Hawkeyes Fall in Extra Innings

Michigan Tops Iowa Wednesday at B1G Tournament

Iowa pitcher Brody Brecht is greeted by teammates after closing out an inning during a NCAA Big Ten / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen /

The potential go-ahead run was tagged out in the top of the 10th.

The winning run walked home in the bottom of the inning.

And Iowa found itself on the brink of elimination in the Big Ten baseball tournament with Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Michigan in 10 innings.

The Hawkeyes, the fifth seed in the tournament, will play top seed Illinois in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Thursday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

Jack Young’s bases-loaded walk to Mitch Voit in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Jonathan Kim with the winning run, but the Hawkeyes will be lamenting two scoring chances that could have won them the game.

Raider Tello singled with two outs in the top of the 10th inning. Davis Cop then ripped a double into the left-field corner that was slightly misplayed by Michigan left fielder A.J. Garcia. Garcia, though, recovered the ball as Tello tried to score. Tello, though, was tagged out by Michigan catcher Will Rogers to end the inning.

Young (2-1), who had pitched 1 ⅔ innings, opened the 10th by allowing a single to Kim. Stephen Hrustich and Collin Priest each walked to load the bases, then Young missed on a 3-2 pitch to Voit, bringing home Kim for the winning run.

Iowa tied the game at 2 in the top of the seventh inning when Ben Wilmes doubled into the right-center field gap to score Will Mulflur with one out. Wilmes advanced to third on Michael Seegers’ single, then Cade Moss tried a safety squeeze bunt. Wilmes stayed at third base and Seegers advanced to second on the out, but Andy Nelson popped out to end the inning.

Iowa starting pitcher Brody Brecht made one mistake in 7 ⅓ innings of strong work, and it cost him two runs.

Brecht was one out away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam, but a wild pitch allowed Hrustich to score. Moss’ throw to the plate trying to get Hrustich got past Brecht for an error, and Priest, who had advanced to third on the wild pitch, was able to score to put the Wolverines up 2-1.

Brecht allowed four hits, struck out 10, and walked two.

Iowa took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Seegers’ RBI double that scored Wilmes.

Jacob Denner (9-4) threw 3 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief to get the win.

Seegers had three hits for the Hawkeyes, who had 10 hits for the game. Cop and Wilmes each had two hits.