OMAHA, Neb. – In the waning hours of Thursday night, the Iowa baseball team fell to Indiana, 5-0, to close out pool play in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers compiled all of their runs in the third and fourth innings and relied on strong pitching to suppress the Hawkeye offense.
The contest was mostly meaningless, with the Hawkeyes clinching a spot in the semifinals with their victory over Rutgers on Wednesday.
Here are two takeaways from the Hawkeye loss.
Offense can’t capitalize
On a chilly night in Omaha, in a ballpark that tends to already favor pitching, Iowa head coach Rick Heller expected runs to be scarce.
But even with the conditions at hand, the Hawkeye offense struggled to get anything going, scoring zero runs for the second time this season.
Iowa ended the evening with just five hits, but maybe the most alarming stat was the number of runners left on base. The Hawkeyes left nine runners stranded.
“I would have liked to see them execute the game plan,” Heller said. “When we played Indiana at home, they did a fantastic job of executing the game plan.”
Heller credited Indiana starting pitcher Cole Gilley for keeping his batters on their toes but wanted to see them make the necessary adjustments. Gilley cruised through six innings, striking out two and conceding four hits.
DeTaeye can’t continue his momentum
In his last outing against Oregon State on May 11 Iowa starter Ben DeTaeye coasted through a strong five innings pitched, giving up one earned run and fanning seven. Heller decided to give Ben DeTaeye the ball for his second start of the season.
DeTaeye failed to continue this momentum. While his stuff was there for most of the outing, striking out four batters and allowing one run, it was the command that caused his premature departure.
Early in the outing, DeTaeye looked sharp against an Indiana offense that was atop the conference in a handful of offensive categories. He mowed through the first two frames with ease, striking out three batters and allowing zero hits.
DeTaeye continued this into the third inning after earning his fourth strikeout, with all signs pointing to another clean frame.
But after a pair of walks, one mistake was all it took to completely turn this start on its head.
Hoosier outfielder Devin Taylor came to the plate, immediately taking advantage of a hanging breaking ball and connecting on his 18th home run of the season.
Heller immediately pulled the plug on DeTaeye, ending his night with a stat line of 2.1 innings pitched, one hit, and three earned runs.
Up Next
Iowa will face UCLA in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday, May 24. The game is set to start at 6:00 p.m. with a chance to earn a spot in the championship the following day.
This game is also a massive opportunity to increase the Hawkeyes’ NCAA Tournament resume and improve on their Rating Percentage Index (RPI). Iowa currently sits at 73 in that category, and a victory over the Bruins could improve that number drastically. UCLA finished in second place in the Big Ten, posting a 22-8 overall record.