DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Florida International, 15-2, in seven innings on Saturday night at Principal Park.

The Hawkeyes exploded for eight runs in the first inning to set the pace in the run rule victory. They scored two runs in the second, fourth, and fifth innings and plated one run in the third.

“Over time you see a lot of good innings, but I don’t know if I’ve seen 12 quality at bats in a row,” said head coach Rick Heller. The outs were all 400 feet. The guys were dialed in, last night stung a little bit. The focus was there. It was crazy how that inning went and each inning after that until the sixth. We’ve had a few this year you see five, six, seven, eight in the first inning and then we don’t score the rest of the game. To see us answer back and keep putting quality at bats together was great to see.”

The Hawkeyes hit four home runs in the contest and seven different Hawkeyes each had two hits as Iowa outhit FIU, 15-4.

Andy Nelson, Gable Mitchell and Michael Seegers each had three RBIs for Iowa. Ben Wilmes and Cade Moss each brought home two RBIs a piece.

Cade Obermueller got the start and the win; he threw five innings and allowed no runs on five hits. The Iowa City, Iowa, native struck out seven and walked one.

“I felt like we needed this from Cade,” said Heller. “It wasn’t bad at Illinois; it just wasn’t sharp. This season our bad days have been because of walks and free bases. I think it was great for Cade to get back out there and have some success. Didn’t look like there was any discomfort whatsoever.”

Zach Voelker and Jack Whitlock each threw an inning to close out the shortened game.

The Hawkeyes and Panthers close out the series and the regular season tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. (CT) at Principal Park.