No. 17 Indiana Sneaks by Rutgers, 7-6

Friday, February 23

Port Charlotte, Fla. - North Charlotte Regional Park Field #9

3 p.m.

Indiana University

4-1

Rutgers

1-3

Rutgers

Indiana

2/23/2018 7:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. – Indiana baseball (4-1) won its fourth-straight game on Friday afternoon and handed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights a 7-6 loss during the first game of the Snowbird Baseball Classic.

Junior Matt Lloyd picked up his first multi-hit game of the season off a three-hit effort, including a double and triple, in addition to a run scored. Freshman Elijah Dunham and junior Ryan Fineman each chipped in two hits apiece, with Fineman also driving in a run. Senior Luke Miller drove in a team-high two RBI, while junior Cade Bunnell, freshman Cole Barr and sophomore Jeremy Houston also provided run production for the Hoosiers. Junior Logan Kaletha was productive from Indiana's leadoff slot, scoring three times and picking up a hit and walk.

Junior Jonathan Stiever tossed 5.2 innings, mixing seven hits with six strikeouts and allowed three earned runs. Senior Brian Hobbie and sophomore Cal Krueger each tossed 1.2 innings in relief, as Krueger picked up his third win, all in consecutive games.

Indiana spun a leadoff walk into a first inning score following a double by Lloyd, who pushed Kaletha to third base before Miller scored him on an RBI groundout.

Rutgers landed four-straight on base to open the top of the second, but Stiever found three quick outs through a fielder's choice, pop up and strike out to leave three on and keep the game tied at 1-1. Singles by Fineman and senior Laren Eustace allowed Houston to drive in a run through a safety squeeze and gave Indiana back a 2-1 lead.

Indiana used two more runs in the third frame to up its lead to 4-1. A leadoff triple by Lloyd turned into a quick score off Miller's second RBI groundout of the day. Dunham singled before Fineman doubled down the line in left.

The Hoosiers and Scarlet Knights traded runs in the fourth inning, with a throwing error leading to Rutgers second run. Indiana used some two-out magic to answer in the bottom half. Back-to-back singles from Kaletha and Lloyd led to a throwing error on Millers' ball, which scored Kaletha for a 5-2 lead for Indiana.

Two runs in the sixth for the Scarlet Knights trimmed Indiana's lead to 5-4. A two-out walk and a single forced the Hoosiers to go to their bullpen. After a two-run single to right field, junior Brian Hobbie used three-straight pitches to get out of the inning with two left on base.

Indiana got a run back in the seventh inning and pushed its lead back to 6-4. Freshman Sam Crail got a one-out single though the right side and eventually scored on Rutgers second throwing error of the day on Barr's single.

Rutgers closed the gap and tied things up at six-all in the eighth inning. Krueger picked up two key strikeouts in the stanza after an RBI double by Nick Matera tied the game. Indiana turned a hit-by-pitch into the eventual game winner in the bottom the frame. Kaletha took a pitch off the shin for a leadoff base runner for the Hoosiers. Following a walk to Lloyd, Miller advanced both base runners on a groundout to the Rutgers' short stop. An intentional walk to senior Logan Sowers loaded the bases, but the Scarlet Knights couldn't find a force out and walked in the game-winning run on a 3-1 count to Bunnell.

Krueger retired the Scarlet Knights in order in the ninth.

Indiana next takes on the Boston College Eagles at noon on Saturday.