-game lead on 9th place in the standings, which is the first spot out of the Big Ten Tournament.
Up Next, the Hawkeyes will look to clinch the series on Saturday afternoon. Marcus Morgan will get the start for Iowa, while it will be Jordan Falco for Rutgers. First pitch is set for 2:05pm CT on BTN+.
