Kraft and Seebold shove, but the Hawkeye arms keep the Hoosier bats from taking advantage of free passes
By Carl James @jovian34 April 26th, 2025
Indiana Hoosiers 1, Iowa Hawkeyes 2 (10 innings)
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
The group of four Indiana pitchers excelled on Friday night but were still outdueled by four Iowa arms. It took a bold 2-strike squeeze play in the bottom of the tenth for Iowa to score the winning run and walk-off the Hoosiers in dramatic fashion.
Pete Haas opened for the second straight game. He allowed a hit and two walks in 1.2 innings of work. Ryan Kraft came in to escape a jam and he was successful. Kraft went on to pitch three more scoreless frames, tossing 61 pitches and allowing 3 hits and one walk.
Indiana and Iowa both reached base 14 times. Indiana did it via 8 walks, 4 hits, and two hit-by-pitch. Iowa mostly got on via 9 hits and 5 walks. Both teams scored one run via a walk that scored on single. the difference maker was the solo homer off the bat of catcher Daniel Rogers in the bottom of the sixth inning off of Gavin Seebold. Tyler Cerny got the only RBI for Indiana on a single in the first inning.
The wind was blowing in on a cool evening in Iowa City and both teams saw multiple hard-hit balls clobbered into the air fall harmlessly into outfielder gloves. Seebold didn’t let the homer get to him. He battled past four complete innings and got a single out in the bottom of the 10th, but exited the game with runner on the corners.
In a show of the increased role young pitchers are playing, pitching coach Dustin Glant turned to freshman lefty Brayton Thomas. In several short stints this season Thomas has been downright electric. It was a situation that called for a strikeout. Iowa head coach Rick Hellar clearly agreed as he had Blake Guerin bunt with two strikes to drive in the winning run. Iowa wanted nothing to do with trying to hit (or even get a sacrifice fly) against Thomas.
What the loss means
While the Hoosier pitching was impressive and the offense found ways on base, Indiana finds itself in a position where moral victories don’t count for much. Essentially a series win in Iowa City was the bare minimum Indiana needed to keep its very thin at-large hopes alive. With goal still mathematically possible, Saturday and Sunday will be treated at must-win scenarios for Jeff Mercer’s club.
For Iowa, they maintain their 2 1/2 game lead on the rest of the field toward a B1G regular season title. They also mathematically clinched a berth in the B1G Tourney, once the scenarios all play out.
- The best 13/14 Nebraska/Minnesota can do is tie Iowa
- Nebraska/Minnesota play each other meaning only one can tie Iowa
- If one of them win out they will also give Michigan or Michigan State 13 losses – this gives 5 teams at least 13 losses, Iowa can get at most 12 if they lose out
Now if the Hoosiers drop the series, the focus turns to the one remaining path to the post-season: winning the B1G Tournament. Indiana needs to finish in the top-12 of the standings to get a berth. The Hoosiers have 12 wins, and likely need just 14 to get in, though 15 would be more comfortable. Winning one in Iowa City and taking the home series against Purdue in two weeks is likely enough. They could go into the final series at Michigan with the ability to setup their pitching for a run.
Of course, seeding matters and the Hoosiers are in the hunt for a top-4 seed, only 1 1/2 games out. A top-4-seed essentially allows the team to lose one of the two pool play games (against the loser of the first) and still reach the semifinals. There is a lot to be answered prior to that Michigan series in Ann Arbor to determine how they will deploy pitching.