IU baseball advances in Big Ten

No. 4 IU played its first game of the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday against No. 5 Iowa and won 7-4. \nJunior pitcher Nick Vitieliss (8-1) picked up the win, and junior pitcher Ryan Smith got his 9th save, setting a new single season school record.\nHoosier runs were scored beginning in the fourth inning when junior Vasili Spanos hit an RBI single. Sophomore Josh Romero hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, and freshman Jay Brant followed with an RBI double. Brant then scored when senior Kennard Jones singled to left field and the Hawkeye left-fielder made an error.\nSenior Gibran Hamdan hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead from Iowa, and Jones scored Hamdan off another RBI single.\nThe Hoosiers then added the finishing touches to the game when Brant hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.\nThe tournament is being held at regular season conference-champion Minnesota's Siebert Field in Minneapolis.\nThe Hoosiers advanced to the conference tournament by winning the first two games of the Northwestern series last weekend. Junior Jacob Cary carried a two-hit shutout into the ninth of game one, giving up two runs on five hits in an 8-2 victory. He is now 6-5 with a 6.17 ERA. \nSenior Zach Otte pitched a four-hit complete game shutout in a 3-0 victory on Saturday. It was his fifth complete conference game and second shutout, as he improves to 7-3 with a 2.19 ERA on the season. \nNorthwestern rebounded by winning the last two games of the series, 4-1 and 9-6, earning a spot in the Big Ten Tournament as a No. 6 seed.\nIU finished the regular season 34-18. It is the Hoosiers best record since 1999, when they went 37-17.\nBig Ten schools have won six NCAA National Championships, and this year's conference champion will get the chance at the NCAA Regionals May 31-June 2.