WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Purdue, 9-6, in the rubber match of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field.

Iowa outhit the Boilermakers, 15-4, and used a big fifth and sixth inning to secure the win.

“Really happy with how we came out,” said head coach Rick Heller. “The bats came out strong and jumped on them right away.”

The Hawkeyes got four and two third innings out of their starter Marcus Morgan. The Iowa City, Iowa native allowed two hits and three earned runs while striking out three and walking four.

Jack Whitlock entered in relief with the bases loaded and recorded a strikeout to get out of the jam. He threw 1 and 1/3 innings without allowing a baserunner to earn the win. Anthony Watts struck out two in an inning and 2/3rds of work, while allowing three runs (two earned).

Jack Young earned his first career save throwing the final 1 1/3 innings, he struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to close the door.

“Decent start out of Marcus Morgan,” said Heller. “At times it was really good, but some free bases led to a few runs. They didn’t have to work very hard for their six. You look up at the board and see six runs on four hits, and you don’t like to see that, but we had some guys step up. Jack Whitlock was great on the mound and Jack Young finishing it out with the final four outs, he was outstanding again.”

On the offensive side of things, the Iowa bats remained hot totaling 29 hits in the final two games of the series.

Purdue took a 2-0 lead early in the game using a walk, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI double to get to the Hawkeyes in the third. A wild pitch and a mishandled sacrifice bunt allowed a second run to cross in the frame.

Iowa responded cutting the Purdue lead in half in the fourth inning as Raider Tello hit a leadoff double down the right field line and Davis Cop singled scoring him.

The Hawkeyes broke things open in the top half of the fourth. Ben Wilmes singled, Michael Seegers doubled to give the Hawkeyes runners in scoring position. Andy Nelson came to the plate and sent a ball over the Purdue bullpen in left field to give Iowa the lead.

A Sam Petersen bunt single and Raider Tello reaching on an infield error allowed Cop to bring home another run as he punched a ball through the left side. Cop finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Purdue got a run back in the fifth after a bases loaded walk from Morgan, but the Hawkeyes tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull away.

Wilmes and Seegers both singled to set up Nelson who continued his stellar week with a two RBI double through the left side of the infield. Nelson was 2-for-4 with five RBIs on the day and hit .667 (10-for-15) with three home runs and nine RBIs in Iowa’s four games this week.

Petersen would single and score Nelson from second and Tello would single and put Petersen on third after an error. Cop grounded out but score Petersen from third to give the Hawkeyes a 9-3 lead.

Purdue would plate three runs in the seventh and eighth to narrow the gap, but Young would close the door earning the save and preventing any further damage.

“We just kept after them until the very end,” said Heller. “We didn’t execute as well as we would have liked, but 15 hits and nine runs, you will take that. Really good to get a road series win, never easy to win on the road. Good step for us.”

Iowa hit .364 with runners on compared to Purdue’s .231 and .333 with runners in scoring position compared to .222 for the Boilermakers.

UP NEXT: The Hawkeyes (13-10, 2-1 B1G) travel to Normal, Illinois for a midweek matchup on Tuesday with Illinois State.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The 75th-ranked University of Iowa women’s tennis team dropped its first Big Ten Conference match of the season, falling 4-1 to No. 35 Northwestern on Sunday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.

The loss drops Iowa’s record to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten action.

The Wildcats opened the dual by winning the doubles point with victories on courts one and three. At the two line, Barbora Pokorna and Pia Kranholdt led Northwestern’s Britany Lau and Maria Shusharina, 6-5, but the match went unfinished.

The Wildcats earned wins in singles at No. 1, 3 and 6 to take the match victory.

Iowa picked up a win at the No. 2 line when junior Marisa Schmidt posted an impressive victory, downing No. 88 Justine Leong in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.

QUOTING HEAD COACH SASHA SCHMID

“Congratulations to a very good Northwestern team. We fought but fell short in some key areas that just didn’t go our way. I credit the team for how they played, and now we have a good stretch ahead of us to get on the road to play two good conference teams. We will use this match and learn from it before we hit the road.”

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will return to action Friday, traveling to Madison to face Wisconsin before continuing on to Minneapolis to square off against Minnesota on Sunday.

The second ranked Iowa Hawkeye women look to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen with a victory, tonight, over West Virginia. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says the Hawkeyes must limit mistakes against West Virginia’s pressure defense.

That’s Iowa coach Lisa Bluder who says too many turnovers will limit shots.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark says West Virginia turned the game around with their press in a first round win over Princeton.

The Hawkeyes rolled to a first round victory over Holy Cross and Clark says the little things become magnified beginning Monday night..

Clark says the Hawkeyes hope to take advantage of the home court.

West Virginia is 25-7 and coach Mark Kellog says they need to try and keep the Hawkeye crowd out of the game.

Kellog says Iowa’s Caitlin Clark combines an ability to score with the ability to create baskets for others.

Kellog on the challenge the Hawkeyes provide.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The top-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team advanced to Round 32 of the NCAA Tournament after defeating 16-seeded Holy Cross, 91-65, on Saturday afternoon inside a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Four Hawkeyes scored in double figures as Caitlin Clark led the way with 27 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds. Kate Martin added 15 points with 14 rebounds. Addi O’Grady finished with 14 points and Gabbie Marshall downed three three-pointers to add 11.

Holy Cross stuck with the Hawkeyes through the first five minutes of the game with four lead changes and two ties. Iowa pulled away going up by nine with 2:32 left to play in the first, until the Crusaders went on a 10-3 run to end the first bringing the score to 23-21 going into the second.

The Hawkeyes came out hot in the second going on a 10-0 run. The Hawkeye defense held the Crusaders to only nine points in the second to go into halftime with a 48-30 lead. Clark led the half with 13 points and Martin added 11.

The game was played evenly in the second half. The Hawkeyes scored over 20 points in every quarter, and every available Iowa player contributed minutes to secure its first round win to advance for the ninth time out the last 10 NCAA Tournaments

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will face the winner of 8-Seed West Virginia/9-Seed Princeton on Monday in Iowa City at 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.

BOYS TOWN INVITATIONAL 

Treynor’s Junior Jordyn Boswell placed 1st in the 2 mile, 14:16.67

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 4 Iowa State (29-7, 13-5 Big 12) advanced to its second Sweet 16 in the past three seasons under head coach T.J. Otzelberger on Saturday night, defeating No. 25 Washington State (25-10, 14-6 Pac-12) by a score of 67-56. Coach Otzelberger becomes the first ISU head coach to take two Cyclone teams to the Sweet 16.

The Cyclones were tested early, as they fell behind 7-0 and were held to just two field goals in the first 11 minutes of action. ISU adjusted and outscored the Cougars by 11 in the second half to claim its 29^th victory of the season – making this season the second most-winningest in school history.

ISU moves to 23-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament appearances and 7-6 in second round games. The team earned its seventh Sweet 16 appearance in school history.

Iowa State moved to 30-1 under Coach Otz when four or more players finish in double figures, as Tamin Lipsey (15), Curtis Jones (14), Milan Momcilovic (10) and Keshon Gilbert (10) powered the Cyclone offense. The post trio of Hason Ward, Tre King and Robert Jones combined for 21 rebounds, and they handled WSU’s leading scorer, holding Isaac Jones to just eight points.

Washington State was led by Jaylen Wells who had a game-high 20 points on 8-17 shooting from the floor. Redshirt freshman Myles Rice had 13 points with a pair of assists while the aforementioned I. Jones had eight points and nine rebounds

Up Next

With the win, Iowa State advances to the Sweet Sixteen and East Regional semifinals in Boston. Mass. The Cyclones will face one of either No. 10 Illinois or 11-seeded Duquesne.Game date and time are yet to be determined.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 4 David Carr defeated Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, 9-8, to win his second national title Saturday night inside the T-Mobile Center. He becomes the 17^th Cyclone to win multiple national titles and the first since 2010 (Jake Varner, 2009-10).

His path to the title included wins over the No. 1, 2 and 5 seeds, and four of his five opponents in the tournament were All-Americans.

Carr is the first five-time All-American in program history and the 12th Cyclone to finish on the podium four times. The Cyclone legacy never placed worse than third at the national tournament, following his 2021 national title with a third-place finish in 2022, a runner-up in 2023 before securing a second title in 2024.

The Canton, Ohio native finishes his career with a 120-5 record, tied for the 15th-most wins in school history, and as a three-time national finalist. His .960 career winning percentage ranks fourth in program history behind Cael Sanderson (1.000), Dan Gable (.990) and Tim Krieger (.967).

Carr, along with his father Nate who won three national titles for ISU from 1981-83, are one of four father-son duos in Division I history to win two-plus national titles. Carr’s title is the 71^st individual wrestling title in Iowa State history.

Carr led the resurgence of a program which finished tied for 57^th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. In his final season, Iowa State finished in fourth place with 68.5 team points, it’s best finish and point total since 2010 when the Cyclones placed third with 75.0 points. ISU placed four wrestlers on the podium, its most since 2009.

The Cyclones finished just outside the top three of Penn State (172.5), Cornell (72.5) and Michigan (71.0). Rounding out the top five was Iowa with 67.0 points.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – University of Iowa wrestler Drake Ayala finished as the NCAA runner-up at 125 pounds on Saturday night at the 2024 NCAA Championships in the T-Mobile Center.

Ayala dropped a 7-2 decision to eighth-seeded Richard Figueroa of Arizona State in the finals. After a scoreless first period, Figueroa escaped after choosing down and earned a takedown on the edge right before the buzzer sounded. Ayala earned an escape to start the third period but another takedown from Figueroa with 14 seconds remaining sealed the match.

“It is too early to get analytical,” said head coach Tom Brands. “I say that a lot. You don’t just start talking about what needs to happen. He is dealing with a lot right now. That is what competitors do. He will deal with it. He is an extraordinary competitor. We will go forward from here.”

The finals appearance was the first of Ayala’s career and he finished the tournament as an All-American for the first time. He went 1-2 in 2021 as the 13 seed. He finished the 2024-24 season with a 27-5 record.

Ayala was one of four Hawkeyes to reach the medal stand. He advanced to the title bout winning a pair of bonus point victories (one major decision and one technical fall) and two decisions. His appearance in the championship round extended Iowa’s streak of NCAA finalists to 34 consecutive tournaments.

Iowa placed fifth in the team race with 67 points.

“I think our guys handled it as well as you can handle that stuff,” said Brands. “That is what life is about. You can talk about all that, but they handled it well. They went forward with it. It is too early to talk about next year. Drake Ayala has two years of eligibility left. He was in the national finals. He wants to find a way to win that match. Didn’t happen. Have to go forward.”

GRADUATING SENIORS
Iowa’s NCAA lineup included three graduating seniors. Those seniors include Brody Teske (133, four-time NCAA qualifier), Real Woods (141, four-time All-American, 2023 NCAA finalist) and Jared Franek (157, two-time All-American, five-time NCAA qualifier)

OF NOTE
– The Hawkeyes have 69 top 10 finishes in program history.
– Iowa has had an NCAA finalist in 34 consecutive national tournaments (every year since 1990).
– Iowa has crowned at least one All-American in 53 consecutive tournaments, a stretch dating back to 1972. Iowa has totaled 327 All-Americans during that stretch.
– Iowa has had at least four All-Americans in 16 straight seasons and 16 times in Brands’ 17 years.

ALL-AMERICANS
2nd – Drake Ayala (125)
4th – Real Woods (141), Michael Caliendo (165)
8th – Jared Franek (157)

NCAA FINALS RESULTS
285 | #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) major dec. #10 Lucas Davidson (Michigan), 13-4
125 | #8 Richard Figueroa (Arizona State) dec. #3 Drake Ayala (Iowa), 7-2
133 | #6 Vito Aruja (Cornell) dec. #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), 5-3
141 | #1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) dec. #2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), 4-1
149 | #4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) major dec. #6 Austin Gomez, 15-7
157 | #1 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. #2 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State), 5-0
165 | #4 David Carr (Iowa State) dec. #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State), 9-8
174 | #9 Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec. #6 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State), 2-0
184 | #1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) major dec. #3 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State), 14-5
197 | #1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) dec. #2 Trent Hidlay (NC State), 6-0

TEAM STANDINGS – TOP 10
1. Penn State, 172.5
2. Cornell, 72.5
3. Michigan, 71
4. Iowa State, 68.5
5. Iowa, 67
6. Arizona State, 64.5
7. Virginia Tech, 64
8. Ohio State, 62
9. Nebraska, 60.5

10. Oklahoma State, 56

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa softball team split a Saturday doubleheader over Wisconsin at Pearl Field to earn a Big Ten series win.  The Hawkeyes won the opener, 10-4, before falling 2-0 in the series finale.

Junior Devyn Greer had a career day in the opener, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Jaylee Ojo (3-1) earned the win in the circle, allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out four over 4 1/3 innings.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to from March 29-31, hosting Michigan State for a three-game series at Pearl Field.