Baseball Tournament: Day 2 Update

Photo by Mark Kuhlmann

OMAHA, Neb. — The second day of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament Presented by IFS.ai. brought more pool play as three games were contested at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

No. 2 seed UCLA started the day by defeating No. 11 seed Illinois, 8-6. The game featured four lead changes and two ties. The Bruins (40-15) used nine pitchers and received a 3-for-3 performance from Phoenix Call to notch their 40th win of the season.

Drake Wescott homered for Illinois (30-24), which finished with a 1-1 pool record for the tournament.

In the their first meeting since 1923, No. 9 seed Penn State prevailed over No. 5 seed Washington, 5-3. PSU pitching held Washington to four hits through seven innings before AJ Guerrero connected on a two-run shot in the eighth, moving into a tie on the school's all-time home run record (42).

Wednesday's action closed with No. 3 Iowa triumphing over No. 10 Rutgers, 4-3. Starter Cade Obermueller threw seven innings of 4-hit ball, striking out 10 batters and reaching 96 mph on the radar gun for the Hawkeyes (33-20-1). Teammate Risley Miles had a three-hit night as did Big Ten batting champion Trevor Cohen for Rutgers (29-28).

With their wins today, UCLA and Iowa won their respective pools and will meet in the semifinals on Saturday.