Lucky sevens for IU?

Sunday, April 28

Bloomington, Ind.

12:05 p.m.

Indiana University

30-14, 0

Minnesota

18-22, 0

Minnesota

Indiana

4/28/2019 7:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It's the sort of situation Mickey Mantle might like.

Indiana scored seven runs Sunday, plenty for a 7-1 win over Minnesota.

The result marked the seventh straight series win for IU.

And the Hoosiers now play seven straight road games – key three-game conference sets at Illinois and league leader Michigan before a May 14 matchup with … No. 7-ranked Louisville.

Lucky number seven?

"Yeah, thanks for jinxing us," IU coach Jeff Mercer quipped when the topic arose post-game Sunday.

Luck, Mercer noted, probably doesn't have much to do with his No. 25-ranked Hoosiers having winning 23 of their past 29 games, or their consistently winning series to now sit just a half-game out of first place in the league.

"We've talked about it from the very beginning," Mercer said. "If you find a way to win each series, you're going to have a chance to win a Big Ten championship. You just keep going.

"What we have to do the next several weekends is what we did recovering this weekend."

Recovering not just from Friday's 7-3 loss but Saturday's 6-1 deficit against the defending Big Ten champs.

The momentum generated by Matt Lloyd's three-run, ninth-inning homer that capped Saturday's 7-6 comeback win seemed to carry over into Sunday, when the Hoosiers took command early and never relinquished it.

Cole Barr ripped a 2-RBI double down the left field line with one down in the first, after walks to Drew Ashley and Matt Gorski and an error had loaded the bases. Scotty Bradley, who reached on the error, scored on a fielder's choice to cap a three-run inning.

Bradley also figured, somewhat strangely, during IU's two-run second.

He hit a grounder to first with the bases loaded. Gopher first sacker Cole McDevitt, while looking to turn a double-play, overthrew second, allowing two runs to score.

The first-base umpire then appeared to award Bradley second base, and Bradley trotted toward the bag, but the ball was ruled still 'live' and Bradley was eventually tagged out in a rundown.

"First and third, ground ball to the first baseman, he sails (the throw) into the outfield," Bradley recalled. "So, running down the line, see that the throw goes over the shortstop's head, take a step, hit first base, trying to round it hard because I'm going to head to second. Immediately ran into the pitcher, made full contact with him.

"At that point I hear the first base umpire scream out 'Obstruction! Obstruction!' So at that point, I kind of slowed down and started jogging to second base because the obstruction call was made. I see Matty Lloyd diving into third base. All of a sudden, the next thing I know, I'm in the middle of a pickle."

It was ruled that Bradley didn't make sufficient progress toward second to be awarded the base, regardless of the obstruction call, with the ball still in play.

IU starter Andrew Saalfrank got into a bit of a pickle in the Minnesota third, but fanned Easton Bertrand with men on first and second to end the inning.

The Gophers (18-22 overall, 8-7 Big Ten) did manage to get on the board in the fourth, however. Eli Wilson worked a 1-out walk, took second on a groundout and scored on Jack Wassel's 2-out double to left.

Indiana (30-14, 11-4) responded right away.

Gorski lined a 1-out single to left, then took third on Lloyd's single to center, and scored on Bradley's single to right that bumped IU's cushion back to five runs.

Minnesota mounted a threat in the sixth. Wilson worked a leadoff walk and McDevitt lined a single to right with none out. Before singling, McDevitt lifted a pop-up in foul territory that found
the turf as Bradley's head found a fence post while trying to make the catch.

"Yeah, really interesting day for me," Bradley said later, managing a grin. "I think I just wanted a little more TV time (on the ESPN-U national telecast.) "… I was upset I couldn't make the catch."

Bradley thanked his teammates for "picking me up right there." Hoosier shortstop Justin Walker flashed some leather for a fine double-play. Connor Manous, coming on in relief after a very solid Saalfrank start, then ended the frame with a strikeout.

Saalfrank (6-1) struck out six in 5 2/3 innings. Manous delivered a hitless 2 2/3 innings and Tommy Sommer (who wore an IU cape in the dugout most of the afternoon) came on to get the final two outs in the ninth.

Indiana forged the final margin in the seventh as Bradley belted a leadoff double to right for his second hit of the day and scored on Elijah Dunham's single.

The Hoosiers, who entered play as the nation's leader in home runs, didn't need any round-trippers Sunday.

"Home runs really do come by accident," Bradley said. "All we're trying to do is just hit balls hard to the big part of the field. If they go, they go, but that's not something we're intending to do.

"So today it was nice blend of offense, us being able to string some things together, and obviously capitalizing on a few mistakes of theirs, as well. That's a really good ballclub Minnesota has. Just really big for us to come out here and get a series win … I think it shows a lot resilience on our part, coming back to take the series with two straight wins."

And the Hoosiers still haven't lost a series since a late February visit to Tennessee.

"You look during that time and we've lost at least three times on a Friday and responded to go win a series," Mercer said. "You just have to be able to continue to compete … you just have to continue and go and go and go. You can't worry about what happened.

"We couldn't worry about what happened Friday. We couldn't worry about what happened in the first five or six innings (Saturday). You just got to keep going. You come out today and you could kind of feel that the energy was back, the confidence was back."

Keeping that series streak alive will require confidence, good play and perhaps good fortune, even for an obviously capable club. First comes next weekend's series at fifth-place Illinois (28-14, 8-7) and a visit the following weekend to Michigan (31-11, 11-3).

It's the sort of challenge any coach would relish down a season's stretch run. Mercer's team has a chance to fight for a conference title and, potentially, for NCAA tournament positioning.

"From (this) point forward, you look at the ability to respond from that and recover from (adversity)," Mercer said. "We've continued to do those things, whether it be injuries or losses early.
We've continued to show that we have that ability.

"We have to become that. That has to become our identity forevermore. As long as I'm associated with this program, as long as they'll have me, that has to be our identity from this year and moving forward. We just (have) responded in a terrific way – in that way that we looked inward for the solution and not outward for the solution."