Indiana secures the series
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana used a dominating seventh inning to take control of Sunday's 8-5 win vs. Long Beach State, a victory that gave IU its fifth series win of the season.
Long Beach State scored two runs in the first inning and added solo scores in the third, fifth and seventh frames. Every time the Dirtbags added one run, the Hoosiers bested their effort, including the seventh stanza, when IU tallied four runs to take the lead for good.
Trailing 5-4 thanks to a LBSU solo home run, IU responded with timely hitting and took advantage of a Dirtbag error on the flipside of the frame.
Casey Rodrigue, who clocked all three of his hits for extra bases, recorded his second double in the seventh to tie the game, scoring
Austin Cangelosi, who reached on a leadoff error.
Brad Hartong,
Scott Donley and
Logan Sowers added singles, including runs batted in by Hartong and Sowers to increase the advantage to 7-5. Sowers scored on a wild pitch for the exclamation point and the final score of 8-5.
IU's first three batters in the rotation -- Rodrigue,
Nick Ramos and Hartong -- all recorded a pair of RBI.
Indiana tallied eight strikeouts, including four from starting LHP
Caleb Baragar and three from RHP
Ryan Halstead, who earned his ninth save of the season. RHP
Thomas Belcher picked up the win, tossing 2.1 innings, giving up just one hit.
Long Beach State raced out to a lead for the third straight game in the series, this time scoring three runs before the Hoosiers could get on the board, including a pair on a first-inning home run.
The Dirtbags tagged on another run in the top of the third on a double and an RBI single, until IU began chipping away in the bottom of the frame.
Facing two outs, Rodrigue's HBP put the senior on base in the bottom of the third. Back-to-back RBIs from
Nick Ramos (double) and Hartong (single) pulled the Hoosiers within one (3-2).
LBSU scored on a solo home run in the fifth inning, but the Hoosiers would again respond with two more runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.
Rodrigue and Ramos were once again in the middle of the action, with Rodrigue tripling to score Cangelosi and Ramos blasting a ball to left field for the tying sacrifice fly, setting up IU's big seventh inning.
UP NEXT
Indiana travels to Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State for the second time this season in its final non-conference game of 2015. The Hoosiers defeated the Cardinals, 16-1, on March 8 in Port Charlotte, Fla. Tuesday's game is set for 3 p.m. ET.
GAME NOTES
••• Indiana has won five of its last six to improve to 28-20 overall and 19-10 in non-conference play.
••• Indiana is now 52-15 (.776) at Bart Kaufman Field since opening in 2013.
••• Sunday's contest marked just the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools. The series is tied at three.
••• Indiana has limited its error total to one or less 32 times this season.
•••
Nick Ramos and
Casey Rodrigue each extended their hit streaks to eight games, tied for IU's longest current spurt.
••• For the third time in the last eight games, Rodrigue recorded three hits, marking the seventh time he's done it this season and the 12th time he's done it in his career.
••• Rodrigue owns a double in four of the last five games and in five of the last eight games. With two doubles Sunday, Rodrigue's 14 doubles lead the Hoosiers.
••• Rodrigue also notched his team-best fourth triple in the fifth inning to pull IU within one (4-3).
••• Senior 1B
Scott Donley has a hit in 21 of the last 24 games and leads IU with 64.
••• Junior OF
Craig Dedelow has reached base in 11 consecutive games for IU's longest current streak.
••• Senior RHP
Ryan Halstead became the first pitcher in IU history to make 100 career appearances, extending his school record in saves to 32. His team-high nine saves in 2015 are tied for the second most in a single season. He owns that record as well with 11 in 2013 and also had nine in 2011.
Go Hoosiers!
Open link to access video and boxscore:
http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/051015aab.html
