Iowa advances to Big Ten baseball championship with 11-0 thumping of Maryland

OMAHA, Neb. – The Iowa baseball team did without drama Saturday.

A day after rallying from a 4-0 ninth-inning deficit to beat Ohio State 5-4 in 10 innings, the Hawkeyes piled on 11 runs on 14 hits for an 11-0 semifinal win over Maryland.

The game was scoreless until the fourth when Robert Neustrom's single followed two straight walks and put Iowa in front. Daniel Aaron Moriel added an RBI single and Eric Schenk-Joblinske tacked on a sac fly.

Iowa, 3-0 in the tournament and 30-25 overall, added plenty of insurance with five runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth.

Neustrom finished 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored and Joel Booker was 3 for 6 with two RBIs and a run. Nick Roscetti also drove in two runs and Mason McCoy had two hits.

'Whenever someone gets something going, we're a team that follows,' Neustrom said. 'We have players that back other teammates up. It did start something, but it didn't matter who did it. It was going to start either way.'

The Hawkeyes got quality work out of a pair of arms. Shane Ritter gave up three hits in three innings, then Nick Gallagher closed the door out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit while striking out nine in the final six innings.

'We put Shane in a hot spot and he handled it well,' Iowa Coach Rick Heller said in a release. 'We felt if we could get three or four out of Shane that Nick would come in and be able to go the rest of the way. It worked out perfectly on the mound. Both guys pitched well, and Nick was outstanding.'

Iowa will play either Michigan State or Ohio State at 1 p.m. Sunday for an NCAA tournament bid. The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.

Plans tomorrow, May 28, 2016

Plans tomorrow, @UIBaseball fans? @B1Gbaseball tourney final. https://t.co/QZpWdLPx0P

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork)

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