Cade Obermueller's career-high 12 K's anchors Iowa Baseball's 12-1 run-rule win over Northwestern

The Iowa Baseball team notched their ninth consecutive win in Big Ten play on Friday, defeating the Northwestern Wildcats in run-rule fashion, 12-1 in seven innings.

Cade Obermueller was nearly perfect on the mound, retiring 21 of the 25 batters he faced, while collecting a career-high 12 strikeouts. At the plate, Hawkeye hitters drew 11 walks and tallied ten hits. Gable Mitchell and Miles Risley each finished with two hits, while five Iowa batters had two RBI’s

With the win, the Hawkeyes extend their winning streak to five games and move to 19-9 on the season and 11-2 in Big Ten play. Since UCLA is on their bye week in conference play facing San Diego in a three-game series, the win puts Iowa in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings.

Players of the Game

• LHP Cade Obermueller: Obermueller was dominant, striking out a career-high 12 batters and allowing just one run over 7.0 innings. He threw 66 of his 97 (68.0%) pitches for strikes
• Bottom of the Order: Spots 6-9 in the lineup (Rogers, Swails, Schulte, Nelson) combined to reach base nine times and scored eight runs. They drew six walks and tallied three hits.

Cade Obermueller tosses a near perfect, 7.0 inning complete game

Over his two prior starts coming into Friday’s series opener against the ‘Cats, Cade Obermueller had been pretty much unbeatable, totaling 20 strikeouts to four walks over 12.0 scoreless innings. More than good enough to earn a pair of wins. He managed to take it step further.

Obermueller retired 15 of the first 16 hitters he faced, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Northwestern got on the board in the sixth, taking advantage of their first hit and a couple of free bases, but looked lost at the plate for the majority of the game. Cade returned to the mound in the seventh and sat the ‘Cats down in order to finish off the 12-1 run-rule win.

He retired 21 of the 25 batters he faced, including a career-high 12 strikeouts, surpassing his previous high (11) set last week against Minnesota. Obermueller averaged 13.86 pitches per inning and threw 66 of his 97 (68.0%) pitches for strikes. Over his last three starts, Cade has allowed one run on seven hits over 19.0 innings, including 32 strikeouts to just five walks.

Watch. Rinse. Repeat.

Cade Obermueller is the first Hawkeye to throw a complete game (7 innings) since Drew Irvine vs. Rutgers on April 17, 2021 😤#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/M5HWqzGrlY

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 4, 2025

Second inning five-spot puts the Hawkeyes in early command

It was quite the gamble by Northwestern head coach Ben Greenspan to go with right-hander Cole Mascott to start on the mound and it didn’t pay off. Mascott entered the game with a 16.75 ERA and a 4.62 WHIP over 2.2 innings pitched. After working through a scoreless first inning, Mascott walked the first two batters in the second inning and that was the end of his day.

Reliver Jack Grunkemeyer came on in relief and walked the first two hitters he faced, putting Iowa on the board 1-0, with the bases still loaded and no outs. After an Andy Nelson lineup, the Hawkeyes recorded four consecutive hits to put a crooked number on the board. Ben Wilmes delivered an RBI single, followed by a Gable Mitchell infield single that gave Reese Moore a chance with the bases loaded again. He punched a two-run single past the shifted infield and Miles Risley added an RBI single to make it 5-0 Hawkeyes.

‘Cats reliever Jack Grunkemeyer stabilizes the game for Northwestern in the middle innings

It was pretty clear that the Northwestern coaching staff was content with punting the series opener and regrouping with Sam Hliboki set to start on Saturday. They were forced to go to Jack Grunkemeyer in the first inning and let him go as far as he could, hoping that the offense could close the gap. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their offense had no chance, but Grunkemeyer was able to calm things down for the NW pitching staff.

He allowed three runs on four hits, but nine of the ten batters he faced in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings to keep the Hawkeye lead in check at 5-0. Grunkemeyer threw 44 of his 76 (57.9%) pitches for strikes, but it very likely means that #1 arm in terms of relief appearances is done for the rest of the weekend.

Iowa pours it on in the sixth and seventh inning to reach run-rule territory

Leading 5-0 in the sixth inning, the Hawkeyes got a couple of important insurance runs. Andy Nelson drove an RBI double into the left field corner and later scored on a Gable Mitchell infield single, extending the lead to 7-0. At that point, the lead was plenty comfortable, but Iowa poured on more insurance in the seventh and set themselves up for a seventh run-rule win of the season.

Back-to-back singles from Blake Guerin and Daniel Rogers set the table in the seventh, while consecutive bases loaded walks drawn by Kooper Schulte and Andy Nelson brought in a run. Ben Wilmes followed with a rare two-run sacrifice fly that scored Schulte from second base. Miles Risley tacked on an RBI single to make it 12-1, which was enough to secure the 7-inning victory.

What’s next for Rick Heller and Co?

The Hawkeyes will look to earn another series win and set up an opportunity for a third consecutive series sweep with a win on Saturday. It will be right-hander Aaron Savary on the mound for Iowa, while Northwestern will counter with right-hander Sam Hliboki. First pitch is set for 1:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.