Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Win Game in the Ninth
4/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Hoosiers Win Game in the Ninth
Boxscore
Eric Blakeley drove home the winning run with a sacrifice fly
in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the Hoosiers to a
6-5 win over Valparaiso.
Indiana (26-21) scored the game-winner without collecting a hit in the final inning. Jason Williams drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dan Haegele. Valparaiso then intentionally walked Eric Farley and Benji Clause drew a base on balls to load the bases for Blakeley. With the count 1-1 Blakeley sent a fly ball to centerfield that allowed Williams to score.
The win extended the Hoosiers home non-conference win streak to 16 straight. David Ferris picked up the win in relief to improve to a team-best 7-2 on the season.
The Hoosiers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out, two-run double by Joe Sadler. Sadler's bloop two-bagger drove home Blake St. Clair, who had walked, and Rich Berich who singled.
The lead grew to 3-0 when Vasilli Spanos cracked his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, to left field.
The Crusaders answered the bell in the fourth inning when they put a five-spot on the board to grab a 5-3 lead. They capatalized on three doubles and three singles to take the two-run lead.
Indiana got one run back in the fifth when it took advantage of a Valparaiso throwing error. Pinch-runner Tim McNab scored on the Crusader mistake to make the score 5-4.
The Hoosiers knotted the score at five in the seventh inning. Tim McNab led off with an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error and later scored on a two-out single by Williams.
Indiana will be action tomorrow at Sembower Field against Bellarmine at 3 p.m. The Hoosiers did announce they have canceled their two games this weekend at Winthrop.
