Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller on 13-4 loss to Oregon
The Iowa baseball team dropped a 13-4 loss to Oregon on May 17. The Hawkeyes fell one game short of a Big Ten Conference championship.
IOWA CITY — The Iowa baseball team closed out its regular season against Oregon with the Big Ten Conference championship at stake, its first taste of a season championship since 1990.
The Hawkeyes had dropped two of their first three games to the fifth-ranked Ducks in a three-game series. In Game 1, the Hawkeyes dropped a 10-0 shutout to the Ducks in seven innings on May 15. In Game 2, they lost 9-6 after they held a 6-2 lead through five innings on May 16.
Iowa had one final chance to be on the right side of history in Game 3. It was a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten title race between Iowa, Oregon and UCLA entering the regular-season finale on May 17.
Ultimately, the Hawkeyes had its 35-year drought extended with a 13-4 home loss to the Ducks. Iowa fell to 21-9 in Big Ten play while Oregon improved to 22-8.
The Ducks clinched at least a share of the Big Ten crown with a win over the Hawkeyes. UCLA plays later in the afternoon against Northwestern and a Bruins win would give them a piece of the conference title.
“(Oregon) was locked in and had been playing their best baseball of the year the last 12-15 games,” said Iowa coach Rick Heller. “We knew the challenge and we knew exactly how we had to attack but we just gave them too much to have any chance of beating a team that good.”
Leadoff hitter Reese Moore got on base after he was hit by a pitch. He beat the catcher to steal second before a wild pitch put him at third base. A groundout by Caleb Wulf plated the Iowa sophomore to give the Hawkeyes an early 1-0 lead in the opening frame.
With Iowa right-hander Reece Beuter on the mound, Oregon’s Carter Garate blasted a homer that traveled 453 feet and cleared the right-field wall. Beuter, who entered with a 6-0 record, allowed a walk on the ensuing at-bat before a lineout ended his afternoon.
Through 2 ⅔ innings, Beuter faced 11 batters and gave up just one hit and one home run over 42 pitches.
Reminiscent of their loss on May 16, Iowa’s pitching became an Achilles heel and put them in a bind. Senior lefty Ben DeTaeye, who replaced Beuter, allowed Oregon’s Drew Smith to walk to first base before a sacrifice bunt and ensuing groundout put the Ducks in scoring position. DeTaeye walked Chase Meggers before he yielded an RBI double to Ryan Cooney that gave Oregon a 2-1 advantage. An ensuing bunt by Garate drove in a run and increased Iowa’s deficit, 3-1.
After Oregon’s Dominic Hellman walked to first, Jacob Walsh hit a double that sliced down the left field line with no outs in the fifth inning. Iowa righty Daniel Wright stepped in to pitch, but the Ducks managed to load the bases and put another run on the board. The senior Hawkeye faced a bases-loaded jam after he allowed a walk before a groundout drove in another score and made it a 4-1 game.
An ensuing walk reloaded the bases, but a double play by Iowa’s infield limited the damage.
“Pretty much the entire bullpen just gave it up today and I think we had eight or nine walks. You have no shot at beating that team if you’re going to walk nine guys,” Heller said. “We felt like we were going to have to score some runs, and we could today, but we didn’t early. We hit some balls and didn’t get rewarded and then we did some dumb stuff that cost us on the bases.”
The Hawkeyes (32-20-1) couldn’t string together runs, and the Ducks made them pay at the plate. Cooney cranked a solo homer in the sixth inning which prompted a change to junior righty Anthony Watts. But that didn’t matter. The Ducks plated two more runs with a Walsh homer that sailed past the right-field wall. The blast extended the gap, 8-1.
All the while, Oregon right-hander Jason Reitz limited Iowa’s offense. The junior righty, who boasted a 4-0 mark entering Game 3, earned four strikeouts and gave up just one run through 5 ⅔ innings of work.
Iowa’s Andy Nelson managed to narrow the deficit, 8-2, in the seventh frame with his sixth home run of the season, but the Ducks countered with a Hellman homer in the eighth inning.
The Hawkeyes managed to plate a pair of runs after loading the bases in the eighth frame, but Oregon secured a four-run stretch in the ninth inning. Iowa went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners on base.
“It hurts that we weren’t able to get it done, especially at home for our fans who really came out and supported us and disappointed they didn’t get to see us celebrate a championship,” Heller said. “But for this team to be where they’re at is pretty impressive and the great thing is it’s not the end. It feels like it now but it’s not the end of the season.
“We have a chance to regroup and hopefully find ourselves and get back to who we are and go down to Omaha (Nebraska) and try to play good baseball again.”
Iowa’s attention will now shift to the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, which will begin on May 20.
Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@gannett.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
