By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Senior Day was on the verge of turning into senior night on Sunday until seldom-used sophomore Kellen Strohmeyer took advantage of a rare opportunity at the plate.

The Dubuque native belted a single to left-center field that drove in the winning run as Iowa completed a series sweep against Northwestern with a 6-5 victory in 13 innings at Duane Banks Field, and in the final Big Ten series at home.

Strohmeyer had spent most of the game playing catch with right fielder Ben Wilmes down the right-field line before each half inning on defense.

But as the game dragged on, both teams turned to their bench for help, and Strohmeyer rose to the challenge.

“That’s kind of been the year for me, just sitting around a lot, but with that, you’ve got to stay focused because you never know when stuff like that happens,” Strohmeyer said. “Just always trusting it and the work we do all week in batting practice; it comes down to that stuff.

“I think that was my first at bat in conference play. Just prepare for situations like that, even though they don’t come around a lot and you always have to take advantage of them.”

Strohmeyer said Iowa assistant coach Marty Sutherland told him the in seventh inning that he could be used at some point, so to be ready.”

Strohmeyer then knew for sure that he would be inserted in left field for the top of the 13th inning after Iowa senior Kyle Huckstorf was used as a pinch runner in the 12^th inning.

Huckstorf normally starts in centerfield, but he is it limited to pinch running due to a hand injury.

“So, there were a few innings, and a few at bats there where I was ready,” Strohmeyer said.

With the series sweep, Iowa improved to 13-8 in conference play and will face first-place Illinois on Friday in Champaign in the first game of a three-game series to finish Big Ten play.

Illinois has five conference losses, while Iowa entered Sunday’s game in fifth place in the conference.

The top eight teams will qualify for the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

“Offensively, we weren’t very good and to be able to grind that one out and get the sweep and put ourselves in a really good position to make the conference tournament and not have to do anything crazy next weekend with the injury situation that we’re in, and whether Cade (Obermueller) is going to pitch, it gives us some flexibility to try things and do things without feeling like if we don’t get it done, you’re going to be home,” said Iowa coach Rick Heller.

Heller then pointed out that 12 conference wins is usually enough to make the Big Ten Tournament.

Iowa has been hit hard by injuries late in the season, including the injury to Obermueller, who has been one of Iowa’s three starting pitchers this season, along with Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan.

All-Big Ten outfielder Sam Petersen is also out with a leg injury.

So, to get a series sweep, even against the last-place team in the conference, as is the case with Northwestern, is impressive under the circumstances.

The series sweep also came on the heels of an embarrassing 21-14 loss to North Dakota State on Wednesday.

Heller said after the loss to North Dakota State that it was the worst pitching he has seen from one of his teams.

Iowa was then the beneficiary of a pitching masterpiece by Brody Brecht on Saturday as he limited Northwestern to just two hits over eight innings and had 13 strikeouts.

Marcus Morgan also threw well on Sunday as he compiled eight strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings as the starter.

Iowa used six pitchers in Sunday’s game, including Jack Young, who allowed no hits or runs over 3 1/3 innings of relief.

And while the offense sputtered for long stretches in Sunday’s game, Strohmeyer, who bats left-handed was ready when the opportunity presented itself.

He drove the ball to the opposite field, much to the delight of Heller.

“He was ready and that’s great to see,” Heller said. “Stroh hasn’t played in a long time. He hasn’t played in probably over a month. He works hard every day, and he’s really been working hard on trying to drive the ball to the opposite field. And then he gets the game-winning hit on a ball that he stays on an goes the other way.

“That was awesome to see.”

The umpires reviewed the play to make sure that Michael Seegers had beat the tag at home for the game-winning run.

Once Seegers was ruled safe, Strohmeyer was mobbed by his teammates and he also received a victory drenching.

“I’m really grateful to have coaches that believe in me, and teammates,” Strohmeyer said of his first walk-off hit in college. “It’s great. There’s no better feeling than that.”