IU @ Cincinnati: IU hangs on for an 11-9 win...

[ptrich]

It will be RHP Brayden Risedorph on the mound for IU with an ERA of 5.06 in 21.1 IP. Riley Langerman will be behind the plate and Mathison will again be the DH. The only difference in the batting order is Langerman in the No. 9 spot with the rest of the order the same as yesterday against UofL.

The Bearcats will have LHP Tommy O'Connor on the mound with an ERA of 4.40 in 14.1 IP. O'Connor has 20 walks in his 14.1 IP, so he does have some control problems. O'Connor, a Hoosier, played his high school ball at Mooresville, and he lists Martinsville as his hometown.

The weather at game time is around 82 degrees and clear with the wind SSW at 12 mph.

1st Inning:

T1st:

Glasser led off with a single to start the game. Whalen K'd looking for the first out.

Glasser stole 2nd with Taylor at the plate. Taylor grounded out for the 2nd out with Glasser taking 3rd.

Tibbitts reached on an infield hit with Glasser scoring.

Mathison walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.

Tibbitts and Mathison moved to 2nd and 3rd on a WP. Pyne grounded out to retire the side.

B1st:

Cincy has no one in the lineup hitting over .300 and their top hitter in the No. 4 spot has an average of .290.

Risedorph got off to a good start by putting them down in order.

IU 1 UC 0

 

[ptrich]

2nd Inning:

T2nd:

It's the bottom of the order up for IU with Jessee leading off.

Jessee walked to lead off.

Cerny then clubbed a two-run homer to LF to give IU a 3-0 lead.

Langerman then walked to put a runner on with no outs and the top of the order.

Glasser reached on a FC with Langerman out at 2nd for the first out.

Whalen then walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd and still one out and O'Connor already has 4 BBs on the game.

Taylor then walked on five pitches to load the bases with one out and that chased the Cincy starter.

The Bearcats brought in RHP Nick McClanahan with an ERA of 6.75 in 6.2 IP to face Tibbitts.

Tibbitts hit a SF to score Glasser with runners now on the corners with two outs and Mathison up.

Mathison singled to score Whalen and there were still runners on the corners with two outs.

Pyne singled to score Taylor to make it 6-0 and like with the Louisville game, IU is scoring on a bunch of singles outside of the homer by Cerny. Runners are on 1st and 2nd with two outs with Jessee up.

Jessee K'd swinging to end a highly productive inning for IU.

B2nd:

It's the 4 thru 6 hitters up for Cincy.

Risedorph ended the inning with a K, single, and two Ks.

IU 6 UC 0

 

[ptrich]

3rd Inning:

T3rd:

It's the 8, 9 and 1 hitters up for IU, and Cerny and Langerman both K'd to start the inning and we were at the top of the order.

Glasser singled to put a man on with two outs.

Whalen doubled to right center to score Glasser with two outs. Taylor flied out to the warning track to retire the side.

B3rd:

It's the 8, 9 and 1 hitters up and Risedorph was really rolling and put them down in order which included two more Ks.

IU 7 UC 0

 

[ptrich]

4th Inning:

T4th:

It's the 4 thru 6 hitters up for IU with Tibbitts leading off. Cincy goes to the bullpen to bring in RHP Max Bergmann with an ERA of 12.21 in 14 IP.

Bergmann hit Tibbitts to put the leadoff hitter on. Mathison then K'd for the first out. Pyne popped out and Jessee grounded out to retire the side.

B4th:

It's the 3-5 hitters up for the Bearcats. Risedorph got the leadoff hitter on a pop up to 1B. He then gave up a double to put a runner in scoring position with one out.

A flyout moved the runner to 3rd with two outs. Risedorph's 7th K of the game ended the inning with the runner stranded at 3rd.

IU 7 UC 0

 

[ptrich]

5th Inning:

T5th:

It's the 8 thru 1 hitters up for IU. Cerny and Langerman both K'd to start the inning.

Glasser walked and Whalen singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs, Taylor the grounded out to retire the side.

B5th:

It's the 6 thru 8 hitters up for Cincy and IU brought in LHP Ty Bothwell with an ERA of 6.97 in 10.1 IP. Risedorph had an excellent outing. It's Bothwell first appearance since April 4th.

Bothwell walked the first batter faced and Mercer immediately pulled him and brought in RHP Wes Burton with an ERA of 0.00 in 9.1 IP.

With runner on 1st, Burton K'd the first batter faced for an out. A WP moved the runner to 2nd.

A walk put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.

A single scored Cincy's first run. Burton then got a K for the 2nd out, but walked the next batter to load the bases and Mercer goes to the bullpen to bring in RHP Adrian Vega with an ERA of 5.91 in 10.2 IP.

Vega gave up a double to clear the bases and make it 7-4 IU.

A K ended the inning where IU used three pitchers after pulling Risedorph after the 4th.

IU 7 UC 4

 

[ptrich]

6th Inning:

T6th:

IU was cruising until that 5th inning and they needed to get things going again with IU having their 4-6 hitters up. IU went down in order to retire the side.

B6th:

Cincy has their 5 thru 7 hitters up with Vega back out on the mound.

Vega got the first to hitters on Ks, but then gave up a double, but ended the inning with another K.

IU 7 UC 4

 

[ptrich]

7th Inning:

T7th:

Jessee singled to lead off. Cerny doubled to score Jessee.. Goforth pinch hitting for Serruto walked.

UC goes to the bullpen. Glasser was hit by a pitch and Whalen K'd. Cerny was caught off 3rd for the 2nd out.

Taylor clubbed a three-run homer to score both Glasser and Goforth to give IU an 11-4 lead.

Tibbitts singled, but Mathison then flied out to retire the side, and IU regained full control of this game.

B7th:

Vega was back out there for IU and he faced the 9 thru 2 hitters with Serruto behind the plate now.

Vega K'd the lead off hitter and then got a lineout for the 2nd out.

An infield single put a runner on with two outs. Vega then got a K to end the inning.

IU 11 UC 4

 

[ptrich]

8th Inning:

T8th:

Cincy went to the bullpen again to face the 6 thru 8 hitters for IU. The new pitcher was RHP Dillon Brosky with an ERA of 6.43 in 28 IP.

Pyne K'd and Jessee walked. Cerny hit a ball to the wall which was caught against the wall and Jessee went too far off base and was doubled up to retire the side.

B8th:

Vega was back out there for IU facing the 4 thru 6 hitters. Vega got the leadoff batter on a GO.

The next batter reached on an error by Pyne who dropped a pop up with the runner going for 2nd and was tagged out for two outs and no one on.

A GO ended the inning.

IU 11 UC 4

 

[TomEric4756]

11-9 Final … and another road win.

 

[ptrich]

9th Inning:

T9th:

It's the 9 thru 2 hitters up with Serruto leading off. IU went down in order.

B9th:

Vega is back out there to close it out and he faced the bottom of the order.

The leadoff hitter reached on an infield hit. Vega then K'd the next batter for the first out.

The runner on 1st stole 2nd with one out.

A single through the left side of the infield put runners on the corners with one out.

Another single scored a run with runners still on the corners and one out.

Vega then walked a batter to load them with one out and after pitching well after the 5th inning, he is struggling to close the game out.

Mercer pulled Vega and brought in RHP Luke Hayden with an ERA of 10.50 in 12 IP, and he faced the No. 3 hitter who was 2 for 4 on the game so far. Hayden has had control problems so hopefully that will not be the case in this situation. Coach Mercer has said the Hayden has some of the best stuff on the pitching staff, but his control issues hold him down.

Hayden gave up a single on the very first pitch to score two runs for the Bearcats and make it 11-7.

With runners on the corners and one out, a WP moved the runner to 2nd.

Hayden then got a GO to get the runner at first for two outs and runners still at 2nd and 3rd.

Hayden then walked a batter to load the bases, and he then gave up a single to score two runs to make it 11-9.

A flyout to CF finally ended the game for a win that shouldn't have been this close.

IU 11 UC 9

 

[ptrich]

11-9 Final … and another road win.

Yes, a win is a win and with the big lead, they got a chance to see the back of the bullpen again with very mixed results. We got through this game without using any pitchers that we might want to use in the weekend series, so there's that.

 

[Dude Where Is My Car]

Well Mercer tried to give that away. He managed eight brilliant innings then in the ninth inning went back to his old ways. How in the freaking world when you need to close a game do you leave Vega out there so long and then try to shut the door with Luke Hayden who has been terrible all season?

Thank god the team was up enough that they held on. That statistically is the worst offense IU will face all year and until the ninth I have no complaints at all. The way that ninth was managed though is exactly why I still question if Mercer can win big here and coach us through a big moment. Thankfully baseball uses RPI which doesn't care how you win because in basketball the NET was docking you for that.

Mercer did everything he could after managing the 17 best innings of his career the last two days to undue it in that ninth but thankfully the team was up enough. That won't usually be the case and once we get into a big game where it is closer if I see him have a slow hook on Vega or trot a struggling pitcher like Hayden out there I might lose my mind and I hope all of you do as well. We are living on the edge with a lot of Mercer's decisions unnecessarily and at some point it will bite us in the Big Ten and NCAA Tourney.

Will enjoy this winning as long as I can and hope team can continue to get away with this bad managing the rest of the year.

 

[82IU]

Still scratching my head on this one. Vega runs out of steam with one out. Hayden was pitching batting practice. Why wouldn't you jerk him and bring in Kraft for the final out. It's not like it would keep him from pitching this weekend by using him for one or two batters. Thankfully it ended in the Hoosiers favor! I don't know how close that last out came to going out for a HR but that was too much excitement for this old man! A Homerun would have been a game winner for them. Arghh!
Maybe Hayden was trying to pad his stats by going for the Save!! LOL. A win is a win!
Go Hoosiers!!
82

 

[ptrich]

Still scratching my head on this one. Vega runs out of steam with one out. Hayden was pitching batting practice. Why wouldn't you jerk him and bring in Kraft for the final out. It's not like it would keep him from pitching this weekend by using him for one or two batters. Thankfully it ended in the Hoosiers favor! I don't know how close that last out came to going out for a HR but that was too much excitement for this old man! A Homerun would have been a game winner for them. Arghh!
Maybe Hayden was trying to pad his stats by going for the Save!! LOL. A win is a win!
Go Hoosiers!!
82

They said that Whalen had to come in for that final out so it wasn't close to going out without seeing it. Things still got a little too dicey for me in that last inning, and with just two outs needed, I think that Mercer could have gone with one of our more reliable relievers since they would still be available for the weekend given the number of batters they had to get. I'm certainly not the coach, but that would have been what I would have done. It's still a win and that will be what it will look like at the end of the season without the details, so I'll take it.

 

[TomEric4756]

Yes, a win is a win and with the big lead, they got a chance to see the back of the bullpen again with very mixed results. We got through this game without using any pitchers that we might want to use in the weekend series, so there's that.

Improving to 8-9 on the road fits the win big at home and 500 on the road model.

 

[Dude Where Is My Car]

Still scratching my head on this one. Vega runs out of steam with one out. Hayden was pitching batting practice. Why wouldn't you jerk him and bring in Kraft for the final out. It's not like it would keep him from pitching this weekend by using him for one or two batters. Thankfully it ended in the Hoosiers favor! I don't know how close that last out came to going out for a HR but that was too much excitement for this old man! A Homerun would have been a game winner for them. Arghh!
Maybe Hayden was trying to pad his stats by going for the Save!! LOL. A win is a win!
Go Hoosiers!!
82

I will tell you why Mercer didn't bring in Kraft and why he used Hayden. Because he is not a very good manager as I keep trying to tell you guys. This team has all the talent in the world and can win in spite of him but at some point he is going to need to manage his way through a big moment in the postseason and it is going to end very badly at some point I am afraid.

Hoping for the best but fearing the worst once we play really good teams in the postseason. The one bright spot is we are talking about IU being in the NCAA's again so that is better at least. I will say that.

 

[Dude Where Is My Car]

They said that Whalen had to come in for that final out so it wasn't close to going out without seeing it, but things got a little too dicey for me in that last inning, and with just two outs needed, I think that Mercer could have gone with one of our more reliable relievers since they would still be available for the weekend given the number of batters they had to get. I'm certainly not the coach, but that would have been what I would have done. It's still a win and that will be what it will look like at the end of the season without the details, so I'll take it.

No kidding but Mercer is not smart enough to do that. Wait until the postseason when he has to make a big lineup or pitching decision like this and it goes haywire. I am hoping for the best but fearing the worst given how he has made these decisions so far in his career.

 

[ptrich]

No kidding but Mercer is not smart enough to do that. Wait until the postseason when he has to make a big lineup or pitching decision like this and it goes haywire. I am hoping for the best but fearing the worst given how he has made these decisions so far in his career.

We would not be using the back of the bullpen during the postseason, at least not in close games. Sure, I thought he might have gone with a more reliable bullpen pitcher for the last couple outs, and sticking with Hayden was a gamble, but we got through it. There's not a coach out there that hasn't had decisions questioned during certain situations during the season, so while I thought he probably should have gone with another reliever, I'm not going to get too excited over it and I believe IU has tied the number of wins they had in all of last season. Postseason games are another matter and decisions made in a game like this would certainly be looked at differently in those games.

 

[82IU]

It looks like rain most of the day Friday. My bet is we will have another double header on Saturday against Ohio.
82

 

[Dude Where Is My Car]

We would not be using the back of the bullpen during the postseason, at least not in close games. Sure, I thought he might have gone with a more reliable bullpen pitcher for the last couple outs, and sticking with Hayden was a gamble, but we got through it. There's not a coach out there that hasn't had decisions questioned during certain situations during the season, so while I thought he probably should have gone with another reliever, I'm not going to get too excited over it and I believe IU has tied the number of wins they had in all of last season. Postseason games are another matter and decisions made in a game like this would certainly be looked at differently in those games.

I hope you are right. I would not put it past Mercer to do something unprecedented and throw a bad reliever in a close game in the postseason. He already has to piece this rotation together in an unorthodox manner a couple innings at a time since he refuses to get pitchers who can be successful in starter innings.

 

[Bucket Getter]

The final out was basically just a pop up to Whalen. But dang.

 

[ptrich]

IU had enough fire power to overcome inconsistent pitching in this game. Risedorph pitched a really good game for four innings, but when Mercer went to the bullpen the pitching really got really shaky at times with all of Cincy's runs scored in two innings. IU was 11 for 33 for a team average of .333 while Cincy was 11 for 38 for .289 with most of those hits coming in the 5th and 9th inning. It was a Q4 win so it didn't have much impact on the resume. IU had four players with a multi-hit game:

Cerny was 2 for 5 with a double and homer and he had 3 RBIs and he scored a run.
Tibbitts was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.
Glasser was 2 for 4 with 4 runs scored.
Whalen was 2 for 5 with a double and a RBI and a run scored.
Taylor was 1 for 4 and had a 3-run homer in front of his hometown fans.

IU had one error which didn't affect the scoring while Cincy had no errors.

Pitching was really good until we went to the bullpen in the 5th, and Risedorph started the game and didn't give up a run over 4 IP and he got the win. Vega came into the 5th with two outs and he gave up a double that cleared the bases before he got the final out and those runs were not charged to him. He then pitched three scoreless innings from the 6th thru the 8th before he ran into trouble in the 9th. Here are the pitching numbers.

Risedorph: 4 IP, 2 hits with one being a double, no runs, 7 Ks, and no BBs.
Bothwell: 0.0 IP, no hits (he faced just one batter), 1 run which was earned, and 1 BB.
Burton: 0.2 IP, 1 hit, 3 runs all earned, 2 Ks, 2 BBs, and 1 WP.
Vega: 3.2 IP, 6 hits to include two doubles, 4 runs all earned, 7 Ks, and 1 BB.
Hayden: 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 1 run which was earned, no Ks, 1 BB, and 1 WP.

 

[ptrich]

Here's the link to the box score:

Baseball vs Cincinnati on 4/19/2023 - Box Score - Indiana University Athletics

The official box score of Baseball vs Cincinnati on 4/19/2023

iuhoosiers.com

Here's the link to the recap:

Hoosiers Find a Way to Win at Cincinnati - Indiana University Athletics

CINCINNATI – It got a little tense in the ninth inning, but a flyball to center field ended an 11-9 victory for the Indiana baseball program at Cincinnati ...

iuhoosiers.com

 

[ptrich]

Even though the Cincy win was a Q4 game it didn't impact IU's RPI with IU ending the day at 14. There is only one game still being played right now nationally, and a bad Arizona team (6-12 in Pac 12) is beating an Arizona State team 19-0 in the 7th, and ASU has a RPI of 27 so that game won't impact IU's present RPI.

In a go figure game, I don't know how Michigan St. approached their midweek game with Purdue Ft Wayne (10-28), but PFW beat MSU 3-2 in East Lansing and PFW has a RPI of 255. Not good for the resume.

 

[rcaulfie]

I still think he is finding out what guys he can count on, and who he can't. Last night just showed who he can't count on for much, and we still pull it out and get the win. And if you look at the Louisville game, he used guys he can count on. So I assume we will not see some of these guys much at all when it comes to the postseason. But a win is a win and at 27-11, with an RPI of 14.....much better than expected going into the season, especially after last year where we were below .500 overall and in the Big Ten.

 

[ptrich]

I still think he is finding out what guys he can count on, and who he can't. Last night just showed who he can't count on for much, and we still pull it out and get the win. And if you look at the Louisville game, he used guys he can count on. So I assume we will not see some of these guys much at all when it comes to the postseason. But a win is a win and at 27-11, with an RPI of 14.....much better than expected going into the season, especially after last year where we were below .500 overall and in the Big Ten.

Yes. They obviously work with these pitchers and need to see them in live game situations, and that is usually what these midweek games are all about when it comes to the pitching side of things. The Louisville game was important if we don't win the B1G Tourney. The Cincy game was obviously not as important, but a loss to a Q4 team wouldn't help the resume any, so I wished he had used one of our more reliable relievers when Vega got off to that rough start to the 9th. Hayden's control problems have carried over from last season, and he gave up two hits, a walk, and a WP in getting the two outs needed to win the game. We won the game so that is all that matters though.

Added: If Hayden could solve his control issues, he would probably be one of our top pitchers.