Iowa Baseball Has Historic Night vs. UW-Platteville

The Iowa Hawkeyes defeated UW-Platteville 34-5 on Feb. 17.

No, you didn’t read that wrong. Iowa, in the earliest home opener in program history — something historic in its own right — completely demolished UW-Platteville en route to a school record 34 runs. Nothing like it had been seen in Hawkeyes’ baseball history since 1989, when the team scored 32 in a game against Quincy.

The previous record: 32, set in 1989 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Arcw1IxYde
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 18, 2026

“Before the game we talked about the fact that we had a long weekend, got back at four in the morning with flight stuff, and how it would have been really easy to sleepwalk through this one,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We challenged everyone to come out with great energy and focus and play as well as we can tonight. Rare opportunity to play this early in February, so I was really proud of our guys offensively. We didn’t throw any at-bats away.”

They certainly did not throw any at-bats away, that’s for sure. Iowa scored two runs in the first inning, nine in the third, six in the fourth, four in the fifth, two in the sixth, four in the seventh and then capped off the evening with seven in the eighth. All those runs came on a whopping 28 hits.

Kooper Schulte’s Night to Shine

Iowa Hawkeyes infielder Kooper Schult — Iowa infielder Kooper Schulte (9) bats against Bradley April 16, 2025 at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Of all the players who had a fantastic evening versus UW-Platteville — and there were many — senior Kooper Schulte undoubtedly had the best day at the office. He went 5-for-6 with three doubles, a triple and a single. He finished just a home run shy of the cycle. He was one of eight Hawkeyes to put up a multi-hit performance.

Other hitters who performed well were juniors Kellen Strohmeyer and Jaylen Ziegler; both contributed five runs to the earth-shattering 34-run total. Meanwhile, Kyle Alivo, Brett White and Matthew Delgado all drove in four runs. Talk about an all-around effort — pretty much everybody in the lineup found a way to contribute.

But with the game being against a Division III opponent, some might question the legitimacy of this run-scoring barrage. That’s reasonable given the gap in talent, but the record will forever stand — at least until Iowa manages to somehow score 35 runs in a single game. Whether that comes against a Division III team or later this season during Iowa’s Big Ten schedule, the 34-5 win over UW-Platteville will forever be a spectacle.

What’s Next for Iowa Baseball?

The Hawkeyes will travel down to Boca Raton to face Florida Atlantic in a three-game series that is set to begin on Feb. 20. Game one will start at 5:30 p.m.

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