Sunday, March 18
Bloomington, Ind.
1:05 p.m.
Indiana University
15-4
4
vs
3
Northern Illinois
4-14
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Northern Illinois
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
3
9
0
Indiana
0
0
0
0
1
2
0
0
1
4
11
2
Bradley's Walk-Off RBI Single gives No. 14 Indiana Sweep over NIU
3/18/2018 4:56:00 PM | Baseball
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A baseball maxim is "situational hitting."
And Indiana's Hoosiers can do it.
The latest example was Scotty Bradley lining a two-out, bases-loaded, game-winning single down the right field line to cap Sunday afternoon's 4-3 victory over Northern Illinois.
It marked the eighth time already this young season that IU has won when tied or trailing from the seventh inning on.
And all the runs the Hoosiers scored Sunday came with two outs.
"They were all two-out hits, which was huge," Indiana coach Chris Lemonis said. "(And) I like the fact that we can come back and play well late in tight games. I like the 18-to-nothings better (Friday's score), but they don't happen very often.
"We talked as a team, and 18-to-nothing usually means you're going to come out and play two really hard games (Saturday and Sunday were both 4-3 thrillers). We saw two great arms the last two days. That freshman
for Northern Illinois, he is going to be a great college pitcher."
NIU freshman starter Michael Lasiewicz kept IU in check during a scoreless pitcher's duel with IU sophomore Cameron Beauchamp before the host Hoosiers began making their two-out magic in the fifth.
Jeremy Houston laced a leadoff single, was sacrificed to second and came home on Matt Lloyd's clutch gapper off the wall in left-center for a RBI double.
Indiana (15-4) tacked on two more runs with a pair of two-out base knocks in the sixth.
After Matt Gorski's double to left-center, pinch-hitter Ryan Fineman took a two-strike pitch the other way to right for a RBI single. Then after a Houston walk, Fineman scored as freshman Justin Walker stroked a sharp single up the middle.
"Ryan Fineman, I thought, had a huge hit," Lemonis said, "and Justin Walker's came behind it."
But Northern Illinois (4-14) struck right back in the top of the eighth.
Brad Wood and Joe Jumenville smacked back-to-back doubles, then Samuel Vega tripled to right center. IU closer Lloyd, entering with the tying run for Northern Illinois on third and none out, got a strikeout and a pop out, but then Tommy Szczasny came through with a RBI single to left center to tie it.
Lloyd, who pitched a scoreless ninth, then got the winning rally started in the bottom of the frame by working a two-out walk and taking third on Luke Miller's ensuing single to center.
The Huskies opted to walk IU cleanup man Logan Sowers to load the bases and set up force outs at every base, and pitched to Bradley, who had entered to play first base when Lloyd went to the mound.
"Honestly, I kind of expected that one a little bit," Bradley recalled. "Logan's such a big threat in the lineup that you just got to be ready when your name is called."
Bradley had a good cut but fouled off the first offering from NIU reliever Nate Thomas.
"Just coming off the bench, the first at-bat of the day, I'm just looking to be aggressive," Bradley said. "The first pitch I got was a really good one to hit. No question, I was a little over-anxious on it and tried to do a little too much."
That was not the case with the second pitch, a changeup Thomas left up in the zone.
"Luckily, I got some barrel on it," Bradley said, "and it worked out."
And after Bradley rounded first, he just kept right on running in a vain attempt to escape celebratory teammates chasing him down.
"It was just spur of the moment type of thing," Bradley said. "I was just trying not to get tackled, I guess."
Getting tackled by teammates wouldn't have been in Bradley's best interest last year, when an oblique injury turned into a disc issue in his back and cost him all but five games of the season.
Lemonis is glad to have Bradley back providing an already deep team even more quality depth.
"Scotty's started some, has been on the bench some," Lemonis said. "We've talked a lot about about preparing yourself and keeping yourself ready to play and that's a great example of an older player (doing so). And he's a good player. It was good for him to get that big hit."
Bradley wasn't arguing that.
"Obviously, being on the bench last year watching was pretty tough," Bradley said. "It was good to be around those guys every day, but every day that you're sitting there watching the games, it gets a little lonely knowing you can't go out there and help – especially being on a regional team and all that. You wish you could really feel like you're truly a part of it.
"But it's just good to be back. Being away from baseball that long, you kind of re-fall in love with the game, which I was very fortunate to do last year. Just coming back this year (I'm)very excited as a much more motivated player."
Love for the game and for a competitive context runs deep in Bradley's family. His father, Scott, Sr., is the head baseball coach at Princeton – and caught Randy Johnson's 1990 no-hitter as a catcher for the Seattle Mariners. Former United States National Team soccer coach Bob Bradley and current U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley are an uncle and cousin.
And now Bradley feels more fully integrated, again, into his IU baseball family. Asked about reasons for the Hoosiers' penchant to win close games so far this season, he replied:
"I would just have to say character of the team. It's a tight group. It's a veteran group as well, so we all feed off one another and we're picking each other up, whether you're going good or going bad at the time. It's really good team camaraderie and a great group of guys to be around , to show up to the ballpark every single day and go to battle with."
Another close battle was won Sunday. And thus far, the Hoosiers are winning the war in terms of long-term season goals.
Indiana, which posted a number of good RPI wins during a 9-2 start away from Bloomington, has won six straight during a nine-game homestand that concludes with Tuesday's 4:05 p.m. game with Wright State. The Hoosiers then open Big Ten play next weekend at Iowa.
Situationally, it's been a good start.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A baseball maxim is "situational hitting."
And Indiana's Hoosiers can do it.
The latest example was Scotty Bradley lining a two-out, bases-loaded, game-winning single down the right field line to cap Sunday afternoon's 4-3 victory over Northern Illinois.
It marked the eighth time already this young season that IU has won when tied or trailing from the seventh inning on.
And all the runs the Hoosiers scored Sunday came with two outs.
"They were all two-out hits, which was huge," Indiana coach Chris Lemonis said. "(And) I like the fact that we can come back and play well late in tight games. I like the 18-to-nothings better (Friday's score), but they don't happen very often.
"We talked as a team, and 18-to-nothing usually means you're going to come out and play two really hard games (Saturday and Sunday were both 4-3 thrillers). We saw two great arms the last two days. That freshman
for Northern Illinois, he is going to be a great college pitcher."
NIU freshman starter Michael Lasiewicz kept IU in check during a scoreless pitcher's duel with IU sophomore Cameron Beauchamp before the host Hoosiers began making their two-out magic in the fifth.
Jeremy Houston laced a leadoff single, was sacrificed to second and came home on Matt Lloyd's clutch gapper off the wall in left-center for a RBI double.
Indiana (15-4) tacked on two more runs with a pair of two-out base knocks in the sixth.
After Matt Gorski's double to left-center, pinch-hitter Ryan Fineman took a two-strike pitch the other way to right for a RBI single. Then after a Houston walk, Fineman scored as freshman Justin Walker stroked a sharp single up the middle.
"Ryan Fineman, I thought, had a huge hit," Lemonis said, "and Justin Walker's came behind it."
But Northern Illinois (4-14) struck right back in the top of the eighth.
Brad Wood and Joe Jumenville smacked back-to-back doubles, then Samuel Vega tripled to right center. IU closer Lloyd, entering with the tying run for Northern Illinois on third and none out, got a strikeout and a pop out, but then Tommy Szczasny came through with a RBI single to left center to tie it.
Lloyd, who pitched a scoreless ninth, then got the winning rally started in the bottom of the frame by working a two-out walk and taking third on Luke Miller's ensuing single to center.
The Huskies opted to walk IU cleanup man Logan Sowers to load the bases and set up force outs at every base, and pitched to Bradley, who had entered to play first base when Lloyd went to the mound.
"Honestly, I kind of expected that one a little bit," Bradley recalled. "Logan's such a big threat in the lineup that you just got to be ready when your name is called."
Bradley had a good cut but fouled off the first offering from NIU reliever Nate Thomas.
"Just coming off the bench, the first at-bat of the day, I'm just looking to be aggressive," Bradley said. "The first pitch I got was a really good one to hit. No question, I was a little over-anxious on it and tried to do a little too much."
That was not the case with the second pitch, a changeup Thomas left up in the zone.
"Luckily, I got some barrel on it," Bradley said, "and it worked out."
And after Bradley rounded first, he just kept right on running in a vain attempt to escape celebratory teammates chasing him down.
"It was just spur of the moment type of thing," Bradley said. "I was just trying not to get tackled, I guess."
Getting tackled by teammates wouldn't have been in Bradley's best interest last year, when an oblique injury turned into a disc issue in his back and cost him all but five games of the season.
Lemonis is glad to have Bradley back providing an already deep team even more quality depth.
"Scotty's started some, has been on the bench some," Lemonis said. "We've talked a lot about about preparing yourself and keeping yourself ready to play and that's a great example of an older player (doing so). And he's a good player. It was good for him to get that big hit."
Bradley wasn't arguing that.
"Obviously, being on the bench last year watching was pretty tough," Bradley said. "It was good to be around those guys every day, but every day that you're sitting there watching the games, it gets a little lonely knowing you can't go out there and help – especially being on a regional team and all that. You wish you could really feel like you're truly a part of it.
"But it's just good to be back. Being away from baseball that long, you kind of re-fall in love with the game, which I was very fortunate to do last year. Just coming back this year (I'm)very excited as a much more motivated player."
Love for the game and for a competitive context runs deep in Bradley's family. His father, Scott, Sr., is the head baseball coach at Princeton – and caught Randy Johnson's 1990 no-hitter as a catcher for the Seattle Mariners. Former United States National Team soccer coach Bob Bradley and current U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley are an uncle and cousin.
And now Bradley feels more fully integrated, again, into his IU baseball family. Asked about reasons for the Hoosiers' penchant to win close games so far this season, he replied:
"I would just have to say character of the team. It's a tight group. It's a veteran group as well, so we all feed off one another and we're picking each other up, whether you're going good or going bad at the time. It's really good team camaraderie and a great group of guys to be around , to show up to the ballpark every single day and go to battle with."
Another close battle was won Sunday. And thus far, the Hoosiers are winning the war in terms of long-term season goals.
Indiana, which posted a number of good RPI wins during a 9-2 start away from Bloomington, has won six straight during a nine-game homestand that concludes with Tuesday's 4:05 p.m. game with Wright State. The Hoosiers then open Big Ten play next weekend at Iowa.
Situationally, it's been a good start.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lloyd, Matt (1-0)
L: THOMAS, Nate (0-2)
Batting:
2B: WOOD, Brad 1 ; JUMONVILLE, Joe 1
3B: VEGA, Samuel 1
RBI: JUMONVILLE, Joe 1 ; VEGA, Samuel 1 ; SZCZASNY, Tommy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WOOD, Brad 1 ; JUMONVILLE, Joe 1 ; VEGA, Samuel 1
SB: BYNUM, Scooter 1
HBP: WOOD, Brad 1
Batting:
2B: Lloyd, Matt 1 ; Gorski, Matt 1
RBI: Lloyd, Matt 1 ; Bradley, Scotty 1 ; Fineman , Ryan 1 ; Walker, Justin 1
SH: Walker, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lloyd, Matt 1 ; Gorski, Matt 1 ; Fineman , Ryan 1 ; Houston, Jeremy 1
SB: Kaletha, Logan 1 ; Gorski, Matt 1 ; Houston, Jeremy 1
CS: Eustace, Laren 1
HBP: Miller, Luke 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
1b/p
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
LHP
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INF
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
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