IU @ Illinois, Game 3: IU takes the series with a 16-3 win...

[ptrich]

IU didn't announce a starter for the last game until just before the game when they submitted their lineup.

IU is going with RHP Brooks Ey will start the game for IU with an ERA of 9.82 in 11 IP, and it will be his first start for IU this season.

Illinois will go with RHP Jack Wenninger with an ERA of 4.17 in 41 IP.

It's 78 degrees at game time and the wind out of the S at 10 mph. Rain chances pick up around the 7 p.m. (ET) timeframe.

With the start times to the games today being moved up, the BTN is showing the Michigan State spring football game right now and will probably join this game in progress at 6 p.m.

1st Inning:

T1st:

Glasser flied out, Whalen popped out, Taylor walked and Tibbitts grounded out to retire the side.

B1st:

Ey got off to a good start by putting them down in order, all on GOs.

IU 0 Illini 0

 

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2nd Inning:

T2nd:

It's the 5-7 hitters up with Mathison leading off. Mathison went down swinging on a full count as IU goes down in order to retire the side.

B2nd:

Ey faced the 4-6 hitters and Ey again put them down in order on two GOs and a flyout. The fact that Ey has gotten grounders on 5 of the first 6 batters faced is a good sign.

IU 0 Illini 0

 

[ptrich]

3rd Inning:

T3rd:

It's the 8, 9, and 1 hitters up for IU. Serruto walked to lead off.

Cerny who had been struggling at the plate in this series, got a big single to put runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs with the top of the order up.

Glasser singled to CF to load the bases with no outs and Whalen up.

Whalen grounded to the pitcher who forced the runner at the plate. The bases are stlll loaded with one out.

Taylor then clubbed a GS to LF to give IU a 4-0 lead with one out and the bases now empty.

After a controversial pitch that hit Tibbitts but was first ruled a foul, Mercer protested and they showed the bruise on Tibbitts arm, they reversed the call and gave Tibbitts first base. It was a painful injury with Tibbitts in some pain and he was bleeding, and there was a short delay while Tibbitts arm was treated by the trainer.

Mathison then singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Mathison and Cerny both went hitless in the first game today but they both have hits early on in this game.

Pyne singled to LF to score Tibbitts from 2nd and make it 5-0. IU has runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and IU has batted around in this inning.

Jesse popped out for the 2nd out with runners still at 1st and 2nd and Serruto up. Serruto lined out to SS to retire a highly productive inning for IU.

B3rd:

Ey faced the bottom of the order in this inning. Ey gave up a leadoff double to start the inning.

A single put runners on the corners with no outs, and after putting them down in order in the first two innings. Ey is off to a bad start in this inning and this is the bottom of the order doing the damage so far.

IU gave up a run to get a DP for two outs and no one on and that was probably the best thing that IU could hope for in this situation.

It was the top of the order up for Illinois. Ey got a K on a full count to end the inning.

IU 5 Illini 1

 

[ptrich]

4th Inning:

T4th:

It's the 9, 1 and 2 hitters up with Cerny leading off. Cerny hit a sharp grounder to the SS for the 1st out.

Glasser then hit a double to put a man in scoring position with one out and Whalen up.

A single by Whalen scored Glasser easily and IU got that run back, with a runner on 1st and one out, and that chased the starter.

The Illini went with RHP Jack Crowder with an ERA of 7.71 in 18.2 IP, with Taylor up for IU.

Taylor hit a high pop up for the 2nd out.

Tibbitts hit a high grounder that 3B had to wait for and Tibbitts beat it out for a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and Mathison up. Mathison K'd to retire the side with two runners left.

B4th:

Ey is back out there to face the 2 thru 4 hitters. Ey gives up a leadoff single and this is the 2nd straight inning that the leadoff hitter has reached. IU has Foley warming up in the bullpen.

Ey got a big K for the first out and the runner still at 1st. A routine fly ball resulted in the 2nd out with the runner still on 1st.

Ey got a routine grounder to force the runner at 2nd and Ey went through a dangerous part of the lineup giving up a harmless single. IU couldn't ask for a better start out of Ey.

IU 6 Ilini 1

 

[ptrich]

5th Inning:

T5th:

It's the 6 thru 8 hitters up for IU and Pyne grounded out to leadoff.

Jessee walked to put a runner on with one out.

Serruto hit the base of the wall in left CF to score Jessee from 1st to make it 7-1 IU.

Cerny got his second hit of the game to move Serruto to 3rd with runners on the corners with one out.

Glasser hit what looked like a routine fly ball that wind carried for a three-run homer to LF to make it 10-1 IU.

Whalen and Taylor then hit back-to-back singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.

Tibbitts was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out, and that chased the Illini pitcher.

Illinois brought in LHP Alex Vera with an ERA of 5.40 in 16.2 IP, and with Mathison up, you have to believe this move was made to make it a left/left matchup.

Mathison reached on a hard-hit ball to 3B that was charged as an error which made it 11-1 IU, and Mathison received credit for a RBI.

Pyne hit a two-RBI single to make it 13-1 IU.

Jessee reached on a FC with Pyne out at 2nd with runners on the corners with two outs.

Serruto flied out to end a 7-run inning for IU.

B5th:

It was the 6 thru 8 hitters for the Illini with Ey back out there. Ey put them down in order and he has qualifed for the win which will have been well deserved with it unlikely that the Illini will come back in this game.

IU 13 Illini 1

 

[ptrich]

6th Inning:

T6th:

Cerny led off with a homer to LF to make it 14-1 and after being in a slump, Cerny is 3 for 4 in the this game.

Glasser, Whalen and Taylor all grounded out to retire the side.

B6th:

Ey is back out there to face the top of the order for the Illini. The leadoff hitter reached on an infield hit.

A single just barely got through in infield to put runners on the corners with no outs. A ball hit hard to Pyne resulted in a DP with the runner on 3rd scoring with the bases empty and two outs. Another GO ended the inning with one run scoring.

IU 14 Illini 2

 

[ptrich]

7th Inning:

T7th:

It's the 4 thru 6 hitters up for IU and the Illini go to their bullpen and brought in RHP Julius Sanchez with an ERA of 9.12 in 24.1 IP. IU went down in order.

B7th:

It's the 4 thru 6 hitters up for the Illini and Ey day is done on an excellent outing. LHP Ben Seiler came in with an ERA of 6.45 in 22.1 IP.

The leadoff hitter Drake Wescott hit his 10th homer of the season, a solo shot to make it 14-3 and it was the first homer given up by Seiler this season.

Seiler then gave up a single before getting a K for the 1st out and the runners still at 1st.

Seiler then got a pop out and a force out at 2nd to end the inning.

IU 14 Illini 3

 

[ptrich]

8th Inning:

T8th:

It's the bottom of the order up for IU and Jessee led off flying out. Serruto K'd and Cerny reached on an infield hit. A force out at 2nd retired the side.

B8th:

Connor Foley came in for IU with a 5.11 ERA and he put them down in order to end the inning.

IU 14 Illini 3

 

[ptrich]

9th Inning:

T9th:

It's the 2 thru 4 hitters up for IU and Illinois went to the bullpen again and brought in RHP Logan Tabeling with an ERA of 10.50 in 6 IP.

Whalen walked to leadoff.

Taylor was having another huge game at the plate and he hit a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs.

A WP scored Whalen with Taylor taking 3rd and no outs.

Tibbitts grounded out to the pitcher, and Mathison reached on an infield hit to score Taylor.

Two FC outs retired the side with IU up 16-3.

B9th:

Foley is back out there to close it out and he faced the 3-5 hitters.

Foley walked the leadoff man on five pitches, but then got the next batter on a K.

Foley then walked another batter on five pitches. IU evidently doesn't want to give up any more runs despite the huge lead, and they go to the bullpen with two on and one out.

RHP Ethan Phillips came in for IU and he has an ERA of 3.09 in 11.2 IP, and he will face the No. 6 batter.

Phillips got a DP ball to end the game.

IU 16 Illini 3 (Final)

 

[82IU]

One thought I had about the 2nd game of the double header, once we got up big time, Mercer did not get his bench into the game. He did get Murrison and Colopy in late but I thought we would see some more subbing, but the starters stayed in. I know some of the guys are working through mini slumps like Cerny but the bench guys like Vecrumba, De Goti, Brenczewski, Langerman and Goforth have to be a little bummed not getting some action. I understand about not subbing the catcher maybe but Mercer had a great opportunity to sub today and get some guys some reps. He has done a good job of getting his pitchers worked in. I know it is hard keeping everyone happy and winning helps out tremendously in this regards. One question for the guys in the know, is Austin Bode and IF Brenczewski, being
redshirted?
Go Hoosiers!!
82

 

[ptrich]

IU was five outs away on Friday from having a weekend sweep, but anytime you can take a series on the road in the conference, it's a successful weekend. With IU having used their more dependable pitchers and looking at this game as a probable staff pitching game, I and probably others thought IU would have to score a lot of runs to win this game. We certainly got the runs, but no one saw the pitching performance of Ey coming, and probably Mercer was hoping to get three innings out of him. If we can continue to get performances like this going forward, Ey just may be the elusive third weekend starter. He probably will get the chance to show he's that guy during next weekend's non-conference series against the Ohio Bobcats.

Of the batting order to start the game, only Jessee failed to get a hit as IU hammered out 18 hits on the game to just 7 hits for the Illini. IU had six players with a multi-hit game.

Taylor continued his hot hitting and he was 3 for 5 with a double and GS homer for 4 RBIs and he scored 3 runs.
Cerny broke out of a slump with a big day going 4 for 5 with a RBI on a solo homer and he scored 3 runs.
Glasser was 3 for 6 with a double and homer and he had 3 RBIs and scored 3 runs.
Pyne was 2 for 6 with 3 RBIs.
Mathison was 2 for 6 with 2 RBIs.
Whalen was 2 for 5 with a RBI and he scored 3 runs.
Serruto was 1 for 4 with a double and 1 RBI while scoring a run.

IU had a good day on the fielding front with no errors in the DH while Illinois had two errors on the day with one in each game. IU had three DPs in the game, and with two DPs in the early game, they had five DPs on the day which is an area that IU has not excelled at up to this point.

Ey gave IU more innings than expected and was very effective on the day. Of the four pitchers used, only Seiler had an ineffective outing and even then, they did not have a big inning off him. Here are the pitching numbers.

Ey who got the win: 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs that were earned, 2 Ks and no BBs, and the rest of the slate was clean.
Seiler: 1.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run which was earned on a solo homer, 1 K and no BBs. The rest of his slate was clean.
Foley: 1.1 IP, no runs, 3 Ks, and 2 BBs. The rest of his slate was clean.
Phillips: 0.2 IP, he faced one batter and got a DP ball to end the game.

 

[ptrich]

Here's the link to the box score:

https://static.iuhoosiers.com/custompages/stats/bb/2023/IU36.pdf

Here's the recap of the DH.

Saturday Sweep Secures Series - Indiana University Athletics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Don't tell the Indiana baseball team that one of the toughest things to do is sweep a doubleheader. The Hoosiers grabbed both games of th...

iuhoosiers.com

 

[Orford]

Considering we have two midweek games Tuesday Louisville Wednesday cincy, ey performance with 6 innings is even more important way to go!

 

[Rockport Zebra]

Good job. Reporting ptrich.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Thank you! Caught the second half of game one traveling back from BHSN dh sweep. Just watched game 2. Really, really good day 4-0! Where’s everyone’s favorite raincloud (dude) on a sweep day?

 

[TomEric4756]

Bats seem to be picking up on the road, maybe it’s the weather.
IU May drop from 2nd place now, due to a non conference foe next weekend series.
IU had 6 runs at 6pm when BTN coverage started.

 

[muubell]

Thank you! Caught the second half of game one traveling back from BHSN dh sweep. Just watched game 2. Really, really good day 4-0! Where’s everyone’s favorite raincloud (dude) on a sweep day?

Do you mean the car-less jack-ass who said this? "will have zero chance to win more than once tomorrow"