Indiana University
4-2
West Virginia
3-5
IU Tops West Virginia, 8-5
3/1/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 1, 2013
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Five unanswered runs by Indiana Baseball (4-2) lifted the Hoosiers to an 8-5 victory over West Virginia (3-6) in the weekend opener of the 14th Annual Caravelle Resort's `Baseball at the Beach' event. A pair of pinch hits and late three-run homerun by Sam Travis flipped a 5-3 deficit into the 8-5 final tally.
With two outs and a tie game in the eighth inning, Travis blistered a line-drive homer soaring past the left field wall and vaulting IU ahead 8-5. Base knocks by Chad Clark and Kyle Schwarber placed runners at the corners, setting up Travis for the game-winning jack.
Freshman hurler Scott Effross improved to 2-0 by tossing scoreless seventh and eighth innings while Ryan Halstead closed it out in the ninth for his second save of the season. Effross has now offered up a lone earned run in 10 innings of work this season, good for a 0.90 ERA. Halstead remains unscathed, owner of 5.1 shutout relief innings and a .063 batting average against.
Indiana came out swinging in the opening inning, recording two runs on three hits all coming on the first pitch of the at-bat. Scott Donley and Michael Basil each posted RBI-singles to give IU a 2-0 lead.
The Mountaineers responded immediately in the next half inning, pushing across two runs of their own. The counter-punching continued in the home half of the second when IU regained a lead off Schwarber's first RBI of the day.
WVU tossed the next haymaker, battling back to in the middle innings to take their first lead at 5-3. Indiana's response was immediate though, knotting the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth. Head Coach Tracy Smith pulled the right strings, pinch hitting for back-to-back batters. The first was Casey Smith, who clobbered a towering homer out of the ballpark. He was followed by Clark's double and game-tying run scored.
Smith is now 4-for-8 with all four hits driving in a run.
Effross and Halstead then locked it down as Travis' long-ball in the eighth secured the Hoosier triumph.
The Cream and Crimson are back at it on Saturday, facing the host Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at 1:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Effross, Scott (2-0)
L: Paul, P. (0-2)
S: Halstead, Ryan (2)
Batting:
2B: Boyd, B. 1 ; McBroom, R. 1
RBI: Fleming, B. 1 ; Rice, J. 2 ; Filauro, A. 2
SF: Fleming, B. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boyd, B. 1 ; Wilson, B. 1 ; Munden, T. 1 ; Filauro, A. 1 ; Constantini, 1
SB: Wilson, B. 1 ; Munden, T. 1
CS: Rice, J. 1
HBP: Tuntland, R. 1 ; Wilson, B. 1
Batting:
2B: Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Donley, Scott 1 ; Clark, Chad 1
HR: Travis, Sam 1 ; Smith, Casey 1
RBI: Schwarber, Kyle 2 ; Travis, Sam 3 ; Donley, Scott 1 ; Basil, Michael 1 ; Smith, Casey 1
SH: Cureton, Justin 1 ; Ramos, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schwarber, Kyle 2 ; Travis, Sam 2 ; Nolden, Will 1 ; Smith, Casey 1 ; Clark, Chad 2
CS: Travis, Sam 1
HBP: Nolden, Will 1
PO: Sujka, Chris 1
