Baseball Tournament: Day 1 Update

Photo by Mark Kuhlmann

OMAHA, Neb. – A new format provided the backdrop for opening day of the 2026 BigTen Baseball Tournament presented by IFS.ai.

No. 7 seed Michigan, No. 8 Iowa, No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Michigan State recorded wins in double-elimination bracket play. A total of 52 runs were scored over the four games.

Game 1: Michigan State 8, Purdue 4
The Spartans (23-31) produced the first upset of the day, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in their first at-bat and building a 7-0 cushion after two frames.

Game 2: Iowa 10, Illinois 6
For the second straight game, the visitors scored four times in the opening inning. The Illinois (28-26) lead was short-lived however as Iowa (33-21) tied the game in the third and used a five-run, seventh inning to pull away.

Game 3: Michigan 10, Rutgers 0 (7 inns.)
Michigan (33-22) earned the first run-rule victory of the tournament by scoring six runs in the bottom seventh. Cade Montgomery was stellar on the mound, striking out six and allowing just one hit in a complete-game effort.

Game 4: Washington 8, Ohio State 6
Washington (24-31) produced the second upset of the tournament shortly past midnight. The fourth-time the Huskies took the lead would be the charm as Mic Paul's two-run triple in the ninth proved to be the difference.

Wednesday will feature four more games, including two elimination affairs — No. 9 Illinois versus No. 5 Purdue and No. 10 Rutgers versus No. 6 Ohio State.