No. 19 Indiana Tops Maryland, 6-5

Thursday, May 17

Bloomington, Ind.

6 p.m.

Indiana University

35-15, 0

Maryland

24-28, 0

Maryland

Indiana

5/18/2018 12:08:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BLOOMINGTON – Lightning amidst the seventh inning delayed Thursday evening's proceedings at Indiana's Bart Kaufman Field for almost two hours.

But that didn't prevent the host Hoosiers from storming back.

Or Luke Miller from supplying his own sort of electric jolt.

Miller mashed a 3-run, opposite field homer with two outs in the eighth to lift IU to a dramatic 6-5 win over Maryland's Terrapins.

Maryland reliever John Murphy had entered in the eighth with Hoosiers on first and third, and one run already in, trying to preserve a 5-3 Terp lead. He quickly struck out Matt Gorski and Logan Sowers with breaking balls.

Miller took note.

"Yeah. I just saw that he threw it to Logan and Matt before me, so I thought I'd probably see the same thing," Miller recalled. "I was sitting on it."

And when his drive easily carried the fence in right, IU had its only lead of the game, and the only one it would need.

IU (35-15, 12-9) clinched a BTT berth with Thursday's win but would love to improve its seeding. That didn't seem likely much of Thursday, with the Terps in control most of the way.

Maryland's bats rang out early and often.

The Terps had a pair of singles in the first inning, though the threat was thwarted as IU turned a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.

Maryland wasn't denied in the second, however. After Will Watson reached on an infield single, Zach Jancarski blasted a majestic two-run homer to left.

Miller answered for IU in its half of the inning with a lined solo homer to left that exited the park in a hurry.

"He fell behind with the off-speeds," Miller said of Maryland starter Hunter Parsons, who proved stingy through six strong innings, "so I thought he was going to give me a fast ball and he did. And I just got to it."

Heads-up base-running by Gorski then helped the Hoosiers forge a 2-2 tie in the fourth.

Gorski delivered a leadoff bunt single, went all the way to third on Sowers' lined single to center, then took home as Sowers got into a rundown between first and second.

A pretty 3-6-1 double-play got IU out of the top of the fifth unscathed before Matt Lloyd barely missed a two-run homer to right in the IU fifth as Manny Costes caught the drive on the warning track.

Maryland retook the lead in the sixth. Watson worked a leadoff walk, stole second and, after a one-out walk to Justin Morris, scored on Taylor Wright's ground single to right (though Sowers nailed Morris with a great throw to third.)

Tommy Sommer came on in relief of IU starter Jonathan Stiever in the seventh and his first two pitches resulted in a double to A.J. Lee that hugged the third-base line and a single to right by Nick Dunn. Costes then supplied a sac fly to make it 4-2.

Then came the lightning, which ended a strong start from Parsons, who had limited IU five hits.

Indiana coach Chris Lemonis felt his club could come back against the Maryland bullpen. Asked what he told his term during the hiatus, Lemonis said:

"That we're going to win this. Coming out of that locker room, let's win the last three innings at-bat by at-bat … you just had to get some guys on base and get the momentum going, and we were able to do that."

But when play resumed and neither team tallied in the seventh, it was Maryland upping its lead to 5-2 in the top of the eighth. Justin Morris roped a one-out double to left center, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Taylor Wright's ground single to right.

IU's decisive eighth started with a leadoff walk to Jeremy Houston and a single to left by Logan Kaletha. Maryland making a pitching change, with lefty Grant Burleson on to face lefty Lloyd, who laced a RBI single to right, drawing IU within 5-3.

"Those pieces were huge," Lemonis said of IU's first three hitters in the eighth. "We just felt like, if we could get a rally going we had a chance to do some damage.

"Luckily we were able to get the right guy at the plate."

It was Miller time.

"He hit a ball like that against Louisville that we thought was out," Lemonis said of Miller, who missed almost a full month this season with a foot injury. "He's playing well."

Lloyd allowed a leadoff walk in the Maryland ninth but got the next three Terps to end it.

Friday's forecast prompted a game time change with a first pitch set for 1 p.m., and Saturday's series finale is currently scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

"I think there's a little bit of pressure off," Lemonis said of having clinched a league tournament berth. "… but we're fighting for RPI, for resume, for seeding. Seeding matters. All we can control is our games."