Indiana Baseball (19-22) resumed Big Ten play in a weekend series against the Iowa Hawkeyes (23-16). Indiana came into the series having won five of their last six games, including a 20-10 victory over Ball State. Indiana had shown a lot of growth and needed to continue improving against Iowa so the Hoosiers could make a Big Ten tournament push. Instead, Indiana came out flat, and their flaws were emphasized as the Hoosiers got swept by Iowa.
Friday: Iowa 12, Indiana 2
Indiana came out flat in the series, which was a trend throughout the series. Tony Neubeck received the start for Indiana and gave up seven runs in four innings. Iowa had a hot start with four runs in the second inning.
In the fourth, Miles Risley hit a three-run homer to put Iowa up 7-0. Indiana would then see their only action of the game in the fourth. Owen Ten Oever hit an RBI single to score Cooper Malamazian. Then Brayden Ricketts hit a sacrifice fly, which would score Cole Decker, making the score 7-2.
Jacob Vogel gave Indiana two scoreless innings on the mound, but then Head Coach Jeff Mercer turned to Michael Sarhatt. He gave up two runs in two innings, followed by Eli Walker’s two runs in 0.1 innings. Pete Haas would give up a run, and Iowa collected a mercy-rule victory over Indiana in game one.
Indiana’s pitching struggled, but its bats also struggled, as they struck out 11 times in the game.
Saturday: Iowa 9, Indiana 2
Indiana’s pithing woes continued in game two. Indiana’s bats also couldn’t get going as they only had three hits. Brayton Thomas got the start, as he pitched three innings, giving up five runs in the process.
Kellen Strohmeyer hit a homer in the fourth, putting Iowa up 4-0. In the sixth, Iowa scored a run off of Ivan Mastalski as they went up 6-0 after six.
Ten Oever continued being a bright spot for Indiana as he hit a solo home run in the seventh.
Reagon Rivera took the mound for Indiana and gave up three runs in 2.1 innings. In the eighth, Indiana saw some offense. They loaded the bases and then scored on a Cole Decker walk. Indiana wouldn’t produce any more runs from this position, as they lost 9-2 in game two.
Sunday: Iowa 7, Indiana 4
Iowa got out to yet another early lead, as they scored a first-inning run against the pitcher Jackson Yarberry. Yarberry would pitch four innings, giving up four earned runs in the process.
Iowa jumped out to a 7-0 lead after five innings and looked to dominate with a sweep of Indiana.
In the sixth inning, Indiana finally showed some fight. Hogan Denny hit a sacrifice that scored a run in the fifth, and then the Hoosiers would follow that up with a three-run sixth. Jake Hanley hit a single, as Caleb Koskie scored. Cooper Malamazian grounded out to third, as Jake Hanley scored. Cal Gates doubled to left center as Owen Ten Oever scored, making it 7-4 after six.
Indiana pitcher Gavin Seebold pitched five scoreless innings, which kept Indiana in the game.
Iowa closed out the game and swept the Hoosiers in dominating fashion.
Indiana struggled to get anything rolling in the series, but did have two bright spots. Gavin Seebold was masterful on the mound, and Owen Ten Oever had a great series.
Aside from the two bright spots, Indiana struggled to get anything going in this series, as they lost three in a row. They will face off against Louisville on Tuesday in a much-needed bounce-back game.