Hawkeye Baseball Team Defeats Michigan in Big Ten Tournament

After reaching 40 wins for the fifth time in the program's history, the Iowa Hawkeye baseball team keep their season and their championship hopes alive after a statement victory in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Hawkeyes clobbered the Michigan Wolverines by a score of 13-3 in the opening round of the tournament. The game took place on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023 amidst a scenic afternoon at Charles Schwab Field. Propelling the Hawkeyes to an insurmountable lead for Michigan was a grand slam hit by Brayden Frazier.

The Hawkeyes have hit a whopping nine grand slams this season. Frazier's was the first grand slam in the Big Ten Tournament since 2017, as well as the first of its kind in tournament history for Charles Schwab Field. I highly recommend you watch the above video to see it happen and just take in the moment.

Marcus Morgan got the start for the Hawkeyes and was mostly effective throughout four innings, striking out three batters and allowing one earned run. Pitcher Jack Whitlock entered with runners on second and third, but successfully walked the first batter and struck out three in a row to leave the Wolverines' runners stationary. Whitlock improves to 7-0 on the season.

But it was Frazier's grand slam that got the Hawkeye fans on their feet as part of a six-run frame for Iowa. Frazier was 3-for-5 at the plate, while Sam Petersen was 2-for-4 with a three run homer.

No matter how you slice it, it was a stellar day for Iowa in various facets. Hawkeyes manager Rick Heller had a lot of praise for his guys postgame:

Really proud of our guys and how they fought hard all day long. The first five innings we hit some balls hard but didn't get rewarded. We didn't have some things go our way, but we didn't play the victim and found a way to get it done. We kept to our plan, and finally broke through in the fifth.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, who are now 4-13 on the season and 16-9 in Big Ten play, will face #2 seeded Indiana on Thursday at 2pm (CST).