B1G Baseball’s Swim in the Pool Hits Choppy Waters: Day 2 and 3 Recap

The B1G Baseball Tournament’s new Pool Play set out with ambitious goals of providing a competitive advantage to teams that had earned a higher seed and incorporating more teams into the tournament. The Conference hit both goals but added an unintentional consequence: scheduling games that don’t matter.

Each of the four pools featured three teams and the top seeds in each of the pools had the advantage of owning the tiebreaker on any 1-1 records in the pools.

There was a notable drop in enthusiasm with games like Thursday’s UCLA/Michigan, which had no bearing on the tournament. UCLA had already clinched the pool after the Bruins win over Illinois. It was an experiment that ultimately didn’t meet the mark in year 1 of the new B1G Baseball Tournament, but offering a revamped style in 2026 could stick the landing.

Let’s recap the games and preview the last remaining game of importance for the Semi Finals.

Wednesday’s games

UCLA survives Illinois’ surge

The Fighting Illini established a 2-0 lead early, but the star power of UCLA’s lineup ultimately prevailed in UCLA’s inaugural B1G Baseball Tournament game. The Bruins retook the lead in a chaotic third inning after a sacrifice fly put runners on first and second with 1 out.

A routine grounder to shortstop should have led to an out, but UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky ran through the bag at second base rather than sliding. The umpires initially ruled him out, but a replay review overruled the call, putting runners at every base. The controversial ruling had Illini fans and head coach Dan Hartleb fuming.

After the chaos of the call a walk, balk, and two run double led to a 5-2 UCLA lead. The Illini regrouped and clawed back. After a Drake Westcott home run tied the score at 5, UCLA and Illinois traded blows in the late innings. The stage was set for B1G Player of the Year, Roch Chlowosky. After working around Cholowsky earlier in the game, Illinois challenged him and he proved up to the task. This home run proved to be the diference in the game.

UCLA advances to the Semi-Finals. They’re set to play Iowa in Saturday’s evening matchup.

Penn State Outlasts Washington

Penn State came within spitting distance of winning the 2024 B1G Tournament as an eight seed and they entered the 2025 tourney with the goal of defying their nine seed. Game 1 against Washington proved a good start to that fact. Nittany Lions’ starter Ryan DeSanto worked around three walks and three hits to keep Washington off the board. The Huskies closed the gap in the eigth inning with a AJ Guerrero home run that tied the Washington program home run record.

Washington would later threaten again in the ninth to make it a 5-3 game, but The NIttany Lions prevailed setting the stage for a winner-take-all with USC

Iowa’s Cade Obermueller uses electric stuff to down Rutgers

The B1G conference strikeout leader was in peak form Wednesday night. Iowa’s Cade Obermueller threw seven dominant innings to put Iowa in the pole position to clinch the pool. Obermueller’s 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, and 10 K performance set the Hawkeyes to a 4-0 lead that they were able to hold on to late despite a late push by the Scarlet Knights.

Thursday’s games

UCLA thrives late against Michigan

A casulty of the new Pool Play rules is that games are played without any Pool Play implications. Case-in-point, Thursday’s UCLA/Michigan matchup had no bearing on which team would make it to the Semi Finals. Despite Michigan already being eliminated, the Wolverines clawed their way to a 5-4 lead until the Bruins strung together baserunners late and followed with a triple, single, and sacrifice bunt to score three runs and take a lead. Neither team had anything to play for than pride, but both put up strong showings.

Penn State is back in the Semi-Finals after upsetting USC

Penn State loves the B1G playoff action. For the second year in a row, the Nittany Lions will play in the Semi Finals. To get there they had to face a gauntlet of a foe in USC who threw their best arm, Caden Aoki. The senior righthander dazzled with seven excellent innings holding the Nittany Lions to 1 run and racked up 7 strikeouts. Penn State’s offense struggled to break through when they needed them most, but the pitching and defense were superb. The Trojans appeared to take a one run lead when left fielder Jesse Jaconski and shortstop Ryan Weingartner combined to throw out Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek trying to score from first on a double. The Trojans challenged, but the call stood. That would keep a 1-1 tie that remained until the top of the ninth. After two quick outs by the Nittany Lions, catcher Nate Voss stepped to the plate.

Moment that Mattered Most: Can you say heroic? Had the Nittany Lions gone quietly in the ninth inning it’s impossible to know how the Trojans would have responded, but trying to scratch across one run to win and make it to the Semi Finals is a very different situation than trying to score to keep your season alive. Nate Voss set that foundation with an incredible drive. On an 0-1 count, Voss absolutely crushed a hanging breaking ball deep into the Charles Schwab field bleachers.

Penn State plays Game 1 of the B1G Semi Finals against the winner of the Nebraska/Oregon matchup.

Oregon starts strong in first B1G Tournament game

Conference baseball tournament pitching usage is a fascinating topic. As a top seed in the pool the Ducks had the advantage of holding the tiebreaker to progress so they turned to midweek starter and true freshman, Ian Umlandt, in order to keep their pitching fresh for Friday and the weekend if necessary. Umlandt delivered 6 2/3 strong innings limiting Michigan State to 2 runs (1 earned) with five strikeouts to only 1 walk. Despite not factoring in to the decision, Umlandt’s deep outing was a resounding success. The Ducks rallied late to set their B1G tournament record at 1-0. They face Nebraska on Friday for a winner-take-all spot in the Semi Finals.

Indiana dominates Iowa Hawkeyes in 5-0 win

The Hoosiers came up short against the Rutgers in their first game, but showed out against the Iowa Hawkeyes who had already clinched a spot in the Semi Finals. Indiana’s 5-0 win had a bit of everything, a strong starting performance by redshirt senior Cole Gilley (six scoreless innings), dominant bullpen outing by graduate Ben Grable (3 shutout innings with 5 K and 0 BB), and powerful performance by potential first-rounder Devin Taylor (3 for 4 with a home run). Indiana is on the outside looking in for the NCAA regionals, but Thursday’s game was the last of the season, they went out on a high note. For Iowa, this game reflected a tune up for Saturday’s evening matchup against UCLA in the Semi Finals.

Friday Preview:

USC takes on Washington at 9 AM CST in a game that does not have Pool Play implications. In the evening matchup Oregon squares off against Nebraska for a spot in the Semi Finals. The Huskers had Omaha rocking with their stunning walk off on Tuesday. With a decidedly local crowd out in force and two days of rest for their bullpen, Nebraska poses a legitimate threat to the Oregon Ducks. Nebraska won the 2024 B1G Tournament and are looking to repeat.

Saturday Semi Finals Update:

Game 1 (2 PM CST): Winner of Nebraska/Oregon v. Penn State
Game 2 (6 PM CST): UCLA v Iowa