Hawkeyes Keep Rolling: Iowa’s ninth-inning surge seals the sweep over Michigan

It was far from a textbook weekend from the Iowa Baseball team. They missed some opportunities to score more runs, had some bad at-bats and fought off some tense moments on the mound. However, a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double from Mitch Wood in the top of the ninth was the big hit they waited all weekend for. The Hawkeyes pulled out the 7-4 victory over the Wolverines to earn the road sweep in Ann Arbor.

“I think all of us would tell you we left some opportunities out there. We maybe we got outside of ourselves a few times offensively and on the mound, but they just stayed together,” said associate head coach Marty Sutherland on the postgame radio broadcast. “We didn’t do a great job in some situations, but we got some big hits.”

With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 27-11 on the season and 17-4 in Big Ten play. Since starting conference play 2-2, Iowa has won 15 of their last 17, including three series sweeps.

Players of the Game

• RHP Reece Beuter: Beuter battled all day and delivered an impressive start, allowing just one run on three hits over 6.0 innings. He struck out a career-high eight hitters and walked just two.
• INF Mitch Wood: A pinch-hitter in the ninth, Wood came up with a clutch, bases-clearing double to break the game open, giving Iowa a 7-3 lead.

Reece Beuter shakes off allowing a solo home run, delivers an impressive Sunday start

It wasn’t an ideal start for Reece Beuter, as he saw the fourth pitch of his outing go for a solo home run off the bat of leadoff Ben Casillas. The Hawkeyes fell behind 1-0, but Beuter did not let the long ball fluster him.

Reece retired nine of the next ten batters he faced, including four strikeouts, but ran into some trouble in the fourth inning. After issuing a two-out walk, Jeter Ybarra singled, putting two runners on base, with two outs. However, the threat was short-lived and Beuter struck out Tyler Inge looking to end the inning. Through four innings he threw 83 pitches, and it looked like the Iowa bullpen was going to be needed sooner, rather than later.

Rick Heller rolled him out for the fifth inning and Beuter responded with a 1-2-3 inning on nine pitches. That bought him another inning and Reece did even better, retiring the Wolverines 1-2-3 on eight pitches, including striking out Colby Turner for the final out. He allowed one run on three hits over 6.0 innings, tallying a career-high eight strikeouts to just two walks. Beuter threw 63 of his 100 (63.0%) pitches for strikes.

Strike 'em out, throw 'em out 🎯#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/NvqDS6G6Uj

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 20, 2025

Tate Carey shuts out Iowa through four innings, Hawkeyes get on the board in the fifth

Michigan head coach Tracy Smith went off of his normal weekend plan, with Dylan Vigue coming out of the bullpen. True freshman right-hander Tate Carey got the start for the Wolverines, and he put Hawkeye hitters in a blender through the early portion of the game.

Normally a fastball-heavy pitcher, Carey used the changeup a lot and kept the Iowa offense off balance. In many at-bats, it seemed as though hitters were caught guessing at what pitch was coming, swinging out pitches out of the zone and letting good pitches go for strikes. Through four innings, Carey struck out eight, while he allowed just one hit.

“Offensively, we were pressing. Things just weren’t going well,” said Sutherland. “I didn’t do a great job, I was probably pressing too much, but basically the fifth inning, we just said, hey, we just need to take a deep breath and be ourselves. Do you’re one-ninth, everybody’s trying to do too much. After that, our at-bats got better.”

Things began to fall apart in the fifth inning. Tate Carey issued a leadoff walk, while Ben Swails followed with a single, putting two runners on base with nobody out. Back-to-back poor at-bats from Ben Wilmes and Gable Mitchell ended with fly outs to left field, but a Reese Moore hit by pitch kept the inning alive.

Michigan turned to Will Rogers out of the bullpen with the bases loaded, but Miles Risley was able to come through with a clutch hit to save the inning. He took a 2-2 pitch from Rogers and slashed it into right field for a two-run single to put the Hawkeyes in front 2-1.

Blake Guerin adds an insurance run in the seventh inning

After Miles Risley came through with the clutch hit in the fifth inning, he came up big again, scorching a one-out double into the left field corner, setting up a chance at an insurance run.

Michigan went back to the bullpen, calling on another arm that the Hawkeyes had seen, but freshman Preston Barr had been lights out in his 3.0 relief appearance on Friday. After a Daniel Rogers groundout advanced Risley to third, Blake Guerin came up with the big hit. Battling with a 2-2 count, Guerin drove an RBI single into centerfield, extending the Iowa lead to 3-1, with just nine outs left to get.

Dylan Vigue came on for the eighth inning and put up a zero, with a caught stealing helping the cause. Vigue struck out Ben Swails and then got Ben Wilmes to fly out.

Missed opportunities come back to bite, Wolverines tie the game with a run in the seventh and eighth

Although a couple of big hits had the Hawkeyes in front, but they were just 4/17 with runners on base through eight innings. Another clutch hit in a couple of scenarios could have had Iowa in front by a couple more runs. Their inability to come up with the extra quality at-bat or the extra base hit came back to haunt them, as Michigan was able to mount a comeback.

Brant Hogue, pitching for the second time on the weekend, mowed down Cole Caruso and Jeter Ybarra on five pitches, but issued a two out walk to Tyler Inge, keeping the inning alive. Noah Miller followed with a pinch-hit single that looked like it was going to put runners on the corners, but Kellen Strohmeyer bobbled the ball in right field, allowing Inge to score. Hogue struck out Greg Pace Jr to end the inning, but the lead was just 3-2 heading into the eighth.

Then in the eighth, Ben Casillas led off the inning with a double, sending Heller to the bullpen, calling on Anthony Watts. Facing Robert Hamchuk, Watts got the substitute right fielder to hit one on the ground, but it took a sky-high bounce off the dirt and Hamchuk reached with an infield single. Luckily, the damage was limited. Watts go Mitch Voit to ground into a 5-4 fielder’s choice, which scored the tying run, but pinch-hitter Brayden Jefferis grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to send the game to the ninth.

Hawkeyes break through with a four-run top of the ninth inning, finish off the series sweep

Through everything that happened throughout the entirety of the game, the Hawkeyes found themselves tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth. They hadn’t had their best day at the plate, allowing Michigan to stay within striking distance, but that could all be washed away with some runs in the ninth.

Gable Mitchell kept his on-base streak alive, extending it to 39 games with a leadoff walk. Michigan coach Tracy Smith went to the bullpen, bringing in reliever Cade Connolly, but his outing was a short one. Reese Moore singled to put runners on the corners, while Miles Risley gave Iowa the lead with a sacrifice fly. After a Daniel Rogers single, the Wolverines went to the bullpen once more with Max Deibec.

This time, the Hawkeyes were finally able to come through with the clutch hit to put the game away. With the bases loaded and two outs, Rick Heller and Marty Sutherland landed with Mitch Wood for a pinch-hit at-bat.

“We loved his (pinch-hit) at-bat against Nebraska and Mitch is an older guy, he’s been around, and I think he’s really feeling good, and he’s just been patient,” said Sutherland. “Last week he didn’t get rewarded for a great at-bat. Rick (Heller) pulls the trigger all the time and I can be wishy washy. Just made a lot of sense.”

The decision paid off in a big way. Wood stepped up and with a 1-2 count, drove a two-out, bases-clearing double over the head of the right fielder Hamchuk. Although the Hawkeyes held a 4-3 lead prior to the double, a 7-3 lead gave them something they hadn’t had all weekend. A comfortable lead.

Michigan got a one-out solo home run from Jeter Ybarra in the bottom of the ninth, but Anthony Watts closed the game out. He struck out Tyler Inge and then got Noah Miller to bounce into a 4-3 groundout for a road series sweep.

MITCH. WOOD.

BASES CLEARING DOUBLE!!!#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/z46UEwtw9p

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 20, 2025

What’s next for Rick Heller and Co?

The Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City for a double midweek, starting with Western Illinois on Tuesday evening, followed by St Thomas on Wednesday night. First pitch against the Leathernecks on Tuesday is set for 6:05pm CT on BTN+.