After a 13-inning slog to eliminate North Carolina in Sunday's early contest, Iowa needed the back end of its pitching staff to deliver a win over host Indiana State in Sunday night's elimination game. Unfortunately, the Hawkeye arms weren't up to that Herculean task, and Iowa fell 11-8, ending its NCAA tournament run after nearly eight hours of game play Sunday.

Freshman reliever Cade Obermueller picked up the loss with 2 IP and 4 ER, but he was just the unluckiest of many young Hawkeye arms Sunday night; Iowa's pitchers combined to hit 10 Sycamore batters in the contest, tying an NCAA single-game record (playoff or otherwise).

Zach Voelker got the start Sunday night, his second start of the season (though he started seven games for Long Beach State last year). Voelker never got into a groove and was taken out early in the 4th inning after allowing Indiana State's fourth run of the game.

What ensued was a parade of underclassmen as Iowa tried to gut through its fourth game in three days and its second of Sunday. The Hawkeyes simply could not keep ISU off the basepaths, as the Sycamores scored in six consecutive innings, usually at the expense of Iowa's errant pitching.

Still, the game remained improbably close for most of the proceedings; Iowa even led 6-4 after a pair of Sycamore errors in the fourth inning plated Cade Moss. Unfortunately, that's when Obermueller allowed his four runs to give the Sycamores a lead they wouldn't relinquish, and in excruciating fashion — his runs were allowed on a HBP, fielder's choice, fielder's choice (with an error for good measure), and a walk.

Iowa did have another rally in its tank, though. After Obermueller ceded the lead in the sixth inning, Iowa responded in its own half by loading the bases with one out on three consecutive singles. Brennen Dorighi laced a single to left to get the lead back to 8-7, but Rick Heller's decision to wave Michael Seegers on from second was unwise. The throw beat Seegers by a solid step, even early enough that the runner on second couldn't risk advancing.

That proved especially damaging when the next batter, Raider Tello, hit an infield single to short. Seegers would have scored without a play had he not tried to score from second on the play prior.

Indiana State's Keegan Watson clubbed a three-run home run in the ensuing top of the 7th inning to quickly push the Sycamore lead to 11-7, and a solo Brayden Frazier homer to lead off the bottom of the 7th ended up being the last time the Hawkeye offense would get a ball out of the infield, much less advance past first base.

Luke Llewellyn pitched a mercifully quiet ninth inning, but the Hawkeyes could not threaten Indiana State's 11-8 margin of victory in the end.

Iowa found an ignominious path to the NCAA record books today with its 10 hit batters; in a darkly comic bit of foreshadowing, Voelker even hit the second batter of the game, only to have it (rightfully) overturned to a strikeout after video review showed the batter leaning his elbow into the pitch.

And fair play to the Sycamores, who came into the game ranked 5th nationally in HBPs drawn: none of the 10 plunks that ensued were illegitimate, even as it's clear the batters are coached to generate these HBPs. Two would have been ball four anyway. Iowa was missing pitches badly all night, inside and outside, and earned its way to claiming a share of that unfortunate record.

In a packed schedule like an NCAA regional, a blown save has a cascade effect, as more and more pitches and innings get added to a bullpen's workload. Saturday's blown lead in the 8th inning against Indiana State led the Hawkeyes down a path the team just wasn't built for: large workloads from the back half of the staff.

Iowa ended up having to string 22 innings together on Sunday without most of its best arms, and the results look borderline barbaric:

22 IP
408 pitches thrown
104 batters faced

The high workload was, of course, equally self-inflicted and avoidable. It was also the team's unlikely undoing, as the staff had led Iowa's run to tying the program record for wins (44) in a season.

The day wasn't without some strong play; Will Christopherson carried the day's first game with a 4.2 IP, no-hit performance to win the game in the 13th inning. But even that underscores the peril Iowa was in for tonight's game: Heller needed all of that mileage from Christopherson in the first game. If Iowa could have kept from blowing that save in regulation, it has Christopherson's mileage and tenacious performance waiting against the Sycamores instead. In a game Iowa ended up losing by only three runs, that may have been enough to swing the balance.

The loss to Indiana State ends Iowa's season, and that was most certainly a valiant effort by a regional 2-seed in defeat. The Hawkeyes finish 44-16, tying 1981's team record for wins in a season, and look pretty well loaded for next season and beyond. The fates of Keaton Anthony and others implicated in the statewide gambling investigation still loom for the program, but only Brennen Dorighi and Jared Simpson are exhausting their eligibility. This will be a fascinating offseason of roster management and development for Heller and his staff.

Congratulations to the Hawkeyes on their record-tying season and on making another NCAA Tournament, as the standard of success for Iowa baseball continues to rise.

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