Purdue Baseball Tops Iowa 8-1 In Big Ten Tournament Elimination Game

Purdue baseball beat Iowa 8-1 on Thursday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, ending the No. 8 seed’s run in an elimination game at the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa scored first, but Purdue answered fast and kept adding runs until the game got away in Omaha.

Charles Schwab Field Omaha

Iowa took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jaixen Frost singled to drive in Miles Risley. That was the only inning in which the Hawkeyes led. Purdue followed with three runs in the fourth, then added three more in the sixth before scoring once in each of the seventh and eighth innings to finish the 8-1 win.

Fourth Inning Shift

Cole Moore started for Iowa and gave the Hawkeyes two scoreless innings on one hit. Brolan Frost took the loss after allowing two runs in one inning with two walks and a hit batter, and Purdue kept building from there. Tyler Guerin allowed four runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings, Logan Runde gave up one run on four hits in 1 1/3 innings, and Gannon Archer worked the final inning.

Rick Heller

Kellen Strohmeyer finished 3-for-3 and also reached base on a walk for Iowa, but the lineup could not keep pace after the fourth inning. After the game, Rick Heller said, “It says a lot about the group of guys we have” and added, “I’m really proud because there were plenty of times we could have packed it in, and they didn’t.” He also said, “After USC, it looked like we were dead in the water without a chance to make the tournament, but we found a way to right the ship and win a bunch of games to get here and even end up with a decent seed in a year when the league is really good.”

The loss ended Iowa’s tournament run in Omaha, while Purdue moved on with a postseason win that featured runs in four separate innings and a clean answer after falling behind 1-0.