By Adam Hensley
“Hellerball” is headed to the Big Dance after its first-ever Big Ten Tournament title.
Iowa took down Northwestern, 13-4, in a dominating conference-championship game on May 28 in Bloomington, Indiana, and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“Once it was over, I had a bunch of amazing feelings and emotions,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said in a release. “I am happy for this team.”
Nice run by Northwestern, but @UIBaseball wouldn’t be denied May 28.
First Big Ten Tournament title ✔
NCAA Tournament bid. ✔ https://t.co/yDuCKGU3W2
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) May 28, 2017
The fifth-seed Hawkeyes (38-20) churned out the hits against the No. 8 seed Wildcats (27-30), 14 all together, and the runs followed.
Big Ten Player of the Year Jake Adams put up his best performance in the tourney. He finished 4-for-4 at the plate, with 2 home runs – his final dinger tied him for No. 1 in the nation (27) – and he ended with a trio of RBIs.
Jake can rake.@UIBaseball‘s slugger tied the national lead and the all-time single season Big Ten record with No. 27: https://t.co/FJ2WExMTQd
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) May 28, 2017
Adams, Mason McCoy, and Robert Neustrom struggled to be successful for most of the tournament, but against the Wildcats, they combined to finish 8-for-13 and accounted for 8 runs.
Iowa’s Drake Robison kept the Wildcats guessing on the mound.
“We won the championship because Drake gave us a tremendous start,” said Heller in a release. “The offense did him a tremendous job of giving him a lead, but Drake was tremendous.”
The senior pitched 7 innings, allowing only a single run on 4 hits. He struck out 6 as well, earning his fourth victory on the year (4-2).
“Once we put up 5 [in the first], I basically said I’d throw a bunch of strikes and get as many ground balls as possible,” Robison said in a release. “I wanted to go as long in this game as I could.”
Iowa came out firing on all cylinders. The Hawkeyes scored 5 runs in the first inning but then only managed 1 in the next five.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Iowa scored when Northwestern’s pitcher was called for a balk, sending McCoy home. Iowa’s fourth run of inning came on a wild pitch, allowing Grant Judkins to score.
Can’t get happy feet on the mound with men on base.@UIBaseball draws first blood with a balked-in run: https://t.co/A0UytmVRkj
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) May 28, 2017
Leading 6-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Hawkeyes broke the door open.
They scored 7 runs over the course of the seventh and eighth innings, going up 13-1 before the Wildcats mustered 3 runs in the ninth.
Adams went yard in the seventh and eighth innings, 2 of Iowa’s 8 hits in that span.
“This is an unbelievable moment,” Adams said in a release. “We knew at the beginning of the year what our goals were and that was to win a Big Ten Championship. We had some pitchers go down early in the season, and we knew we had to fight that much harder.”
Before this matchup between the two schools, Northwestern won the regular-season series, taking two of the three games. Iowa took game No. 1, 14-2, similar to the conference championship.
The Hawkeyes finished the regular season having won seven of their 10 contests, including three series victories over Big Ten teams (Michigan State, Ohio State, and Illinois).
Getting to the title game wasn’t easy, however.
Victories over Maryland (9-8) and Nebraska (2-0) sent Iowa in a matchup against Minnesota, which the Gophers took, 9-3, on May 27.
The loss set the Hawkeyes up with an elimination game against the Gophers later that evening. In the longest game (four hours and 57 minutes) in Big Ten Tournament history, Iowa sent Minnesota packing in extra innings (13), winning 7-5.
The Wildcats bested the Terrapins, 6-5, in their elimination game prior to the championship, creating the Big Ten Championship matchup.
Hawkeye outfielder Chris Whelan was named the Big Ten Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player following the title game. Pitchers Ryan Erickson and Josh Martsching, catcher Tyler Cropley, and Whelan all earned sports on the All-Tournament Team.