Tuesday, April 10
Bloomington, Ind.
6:05 p.m.
Indiana University
23-6
6
vs
1
Indiana St
16-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Indiana State
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
Indiana
1
0
0
0
0
2
1
2
X
6
9
0
No. 10 Indiana Defeats Indiana State, 6-1
4/10/2018 10:05:00 PM | Baseball
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Justin Walker is just having fun now.
Not that he wasn't before, necessarily.
But coming off a pressure-packed weekend series against his hometown team and Indiana arch-rival Purdue, during which he overcame some adversity, IU freshman Walker continued to shine Tuesday night.
Walker's two-out, two-run double up the left-center gap broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth and the host Hoosiers then tacked on plenty of insurance to beat Indiana State, 6-1.
"I thought the hit of the game was Justin's," IU coach Chris Lemonis said. "That two-out hit when we were just struggling along. And the last one by Jeremy (Houston) will hopefully give him a little confidence."
That referenced Houston's two-out, two-RBI triple to right center that capped the scoring in the eighth.
Neither team scored much early, though Indiana managed to get on the board in the first.
IU (23-6) got a two-out single by Matt Lloyd, then consecutive two-out singles by Ryan Fineman (who got the RBI) and Matt Gorski against the ISU starter, knuckleballer Weston Rivers.
The Hoosiers started Terre Haute native Tim Herrin, who hurled four scoreless frames till the Sycamores (16-11) tied it in the fifth. Dane Tofteland reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on Hayden Jaco's lined two-out single to center.
"I thought he's been really good over the last couple of weeks," Lemonis said of Herrin. "I think it started, really, with Indiana State (IU's 5-3 win March 28 in Terre Haute) the last time. Kind of got him going.
"But he had been making strides before that and added to that tonight."
IU reliever Tommy Sommer did a nice job of pitching around C.J. Huntley's leadoff double in the top of the sixth, then the bottom of the frame was even more eventful.
A one-out walk to Logan Sowers preceded Fineman getting hit by a pitch. Gorski then singled sharply to left but a perfect peg by Roberto Enriquez cut Sowers down at the plate.
The Hoosiers were not denied, however, after a walk to Scotty Bradley loaded the bases with two down. Walker came through with his rocketing double.
"It was a 3-2 count, so I kind of expected a fastball to come because they didn't want to walk me, especially being a low hitter in the order," said Walker, who proved potent out of the No. 7 spot in the lineup. "So I was just looking to get a fastball and put it into the outfield and hopefully we can score runs. That's what happened."
It has happened a lot with Walker of late. He has 12 RBI over the last six games, at least one in every game, and is hitting .391 (9 of 23) over that stretch.
"It's just now that I'm playing well and now it's just a lot more confidence," the freshman said. "In baseball, you always have got to have confidence. That's what I try to play with every day. That's what I'm doing."
IU added a run in the seventh as Logan Kaletha legged out a bloop double down the rightfield line, stole third and came home on Sowers' lined single to center.
All of Indiana's scoring for the evening came with two outs, and continued in that vein with Houston's triple, an electric dash around the bases.
"I worry about hamstrings in cold weather like this, but he's fast," Lemonis said of Houston. "He can play. And that's his triple gap there, too, here in our park.
"The game of baseball can beat you down a bit, so I know it felt good for him to hit it in the gap."
So Lemonis got four RBI from his starting middle-infielders, both also renowned for their glove work, Tuesday.
"It's nice to have them out there," Lemonis said of the sophomore-freshman keystone combo. "They're pretty versatile, too. They can do some different things."
And Lemonis liked the fact IU was error-free as a team Tuesday.
"That's what I talked about," Lemonis said of his post-game address to the team. "I didn't think we were great tonight but when you throw strikes and don't make any errors, it's huge.
"For our team that's the biggest area of improvement right now, defense. And we made some really nice plays tonight."
Indiana hosts a three-game set with Northwestern this weekend, starting with Friday's 6:05 p.m. start.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Justin Walker is just having fun now.
Not that he wasn't before, necessarily.
But coming off a pressure-packed weekend series against his hometown team and Indiana arch-rival Purdue, during which he overcame some adversity, IU freshman Walker continued to shine Tuesday night.
Walker's two-out, two-run double up the left-center gap broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth and the host Hoosiers then tacked on plenty of insurance to beat Indiana State, 6-1.
"I thought the hit of the game was Justin's," IU coach Chris Lemonis said. "That two-out hit when we were just struggling along. And the last one by Jeremy (Houston) will hopefully give him a little confidence."
That referenced Houston's two-out, two-RBI triple to right center that capped the scoring in the eighth.
Neither team scored much early, though Indiana managed to get on the board in the first.
IU (23-6) got a two-out single by Matt Lloyd, then consecutive two-out singles by Ryan Fineman (who got the RBI) and Matt Gorski against the ISU starter, knuckleballer Weston Rivers.
The Hoosiers started Terre Haute native Tim Herrin, who hurled four scoreless frames till the Sycamores (16-11) tied it in the fifth. Dane Tofteland reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on Hayden Jaco's lined two-out single to center.
"I thought he's been really good over the last couple of weeks," Lemonis said of Herrin. "I think it started, really, with Indiana State (IU's 5-3 win March 28 in Terre Haute) the last time. Kind of got him going.
"But he had been making strides before that and added to that tonight."
IU reliever Tommy Sommer did a nice job of pitching around C.J. Huntley's leadoff double in the top of the sixth, then the bottom of the frame was even more eventful.
A one-out walk to Logan Sowers preceded Fineman getting hit by a pitch. Gorski then singled sharply to left but a perfect peg by Roberto Enriquez cut Sowers down at the plate.
The Hoosiers were not denied, however, after a walk to Scotty Bradley loaded the bases with two down. Walker came through with his rocketing double.
"It was a 3-2 count, so I kind of expected a fastball to come because they didn't want to walk me, especially being a low hitter in the order," said Walker, who proved potent out of the No. 7 spot in the lineup. "So I was just looking to get a fastball and put it into the outfield and hopefully we can score runs. That's what happened."
It has happened a lot with Walker of late. He has 12 RBI over the last six games, at least one in every game, and is hitting .391 (9 of 23) over that stretch.
"It's just now that I'm playing well and now it's just a lot more confidence," the freshman said. "In baseball, you always have got to have confidence. That's what I try to play with every day. That's what I'm doing."
IU added a run in the seventh as Logan Kaletha legged out a bloop double down the rightfield line, stole third and came home on Sowers' lined single to center.
All of Indiana's scoring for the evening came with two outs, and continued in that vein with Houston's triple, an electric dash around the bases.
"I worry about hamstrings in cold weather like this, but he's fast," Lemonis said of Houston. "He can play. And that's his triple gap there, too, here in our park.
"The game of baseball can beat you down a bit, so I know it felt good for him to hit it in the gap."
So Lemonis got four RBI from his starting middle-infielders, both also renowned for their glove work, Tuesday.
"It's nice to have them out there," Lemonis said of the sophomore-freshman keystone combo. "They're pretty versatile, too. They can do some different things."
And Lemonis liked the fact IU was error-free as a team Tuesday.
"That's what I talked about," Lemonis said of his post-game address to the team. "I didn't think we were great tonight but when you throw strikes and don't make any errors, it's huge.
"For our team that's the biggest area of improvement right now, defense. And we made some really nice plays tonight."
Indiana hosts a three-game set with Northwestern this weekend, starting with Friday's 6:05 p.m. start.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sommer, Tommy (1-0)
L: Dalton Laney (0-2)
S: Sabol , B.J. (1)
Batting:
2B: Cj Huntley 1
RBI: Hayden Jaco 1
SH: Jarrod Watkins 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dane Tofteland 1
SB: Dane Tofteland 1
HBP: Clay Dungan 1
Batting:
2B: Kaletha, Logan 1 ; Walker, Justin 1
3B: Houston, Jeremy 1
RBI: Sowers, Logan 1 ; Fineman , Ryan 1 ; Walker, Justin 2 ; Houston, Jeremy 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaletha, Logan 1 ; Lloyd, Matt 1 ; Fineman , Ryan 1 ; Gorski, Matt 1 ; Bradley, Scotty 1 ; Walker, Justin 1
SB: Kaletha, Logan 1
HBP: Fineman , Ryan 1
PO: Gorski, Matt 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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C
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/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
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/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF
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