PISCATAWAY, New Jersey – The University of Iowa baseball team dropped its Big Ten opener to Rutgers, 5-4, on a windy Friday afternoon at Bainton Field.

The Hawkeyes tallied only four hits and left nine stranded on the basepaths in the loss.

Cade Obermueller toed the rubber first for the Hawkeyes throwing 5 2/3 innings allowing six hits and five runs (four earned). He struck out two, walked two and hit two batters.

Daniel Wright relieved him and threw the final 2 1/3 innings allowing no runs on one hit and a walk.

All of Iowa’s offense came off the bat of Ben Wilmes with a grand slam in the fourth inning. Wilmes was 2-for-5 with the four RBIs. Gable Mitchell and Colin Coonradt also each notched a hit.

The Scarlet Knights got out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings before Iowa took the lead on Wilmes’ home run in the fourth. A solo-home run in the fifth would tie the game and a run in the sixth would prove the difference for Rutgers.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights continue the three-game series with game two tomorrow at 1 p.m. (CT). Aaron Savary will start for the Hawkeyes and the game will be streamed on B1G+ and available on the Hawkeye Radio Network. Sunday’s series finale is now scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa Athletics Department announced on Friday that Interim Softball Head Coach Brian Levin is no longer with the program effective today.  Assistant Coach Karl Gollan will lead the team for the remainder of the season.

“I am incredibly proud of the student-athletes and their commitment to focus on competing as Hawkeyes,” said Beth Goetz, Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Director of Athletics Chair. “It is unfortunate we needed to make the change in leadership at this time, but providing an environment for our student-athletes to be their best academically and athletically remains our priority.”

Iowa will compete in the Alabama Spring Break Showdown in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this weekend. The Hawkeyes will face Louisiana Lafayette and Alabama twice each over the next two days.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. –Former Drake head coach Lisa Bluder’s induction into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame became official today. Bluder is one of six honorees in the 2025 Hall of Fame class.

A former student-athlete at the University of Northern Iowa, Lisa Bluder served as Drake women’s basketball head coach from 1990-2000.  She began her coaching career at St. Ambrose, where she compiled a 169-36 mark in six seasons, leading St. Ambrose to the NAIA Fab Four in 1989 and 1990.

While at Drake, she earned four MVC tourney titles (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000), three MVC regular-season crowns (1997, 1998, 2000) and won 20+ games five of her last six seasons on the Drake bench.  A three-time MVC Coach of the Year, Bluder led her teams to a Top-4 finish in the league standings eight of her 10 seasons in the Conference.

With a cumulative record of 188-105 (.642), she owns the second-most wins in Drake school history.  After her successful run at Drake, Bluder became the all-time winningest coach at the University of Iowa, with a record of 528-254.  Her 528 wins are the most in Iowa history, surpassing Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer.

As head coach of the Hawkeyes, she led her teams to 22 postseason appearances (18 NCAA and four WNIT).  Bluder was a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (2001, 2008 2010), and she was the WBCA Regional Coach of the Year four times (2001, 2008, 2018, 2019). Under Bluder, Iowa was Big Ten Tournament champion five times (2001, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024) and was twice Big Ten regular-season champion (2008, 2022).  The Hawkeyes made back-to-back NCAA Final Four appearances in 2023 and 2024 as Iowa was national runner-up in each of those seasons.  The 2019 Naismith College Coach of the Year, Bluder retired from Iowa following the 2023-24 season with the 10th most wins in NCAA history, with an overall record of 884-396.

Bluder also served as head coach of the U.S.A. women’s basketball team at the 2015 Pan American Games, earning a silver medal in the event.

Bluder is a member of the Des Moines Register Hall of Fame, the Quad City Times Hall of Fame, Linn Mar Athletic Hall of Fame, and the University of Northern Iowa Hall of Fame.

Other inductees include coaching legends Bob Warn of Indiana State and Bruce Weber of Southern Illinois; track and field All-American Tyler Mulder of UNI; student, coach, professor, administrator, mentor, and trusted advisor Betty Wiseman of Belmont; and men’s basketball star of Marcellus Sommerville of Bradley.

Drake Athletics Director Brian Hardin filled in for Bluder at today’s induction ceremony as she was absent due to a scheduling conflict. The MVC Hall of Fame now holds 157 former student-athletes, administrators, coaches, and contributors.

Drake opened the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a convincing win. Freshman Isaia Howard had a game high 21 points as the top seeded Bulldogs beat Southern Illinois 70-53 in St. Louis. The Bulldogs improve to 28-3 and will play in tomorrow’s semifinal round.

Drake got 31 points from its bench.

That’s Drake coach Ben McCollum. The Bulldogs also had 14 offensive rebounds.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State sophomore center Audi Crooks has been named a Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award Top 5 Finalist as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Crooks is the first Cyclone to be named one of the five finalists for the award.

The Lisa Leslie Award, now in its eighth year, recognizes the top centers in Division I women’s college basketball. It is named after the three-time All-American, 1994 National Player of the Year, and Class of 2015 Hall of Famer.

Crooks leads the Big 12 in scoring this season, averaging 22.9 points per game while pulling down 7.7 rebounds per game. She set the Iowa State single-season record for made field goals with 290 entering tonight’s Big 12 Championship Quarterfinal against Baylor. Crooks also appeared on Naismith Trophy Midseason Team last month and was a unanimous First-Team All-Big 12 selection. The Algona native has scored in double figures in 64-straight games, every game except her first as a Cyclone. It ties the program’s longest streak set by Angie Welle (2000-02).

Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting starting today, March 7, on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.

Later this month, the finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and Leslie and the Hall of Fame’s selection committees. The Selection Committees for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lisa Leslie Awards are composed of top men’s and women’s college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers.

The Nodaway Valley Girls basketball season came to an end in a first-round playoff loss to Shenandoah 72-55. The Wolverines graduate four seniors in the offseason. All four seniors were top five scorers on the team and three of Nodaway Valley’s top four rebounders. Despite the important departures for the Wolverines, they get one more season with the state of Iowa’s leading scorer, Junior Izzy Eisbach.

Eisbach averaged over 31 points a game this season accomplishing the recognition by a landslide as the second leading scorer in Iowa averaged just over 25 points a contest.

Nodaway Valley began the season 0-5 but quickly got on the right track by winning five of their next six games. This included a three-game win streak with victories against Southeast Warren, Wayne and Central Decatur.

Southeast Warren was one of three teams Nodaway Valley beat twice this season with the others being Southwest Valley and East Union.

Head Coach Brian Eisbach appreciated his team’s fight throughout the entirety of the season especially in the postseason effort at Shenendoah.

With four seniors graduating, there will be several spots up for grabs in next year’s lineup.

Nodaway Valley has a lot to look forward to in the future of their program.