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Iowa Baseball erases early deficit, surges past Bradley for a 12-5 win

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•04/16/25•

HuesmannKyle

The Hawkeyes celebrate a win over Nebraska. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)
The Hawkeyes celebrate a win over Nebraska. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)

The Iowa Baseball team erased an early deficit, using a six-run third inning to take control in what would become a 12-5 midweek win over Bradley on Wednesday night at Duane Banks Field.

Offensively, the Hawkeyes recorded 16 hits, with 12 different players tallying a hit. Reese Moore led the way with three hits, including a pair of doubles. Gable Mitchell extended his on-base streak to 36 straight games, with a hit and two walks.

“Bradley played a lot better than they did when we played at their place, and I knew they were going to because they had their best hitter back in the lineup,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Offensively, it looked like it was going to be one of those nights where things just didn’t go out way. You could kind of feel it coming on, but we answered back, and that was really great to see.”

With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 24-11 on the season, including sweeping the midweek home-and-home series with Bradley. They defeated the Braves 13-3 in seven innings back on April 1st.

Players of the Game

  • C Reese Moore: Moore led the Hawkeye offense with three hits, including two doubles, two RBI’s and a run scored.
  • RHP Chas Wheatley: Wheatley escaped a jam out of the bullpen in the first inning and tossed 1.2 scoreless innings. He has now lowered his ERA to 2.13 over 12.2 innings.
  • LHP Ben DeTaeye: Really trending in the right direction, DeTaeye tossed 2.0 scoreless innings, including three strikeouts. He threw 14 of his 17 pitches for strikes.

Chas Wheatley saves the day out the bullpen, escapes the first inning with limited damage

The plan from the coaching staff was for freshman right-hander Jaron Bleeker to give a two inning start for the Hawkeyes. Rarely do plans stay together during midweek games and this one didn’t last either.

Bleeker didn’t have it, facing five batters, giving up two hits and a pair of walks, including a wild pitch that scored Beau Durbin. With Bradley leading 1-0 and threatening with the bases loaded, Rick Heller turned to Chas Wheatley out of the bullpen.

Wheatley got Nick Hosie to ground into a 6U-3 double play to end the frame with no further damage. In the second, Chas worked around a pair of hits to put a zero on the scoreboard. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, throwing 15 of his 23 (65.2%) pitches for strikes.

“He’s really confident right now. With the sink he has on his fastball, if he continues to do what he does, and that’s come in and pound the zone, he gives you a chance to get that double play almost every time,” said Heller.

Somewhat quietly, Chas has put together a really consistent season out of the bullpen. He has a 2.13 ERA over 12.2 innings, including scoreless outings in ten of his 13 appearances. Wheatley has thrown 60.7% of his 229 pitches for strikes this season.

“He’s been really consistent, really steady, and he’s thrown a lot of strikes…Chas has really good stuff, and it’s unique. His delivery is a little funky, and it’s a tough at-bat. If Chas keeps trending that direction, he’s another guy that you can use in high leverage situations.”

Timmy O’Brien’s three-run home run extends the Braves lead in the third

When the Hawkeyes and Braves met in Peoria just two weeks ago, it was Timmy O’Brien who provided some power for Bradley, with a pair of solo home runs. The junior first baseman continued to be a thorn for the Hawkeyes, extending the Braves lead in the third inning.

A couple of free bases issued by Iowa reliever Bryson Walker allowed Timmy to come to the plate with a chance to do some major damage. O’Brien took the first pitch from Walker and sent a towering shot to left field, well over the wall for a three-run home run, extending the Bradley lead to 4-0. His 11th home run of the season puts him in a tie for second-most in the Missouri Valley Conference, with three of them coming against the Hawkeyes.

Hawkeye bats get rolling, score in three consecutive innings to take control

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning, there was a lot of baseball to play, but it was starting to feel like it might be one of those days in Iowa City. However, the Hawkeyes never let the pressure set in, answering with runs in their next three at-bats to take control of the game.

Starting with a Ben Swails leadoff double, Iowa began the bottom of the third inning with five consecutive hits. A Gable Mitchell RBI infield single got the Hawkeyes on the board, while Reese Moore barreled up an RBI single of his own to cut the Bradley lead in half. Miles Risley punched a spinner into right field for an RBI single, while a Kooper Schulte RBI groundout tied the game.

The hits continued with a Caleb Wulf RBI double into the right field corner giving Iowa their first lead of the game, followed by an RBI single from Kellen Strohmeyer to make it 6-4 Iowa. It was an emphatic answer by the Hawkeye offense, totaling six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the third.

“It was really consistent up and down the lineup,” said Heller. “Even though there were some bad at-bats in there, there was a little production from pretty much everybody. There were some clutch hits too.”

One of the biggest at-bats of the game came in the fifth inning, with Iowa holding a 7-4 lead. The Hawkeyes had two runners in scoring position with just one out, but Bradley reliever Jack Stellano got Ben Swails looking for the second out of the inning. The game was very much still up for grabs, but Ben Wilmes came through with a clutch hit. He took the 3-1 offering from Stellano and ripped it down the left field line for a two-run double, pushing the Iowa lead to 9-4.

“I thought Wilmes, his double with two outs after a strikeout with runners at second and third, I thought those two runs were really big, not letting Bradley back in the game.”

Blake Guerin launches his eighth home run of the season

Leading 10-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Hawkeyes were in control, but no coach will ever say no to insurance runs in a midweek game.

Andy Nelson doubled into the left field corner, putting himself in scoring position with one out for Blake Guerin. Guerin, did not disappoint, taking the 2-0 offering from reliever Drew Politte over the centerfield wall for a 406-foot, two-run home run. Blake’s eighth home run of the season extended the Iowa lead to 12-5 with just three outs left to get.

“Good to see Blake come in and get back to being himself,” said Heller. “He was in a really good place and then kind of scuffled a little bit this past weekend with his timing. Good to see him get back on time and really barrel a ball to the deepest part of the park.”

Pitching staff settles in, quiets the Bradley offense

There were a number of notable performances on the Iowa pitching staff and a bunch of them came in the back half of the game. After the third inning, Hawkeye pitchers allowed just one run on two hits, including retiring 17 of the final 22 batters they faced.

“Pitching settled down a little bit. Chas Wheatley was pretty good, and Justin Hackett’s first inning was good,” said Heller. “Ben DeTaeye was really sharp tonight, and then Sam Hart, same with (Jack) Whitlock, they were all really solid after the game settled down. They slowed it down for us big time.”

Justin Hackett was impressive, tossing a 1-2-3 scoreless fourth inning, including a strikeout, but walked a pair of hitters to start the fifth. Rick Heller turned to Ben DeTaeye and the lefty was dominant. He got Bobby Atkinson to ground into a 6U-3 double play, before striking out three of the next four hitters he faced over 2.0 scoreless innings.

Sam Hart issued a walk in the seventh, but recorded a strikeout and put up a zero, while Jack Whitlock recorded the final six outs of the game, allowing a run to score on a JD Bogart RBI groundout. The final four Hawkeye pitchers combined to throw 51 of 79 (64.6%) pitches for strikes.

What’s next for Rick Heller and Co?

The Hawkeyes will travel to Ann Arbor for three-game series against the Michigan Wolverines this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 5:00pm CT on BTN+.

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