Strong Pitching Leads Hoosiers to 3-2 Victory over Purdue

Saturday, April 9

Bloomington, Ind.

2:05 P.M.

Indiana University

16-13, 0

Purdue

4-23, 0

Purdue

Indiana

Strong Pitching Leads Hoosiers to 3-2 Victory over Purdue

4/9/2016 5:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana baseball (16-13, 3-2 Big Ten) clinched the series from the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday afternoon with a 3-2 victory at Bart Kaufman Field.

The Hoosiers' pitching staff took control of Purdue early and finished the contest with 10 combined strikeouts. Senior Caleb Baragar (2-1) cruised through the first four innings of his 5.1-inning work day. The Hoosiers' lefty retired the first 12 batters he faced and finished his outing with seven strikeouts. Sophomore B.J. Sabol tossed one and one-third scoreless innings and picked up his first win of the season. Junior Thomas Belcher tossed the final three innings for his third save of 2016.

Indiana was led offensively by sophomore Laren Eustace, who picked up two hits and drove in a run. Sophomore Luke Miller also picked up two hits and drove in a run, while Austin Cangelosi also logged an RBI in the winning effort.

Baragar labored through a 16-pitch at bat to open the game before registering his first of two punch outs in the frame. Indiana plated the game's first run in the bottom of the second. Freshman Ryan Fineman extended his hitting-streak to 10 games with a single past the diving shortstop. He came around to score on Cangelosi's sacrifice fly to the warning track in centerfield.

Baragar's defense helped pick up a 1-2-3 fourth, as Cangelosi went over the bullpen fence to pull in a foul ball. Cangelosi then came around to score Indiana's second run in the fifth inning following a leadoff single to right centerfield. Senior Brian Wilhite and junior Tony Butler followed by reaching safely to load the bases, but Eustace's sacrifice fly would result in the Hoosiers' lone run of the stanza.

Purdue evened the game in the top of the sixth with a one-out double that plated two runs. Sabol entered the game and inherited runners on the corners before a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. He went on to retired the next two batters, picking up a key strikeout to leave three on.

The Hoosiers answered with the go-ahead run in the bottom half. Sophomore Logan Sowers was given a free pass courtesy of a hit-by-pitch. Fineman pushed him up 90 feet with a sacrifice bunt and he took third on sophomore Alex Krupa's groundout, before Miller drove him in with a single back up the middle.

Indiana goes for the sweep tomorrow with a first pitch time scheduled for 3:02 p.m.

Game Notes: With the win today, the Hoosiers improved to 15-1 when leading after seven innings…With a single in the second inning, Ryan Fineman extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a career-high and a current team-high… Luke Miller's infield single marked his 22^nd game this season in which he has recorded a hit, tying him with Craig Dedelow for the team lead…In his past six starts, LHP Caleb Baragar has allowed 19 hits in 36.2 innings, striking out 37 and walking 10 while allowing just four earned runs… In his second straight game of relief, Thomas Belcher extended his scoreless streak to eight straight games… Today's in-state battle set the season-high attendance mark with 2,706 fans, the previous high was 2,431 against Indiana State on March 26.