Indiana University Athletics
Good Knight, the Hoosiers have themselves a day
4/6/2019 10:56:00 PM | Baseball
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Coach Bob Knight returns to campus. Indiana wins.
Coincidence?
Regardless, Saturday's hard-earned 5-3, 3-2 double-header sweep of Penn State put IU (19-12 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) atop the league baseball standings.
And it meant even more to the host Hoosiers with the Hall of Fame hoops coach observing early-on from the Bart Kaufman Field press box.
"It makes it feel even better," IU coach Jeff Mercer said afterward, "to represent the Indiana University community, the athletic department and the program – and, honestly, with the toughness. Right? Because that's what his program was all about."
Mercer is in his first season mentoring Indiana baseball, but he knows about Knight, who exited Bloomington in 2000. Mercer's dad, Jeff, Sr., was an assistant baseball coach at IU in 1988-89 during Knight's storied 29-year basketball tenure.
So when Mercer learned Knight would attend Saturday, knowing that he needed to guard the news closely, the only person he told beforehand was family – Mercer, Sr.
"Because I grew up a half-hour up the road, right?" said Mercer, who was raised in the Bargersville area. "And in my grandparents' house, there were two things on the wall. There was crucifix and an autographed picture of Bobby Knight.
"I grew up watching the teams, when I was young, but mostly I grew up listening to both my grandparents – my grandfathers, and my dad – tell me stories about Indiana basketball. And the lore, and the history, and the intensity and the legacy that Coach Knight left here.
"And to have him come back to a baseball game, honestly, it brought tears to my eyes. The raw emotion is overwhelming. The standard that he set here, it's beyond me. You've got to understand. Everybody wants to play in the big leagues. I wanted to coach at Indiana. That's all I ever wanted.
"So to have Coach Knight come back today – to be the coach at Indiana and have Coach Knight come back for the first time – is more than anything in my wildest dreams I could've imagine. I'm so thankful, so appreciative that he was here today."
Mercer also was appreciative of Matt Lloyd, among several other Hoosiers.
Lloyd certainly had himself a day.
The senior from Okotoks, Alberta three-run homer opened the scoring in game one, then he supplied the lined two-RBI single that won game two and – after playing first base for eight innings in each – Lloyd came to the mound to earn the saves in both.
His tough-as-nails approach shined to the very end of Saturday's sweep. Taking the hill to close the second game, with IU nursing its one-run lead, Lloyd saw PSU leadoff man Kris Kremer reach on an error. Then Kremer took second on a passed ball, to attain scoring position with none out.
Lloyd's response? Three straight strikeouts to end it.
"We talk about creating a culture of toughness and competitiveness, no matter what's happening," Mercer said when asked about Lloyd. "If you don't get a strike call, if you don't have a slider, you're always accountable for the attitude you bring. Matt Lloyd is the embodiment of that.
"He didn't have a slider in either game. It's no mystery we're banged up in the (bull)pen. It's no mystery. And that dude takes the ball twice and has five RBIs today. He hits the three-run home run, he hits the game-winning hit there (in game two). Every pitch of every game, Matt Lloyd is the most accountable, competitive guy on the field on our team, on the other team, it doesn't matter where we're at."
Both sides showed competitiveness aplenty Saturday.
GAME ONE
After Lloyd's 10th homer of the season barely missed the prize car parked beyond the centerfield wall and gave IU it's 3-0 lead in the opener, Penn State (16-11 overall, 1-7 Big Ten) rallied to tie in the fifth with the bottom of its order.
The Nittany Lions got a leadoff bunt single from Fort Wayne Snider product Mac Hippenhammer, who took second on a throwing error. Singles by Justin Williams, Conlin Hughes and Jordan Bowersox ensued, followed by a Ryan Ford sacrifice fly that made it 3-3.
The score stayed knotted the bottom of the eighth.
That's when back-to-back doubles from Elijah Dunham and Cole Barr put the Hoosiers back ahead. Dunham missed a homer by about 3 feet off the leftfield wall, but took second easily and scored as Barr ripped his double up the left-center gap.
Then an opposite-field ground-rule double to left by Scotty Bradley made it 5-3 and the stage was set for Lloyd to close the ninth, which he summarily did after a leadoff walk. The
Hoosiers ended the game with a nifty 6-4-3 double play.
GAME TWO
Andrew Saalfrank was the story for much of the second game.
The junior lefty saw a leadoff walk turn into a run in the first, then saw PSU's Gavin Homer live up to his surname in the third to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead, but by that time Saalfrank had otherwise hit an impressive stride.
Saalfrank had struck out the side in the second, then fanned three more hitters the fourth, and concluded with 13 Ks – just one off his career high, set in the March 17 win over Canisius – in seven impressive innings.
"You look at Sally's toughness," Mercer said. "Look at how far that guy's come. What a gritty performance. His stuff's electric early and he gives up three hits … a guy ambushes a 2-0 fastball and caps him out of there into the wind, and he (just) puts his foot down.
"He didn't have great fastball command. He was throwing the breaking ball. He's got some back tightness in the middle of that thing, and he comes and says, 'I'm fine. I got this.' He just slams the accelerator and competes his way through it."
Saalfrank did a great job in the seventh pitching around a leadoff double by Penn State's Jacob Padilla, who got to third on a groundout but stayed there as Saalfrank notched his 12th and 13th strikeouts of the game.
And by the time Saalfrank left, he and his team were ahead.
The Hoosiers got all the runs they'd need in the fifth. Wyatt Cross started the rally with a one-out single, followed by a Drew Ashley walk, a Matt Gorski RBI double to right-center and a lined Lloyd 2-RBI single to center. That gave Lloyd five RBI on the day.
IU sophomore Grant Sloan came on to pitch a scoreless eighth in relief of Saalfrank, though the Nittany Lions hit three balls hard.
"Then ol' mad dog Sloan comes in throwing absolute fuzz," Mercer said. "He just competes to the zone and says, 'Here it is boys. If you can hit 95, I tip my cap, but you're going to have to hit 95 in the middle of the plate.'
"As good as they are on the mound — and they're terrific on the mound — we were just as tough and competitive on the mound. We went pitch for pitch and competed our way through it."
And that obviously included Lloyd shutting the door, again, to close out game two.
Mercer felt his team emulated Knight's basketball teams Saturday.
"It was about toughness and competitiveness and never quitting," Mercer said. "Never die. And that's what we're becoming about. And that's what they were about. And I'm very proud that he got to see us – and not just our talent, because we have talented players – but it's who you are that matters. It's the person you are that matters.
"And that's what he preached. And that's what he taught. And that's what that program taught. And that's what we're going to be about, too. So I was very proud and very thankful that we could do it for him."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Coach Bob Knight returns to campus. Indiana wins.
Coincidence?
Regardless, Saturday's hard-earned 5-3, 3-2 double-header sweep of Penn State put IU (19-12 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) atop the league baseball standings.
And it meant even more to the host Hoosiers with the Hall of Fame hoops coach observing early-on from the Bart Kaufman Field press box.
"It makes it feel even better," IU coach Jeff Mercer said afterward, "to represent the Indiana University community, the athletic department and the program – and, honestly, with the toughness. Right? Because that's what his program was all about."
Mercer is in his first season mentoring Indiana baseball, but he knows about Knight, who exited Bloomington in 2000. Mercer's dad, Jeff, Sr., was an assistant baseball coach at IU in 1988-89 during Knight's storied 29-year basketball tenure.
So when Mercer learned Knight would attend Saturday, knowing that he needed to guard the news closely, the only person he told beforehand was family – Mercer, Sr.
"Because I grew up a half-hour up the road, right?" said Mercer, who was raised in the Bargersville area. "And in my grandparents' house, there were two things on the wall. There was crucifix and an autographed picture of Bobby Knight.
"I grew up watching the teams, when I was young, but mostly I grew up listening to both my grandparents – my grandfathers, and my dad – tell me stories about Indiana basketball. And the lore, and the history, and the intensity and the legacy that Coach Knight left here.
"And to have him come back to a baseball game, honestly, it brought tears to my eyes. The raw emotion is overwhelming. The standard that he set here, it's beyond me. You've got to understand. Everybody wants to play in the big leagues. I wanted to coach at Indiana. That's all I ever wanted.
"So to have Coach Knight come back today – to be the coach at Indiana and have Coach Knight come back for the first time – is more than anything in my wildest dreams I could've imagine. I'm so thankful, so appreciative that he was here today."
Mercer also was appreciative of Matt Lloyd, among several other Hoosiers.
Lloyd certainly had himself a day.
The senior from Okotoks, Alberta three-run homer opened the scoring in game one, then he supplied the lined two-RBI single that won game two and – after playing first base for eight innings in each – Lloyd came to the mound to earn the saves in both.
His tough-as-nails approach shined to the very end of Saturday's sweep. Taking the hill to close the second game, with IU nursing its one-run lead, Lloyd saw PSU leadoff man Kris Kremer reach on an error. Then Kremer took second on a passed ball, to attain scoring position with none out.
Lloyd's response? Three straight strikeouts to end it.
"We talk about creating a culture of toughness and competitiveness, no matter what's happening," Mercer said when asked about Lloyd. "If you don't get a strike call, if you don't have a slider, you're always accountable for the attitude you bring. Matt Lloyd is the embodiment of that.
"He didn't have a slider in either game. It's no mystery we're banged up in the (bull)pen. It's no mystery. And that dude takes the ball twice and has five RBIs today. He hits the three-run home run, he hits the game-winning hit there (in game two). Every pitch of every game, Matt Lloyd is the most accountable, competitive guy on the field on our team, on the other team, it doesn't matter where we're at."
Both sides showed competitiveness aplenty Saturday.
GAME ONE
After Lloyd's 10th homer of the season barely missed the prize car parked beyond the centerfield wall and gave IU it's 3-0 lead in the opener, Penn State (16-11 overall, 1-7 Big Ten) rallied to tie in the fifth with the bottom of its order.
The Nittany Lions got a leadoff bunt single from Fort Wayne Snider product Mac Hippenhammer, who took second on a throwing error. Singles by Justin Williams, Conlin Hughes and Jordan Bowersox ensued, followed by a Ryan Ford sacrifice fly that made it 3-3.
The score stayed knotted the bottom of the eighth.
That's when back-to-back doubles from Elijah Dunham and Cole Barr put the Hoosiers back ahead. Dunham missed a homer by about 3 feet off the leftfield wall, but took second easily and scored as Barr ripped his double up the left-center gap.
Then an opposite-field ground-rule double to left by Scotty Bradley made it 5-3 and the stage was set for Lloyd to close the ninth, which he summarily did after a leadoff walk. The
Hoosiers ended the game with a nifty 6-4-3 double play.
GAME TWO
Andrew Saalfrank was the story for much of the second game.
The junior lefty saw a leadoff walk turn into a run in the first, then saw PSU's Gavin Homer live up to his surname in the third to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead, but by that time Saalfrank had otherwise hit an impressive stride.
Saalfrank had struck out the side in the second, then fanned three more hitters the fourth, and concluded with 13 Ks – just one off his career high, set in the March 17 win over Canisius – in seven impressive innings.
"You look at Sally's toughness," Mercer said. "Look at how far that guy's come. What a gritty performance. His stuff's electric early and he gives up three hits … a guy ambushes a 2-0 fastball and caps him out of there into the wind, and he (just) puts his foot down.
"He didn't have great fastball command. He was throwing the breaking ball. He's got some back tightness in the middle of that thing, and he comes and says, 'I'm fine. I got this.' He just slams the accelerator and competes his way through it."
Saalfrank did a great job in the seventh pitching around a leadoff double by Penn State's Jacob Padilla, who got to third on a groundout but stayed there as Saalfrank notched his 12th and 13th strikeouts of the game.
And by the time Saalfrank left, he and his team were ahead.
The Hoosiers got all the runs they'd need in the fifth. Wyatt Cross started the rally with a one-out single, followed by a Drew Ashley walk, a Matt Gorski RBI double to right-center and a lined Lloyd 2-RBI single to center. That gave Lloyd five RBI on the day.
IU sophomore Grant Sloan came on to pitch a scoreless eighth in relief of Saalfrank, though the Nittany Lions hit three balls hard.
"Then ol' mad dog Sloan comes in throwing absolute fuzz," Mercer said. "He just competes to the zone and says, 'Here it is boys. If you can hit 95, I tip my cap, but you're going to have to hit 95 in the middle of the plate.'
"As good as they are on the mound — and they're terrific on the mound — we were just as tough and competitive on the mound. We went pitch for pitch and competed our way through it."
And that obviously included Lloyd shutting the door, again, to close out game two.
Mercer felt his team emulated Knight's basketball teams Saturday.
"It was about toughness and competitiveness and never quitting," Mercer said. "Never die. And that's what we're becoming about. And that's what they were about. And I'm very proud that he got to see us – and not just our talent, because we have talented players – but it's who you are that matters. It's the person you are that matters.
"And that's what he preached. And that's what he taught. And that's what that program taught. And that's what we're going to be about, too. So I was very proud and very thankful that we could do it for him."
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