IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Coe College, 8-2, on Tuesday evening at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeye pitching staff struck out 20 Kohawk batters in the contest.
“I was really pleased with the whole day,” said head coach Rick Heller. “I was kind of wondering what the mood would be like after half the team got stuck in Atlanta and didn’t get back till yesterday. Threw us out of kilter that way. Pretty cold and breezy day. I felt like we had good energy from the time we started to stretch, and our defensive work that we do prior to the game was crisp and good. Batting practice guys were good. I was really happy with all that.”
Freshman Cade Obermueller made his first career start for Iowa and struck out six over three innings of work allowing one unearned run. Six Hawkeye pitchers each saw an inning of work following Obermueller with Jack Whitlock earning his second win of the season. Nick Gottilla, Luke Llewellyn, and Will Christophersen each struck out three.
“Cade got off to a rough start but then settled in,” said Heller. “Was really good after that. If you want to be nitpicky, we hit a lot of balls in the air on day when it was tough to hit. Stranded too many guys on base. Other than a few pitchers putting the leadoff guy on via the free base they pretty much dominated and settled in.”
Seven different Hawkeyes tallied hits on the contest with six different Iowa batters recording an RBI. Raider Tello was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Keaton Anthony was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Sam Petersen, Ben Wilmes, and Gehrig Christensen each brough home an RBI as well.
The Hawkeyes outhit the Kohawks, 8-2, and hit .462 with runners in scoring position (6-for-13).
“Was really happy with what I saw,” said Heller. “It was a good game. Coe played well and made good plays. They didn’t open the flood gates with free bases, and we didn’t take advantage of the ones they did give us. Overall, I thought it was a solid midweek after a long weekend on the road and we got out of it everything that we needed to.”
Of Note
The Hawkeyes have started the season 10-1 for the first time since 1942.
Iowa has now won seven games in a row and scored 71 runs in those contests.
The Hawkeyes struck out 20 batters for the first time since striking out 22 against Illinois last season (4/9/22).
Keaton Anthony extended his on base streak to 27 games dating back to last season.
Up Next
Iowa heads to Texas Tech for a three-game series from March 10-12 in Lubbock, Texas. Friday’s series opener is set for a 6:30 p.m. (CT) first pitch.
