No. 24 Indiana Falls to Illinois State in NCAA Tournament Opener

Friday, May 31

Louisville, Ky.

2 p.m.

Indiana University

36-22

Illinois State

35-24

Illinois State

Indiana

No. 24 Indiana Falls to Illinois State in NCAA Tournament Opener

5/31/2019 8:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a tough day for Indiana baseball.

The Hoosiers were within striking distance in Friday's NCAA regional opener, rallying from a 7-2 deficit to forge a 7-7 tie in the seventh before ultimately falling, 8-7.

"Illinois State obviously played a terrific game," IU coach Jeff Mercer said. "They did a really good job. They're really well-coached, tough offensively … they stayed really simple, especially with two strikes, and really punished mistakes, balls left over the play.

"They outplayed us and were terrific."

That adjective certainly applied to ISU junior lefty starter Brent Headrick.

"Credit to him, but I think a lot of it was just us getting ourselves out and having bad at-bats," IU junior Scotty Bradley said. "Having no approach and no mindset going into the box and flailing at the ball.

"Obviously, it bit us in the butt at the end."

Headrick finished with 14 punch-outs in his six innings of work. He allowed just one hit through his first five innings.

But that one hit was a two-run homer to right by Hoosier sophomore Elijah Dunham, coming after a two-out Matt Lloyd walk in the first, giving IU a quick 2-0 lead.

No other Hoosier would get a hit until Dunham struck again, lacing a single after another one-out Lloyd walk in the Indiana sixth. An ensuing Bradley infield single loaded the bases but the Hoosiers were unable to capitalize, still staring at a 7-2 deficit at the end of the frame.

If Hoosier hitters offered only meager resistance to Headrick. Redbird hitters, conversely, jumped on IU starter Pauly Milto.

"That's probably the best fastball-hitting team we've played against all year," Mercer said of the Redbirds. "Them and Indiana State, and they play in the same conference."

Milto did a fine job pitching out of trouble in the top of the first. John Rave lined a 2-strike pitch to left leading off the game for Illinois State, then Derek Parola reached on a back-spin bunt that spun away from Milto on the turf.

But Milto bore down with a strikeout looking and two groundouts.

Milto couldn't extricate himself in either the second or third, however, with the Redbirds posting four hits and a pair of runs in each frame.

Gunner Peterson led off the Illinois State second with a double to right, but was nailed at third on a Nick Zouras ensuing fielder's choice grounder to short.

ISU, undaunted, cut IU's lead to 2-1 on successive ground-ball singles by Jack Butler and Aidan Huggins, the 8-9 hitters, then tied the game on a bloop single to center by Parola (who would get five hits in as many at-bats before the Hoosiers finally got him out in the ninth).

Illinois State taking a 4-2 lead in the third was fueled by singles from Joe Aeilts, Joe Butler, Jake Butler and Aidan Hughes – but the Hoosiers hurt themselves by not keeping the double-play in order.

With men on first and second and none out, Peterson flew out deep to center, but the ensuing throw went to third (unsuccessfully) instead of second, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position.

Zouras' subsequent grounder to short could've been an inning-ending twin-killilng, but instead was a run-scoring fielder's choice. Hughes then blooped an RBI single to right to make it 4-2. One bad decision on one throw cost the Hoosiers two runs.

And a defensive play cost IU its star centerfielder during a three-run ISU sixth.

Jack Butler had a leadoff single, was sacrificed to second and scored on a Rave single. Parola then sent a looping liner to center that Matt Gorski seemed to catch with a dive, but the turf turned Gorski's mitt back awkwardly, dislodging the ball and injuring Gorski's wrist. An Aeilts single then capped the inning's scoring.

"Really tough," Bradley said about losing Gorski. "Matt's obviously one of the more talented guys we have. The kid busts his butt every single day and it's really tough to see him go down. But it's next man up."

Gorski's status moving forward was uncertain.

Headrick, who had struck out the side in the IU fifth, escaped the bases-loaded jam in the sixth and turned it over to the Redbird bullpen.

And the Hoosier offense finally found a gear.

The rally started innocuously enough, with a groundout to short. But what ensued were four walks, three singles and a hit-batsman to forge a tie.

Grant Richardson worked a one-out walk before Drew Ashley lined a single to center. Sam Crail, Gorski's replacement in the order, and Lloyd drew walks, the latter of which forced in a run.

Dunham's third hit of the game, a RBI liner to left, a RBI bases-loaded walk for Bradley and a single to the shortstop hole by Jeremy Houston got the Hoosiers within 7-6. Ryan Fineman was then hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 7-7 before a comebacker finally ended the rally.

The Hoosiers had come all the way back.

Only to see Illinois State immediately regain the lead.

Connor Manous came on to pitch the eighth for Indiana and was greeted by Parola's lined single to center. Parola was sacrificed to second and came home on Joe Aeilts' ringing double off the rightfield wall.

Tommy Sommer did a great job of pitching around Jack Butler's leadoff double in the eighth, finishing the frame with two strikeouts.

But the Hoosiers went quietly in their half of the eighth, on a pair of pop-outs before Lloyd took a called third strike.

Cole Barr, lined a one-out single to left in the ninth but the game then ended, on a pair of Hoosier strikeouts, Bradley swinging and Houston looking.

"As a collective group we need to pick it up," Bradley said, "because this season is on the line from every game out from this point, so we need to get it going."

"I'm not sure if there's a better word for this, but we acted like we panicked for about five innings," Mercer said. "You have to be emotionally stable in moments in that are heightened … but we tried to do way too much.

"We tried to take individual at-bats in a very team-oriented game and tried to overwhelm the game individually, and that's just not how it works. You have to be able to be emotionally stable and control what you can control from the beginning of the game. And certainly that rests on my shoulders, the inability for me to have them in a position mentally to be able to go out and do those things."

The Hoosiers play with their season on the line at 11 a.m. Saturday versus the loser of Friday's second game pitting Illinois-Chicago against the NCAA tournament's overall No. 7 seed, Louisville's host Cardinals.