Indiana Baseball (18-22) sought out a sweep of in-state rival, Ball State (19-20), on Tuesday afternoon, and their offense was explosive enough to propel them to a (20-10) victory. The Hoosiers had a clear focus on working at-bats, as they had 12 walks in the game. Cooper Malamazian embodied this as he walked four times.
The wind played a major role in this high-scoring affair, as it blew out the entire game. A pitcher’s nightmare, as the wind made it tough to track balls in the air, and also carried the balls farther, as there were five total homers in this game.
The Hoosiers struck immediately in this game as they walked four times in a row. With a 1-0 lead already, Owen Ten Oever stepped up to bat and delivered a grand slam to center, as the Hoosiers took a 5-0 lead. Ball State then pulled Nate Bartlett for Alex Burden after giving up five runs in 0.1 innings. Will Moore got his 12th hit by pitch of the season, and then scored off of Hogan Denny’s RBI single as the Hoosiers lead 6-0 after one.
In the third, Ball State’s nightmare continued, as Denny hit a two-RBI double that scored Landen Fry and Ayden Crouse. Ball State put in pitcher Jeremy Jones to get out of the inning. In the bottom, Ball State reached base on two errors, which set up Ryan Muizelaar‘s two RBI single, which scored Preston Murphy and Gavin Balius as the Hoosiers lead 8-2 after three.
In the top of the fourth, Landen Fry singled, which scored both Brayden Ricketts and Ten Oever. Denny then continued his amazing night with a three-run homer that drove home both Will Moore and Fry. In the bottom, the Hoosier put Freshmen Kellen English on the mound, who gave up a solo homer to Brady Davidson. Preston Murphy doubled and drove home Brett Griffiths and Charlie Keller. Gavin Balius singled, which scored Murphy, as it is 13-6 after four.
Hoosiers grabbed two in the fifth with RBI singles from Cole Decker and Moore. Indiana put Kaden Jacobi on the mound, who gave up a Charlie Keller two-run home run, which scored Griffiths. Muizelaar then hit a two-RBI single that scored Kenskey Thomas and Balius. It was 15-10 after five.
The sixth was uneventful compared to previous innings, but did see Denny hit a solo homer, his second of the day.
The seventh was the game’s first scoreless inning since the second inning.
The eighth would be the final inning, as the Hoosiers closed the door on the game. Indiana’s walks continued as Malamazian claimed his fourth of the game, and walked in Cal Gates along the way. Ricketts was hit by a pitch, and Denny scored. Decker singled and scored both Hanley and Malamazian, to put the Hoosiers up by 10.
In the bottom, the Hoosiers turned to Evan O’neil to close out the game, and he delivered a 1-2-3 inning as the Hoosiers got a run-rule victory over Ball State 20-10.
Indiana advances to 19-22 on the season and grabs the season sweep of Ball State. They delivered major hits and showed great maturity, with very patient at-bats.
Indiana will face Iowa on Friday.