Rutgers @ IU, Game 1: IU takes the opener, 8-3...

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Evidently, Foley is out for the series and Mercer said in his pregame interview that tonight would be a staff day on the mound with Keyster starting out. Tibbitts may be back for the Purdue series according to Coach Mercer. Stadler will be behind the plate with Sefcik the DH. Mathison, who Kd five times against Ball State, has been dropped to No. 9 in the batting order with Taylor leading off tonight. It's Taylor, Pyne, and Mitchell at the top of the order with Cerny, Brenczewski and Stadler in the middle of the order, and Oliver, Sefcik, and Mathison at the bottom of the order.

It's LHP Brandon Keyster on the mound for IU with an ERA of 4.97 in 12.2 IP and a WHIP of 0.87 with an OBA of .205.

LHP Justin Sinibaldi will be on the mound for Rutgers with an ERA of 2.55 in 67.0 IP and a WHIP 0.97 with an OBA of .211.

It's partly sunny and 70 degrees with the wind out of the SSE at 8 mph and gusts to 13 mph and the wind is blowing out to CF to LCF.

1st inning:

T1st:

On a routine play at 2B, the ball went off Oliver's glove for an error to start the game. Oliver had two errors against Ball State.

A flyout got the first out with the runner holding at 1st. Keyster got a K for the 2nd out with the runner on 1st stealing 2nd.

A flyout retired the side with the error to start the game not having an impact.

B1st:

Taylor flied out to lead off. Pyne walked on a full count to put a runner on with one out.

Mitchell Kd for the 2nd out with Pyne still at 2nd.

Cerny got the first hit of the game to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.

Brenczewski clubbed a three-run homer to LF to give IU a 3-0 lead against one of the best pitchers in the conference. It was just the 3rd homer given up on the season by Sinibaldi. Stadler grounded out into the shift to end the inning.

End of 1st: IU 3 Rutgers 0

 

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2nd inning:

T2nd:

Keyster faced the 5 thru 7 hitters and put them down in order.

B2nd:

It was the bottom of the order up for IU with Oliver leading off. They had Mathison in the No 9 spot pregame, but he is at the No. 8 spot and he Kd for the 2nd out. Sefcik popped up to 1B to end the inning.

End of 2nd: IU 3 Rutgers 0

 

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3rd inning:

T3rd:

Keyster faced the 8 thru 1 hitters. Keyster put them down in order, all on groundouts. Three full innings is the most that Keyster has pitched this season so far.

B3rd:

It was the top of the order up with Taylor leading off. Taylor flied out, Pyne and Mitchell grounded out as IU went down in order.

End of 3rd: IU 3 Rutgers 0

 

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4th inning:

T4th:

Keyster faced the 2 thru 4 hitters and he walked the leadoff hitter on a full count. Tonghini was warming up in the bullpen.

Keyster hit the next batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. IU has the fewest DPs in the B1G so far this season.

A ground rule double scored a run with runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. A single scored a run to make it 3-2 and the walk and hit batter had both scored and no outs, with runners on the corners.

RHP Julian Tonghini came in for Keyster with an ERA of 5.57 in 21.0 IP and a WHIP of 1.81.

Tonghini's first pitch was a WP with the runner holding at 3rd and the runner on 1st taking 2nd.

Tonghini then got a swinging K for the 1st out. Tonghini then hit a batter to load the bases with one out and it was the 2nd hit batter of the inning.

Tonghini then got another K for the 2nd out and then a groundout retired the side and IU was fortunate to still have a lead after that inning.

B4th:

It's the middle of the order up with Cerny leading off. Cerny flied out for the first out. Brenczewski Kd for the 2nd out. Stadler flied out and IU went down in order for the 3rd straight inning and Sinibaldi was dominating IU hitters right now after the shaky first inning.

End of 4th: IU 3 Rutgers 2

 

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5th inning:

T5th:

Tonghini was back out there and faced the top of the order. Tonghini Kd the side to put them down in order.

B5th:

It was the bottom of the order up with Oliver leading off. Sinibaldi was a 57 pitches to start the inning.

After putting IU down in order in three straight innings, Oliver led off with a triple to CF.

A WP by Sinibaldi scored Oliver to make it 4-2 and no outs.

Mathison was called out on a very close play at 1st and it came under review and the call was upheld as an out. Sefcik grounded out for the 2nd out and we were at the top of the order in Taylor.

Taylor lined out to 1B to end the inning.

End of 5th: IU 4 Rutgers 2

 

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6th inning:

T6th:

Tonghini faced the 4 thru 6 hitters, and Risedorph was warming up in the bullpen. The leadoff hitter reached on an infield hit. An attempted pickoff throw to 1st was off for an error on Tonghini and the runner reached 2nd.

A groundout got the first out with the runner taking 3rd and one out. Tonghini got a big K for the 2nd out with the runner still at 3rd.

A groundout got the 3rd out with the error not hurting the Hoosiers.

B6th:

It was the 2 thru 4 hitters up with Pyne leading off. Pyne flied out on a diving catch by the right fielder for the first out. Mitchell walked on a 3-1 count and Sinibaldi's PC is at 77.

Cerny Kd on a full count for the 2nd out.

Brenczewski singled to put runners at 1st and 2nd and two outs with Stadler up.

Stadler flied out to the warning track to end the inning.

End of 6th: IU 4 Rutgers 2

 

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7th inning:

T7th:

IU brought in RHP Brayden Risedorph with an ERA of 8.16 in 32 IP with a WHIP of 1.63 and he faced the 8 thru 1 hitters

A single went off Brenczewski glove to RF and the runner attempted to take 2nd and was thrown out by Mitchell for the first out.

A groundout got the 2nd out and we were at the top of the order. Another groundout retired the side.

B7th:

We were at the 7th inning stretch and IU had their bottom of the order up with Oliver leading off. Sinibaldi was back out there with a PC of 90 and this was probably his last inning.

Oliver grounded out to leadoff. Mathison walked on four pitches.

Sefcik, who had been struggling at the plate, clubbed a two-run homer to CF to make it 6-2 with one out and the the top of the order up in Taylor.

Taylor reached on a little dribbler down the 1B line for an infield single when Sinibaldi attempted to field it and he rolled his ankle or twisted his knee on the play and that was it for Sinibaldi with Rutgers going to the bullpen a batter or two earlier than they had probably planned.

RHP Jordan Falco came in with an ERA 3.90 in 30.0 IP with a WHIP of 1.30, and he faced Pyne with one out and Taylor at 1st.

Pyne was out on a ball that was hit just off the plate for the 2nd out with Taylor taking 2nd.

Mitchell clubbed a two-out, two-run homer to make it 8-2 with two outs and Cerny up. Cerny flied out to the warning track to end the inning.

End of 7th: IU 8 Rutgers 2

 

[TomEric4756]

Need to bring this one home. No crooked numbers for Rutgers in the 8th and 9th.

 

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8th inning:

T8th:

Risedorph was back out there and he faced the 2 thru 4 hitters and he got the leadoff hitter on the first pitch on a flyout. A single put a runner on with one out. A WP moved the runner to 2nd.

Another single put runners on the corners with one out. A FC got the runner at 2nd with a run scored and a runner at 1st and two outs.

A flyout retired the side with one run scored.

B8th:

It was the 5 thru 7 hitters up for IU and hopefully this would be their last at-bat in the game.

Brenczewski led off and he Kd for the first out. Stadler grounded out for the 2nd out. Oliver flied out as IU went down in order.

End of 8th: IU 8 Rutgers 3

 

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9th inning:

T9th:

Risedorph was back out there to close it out and he faced the bottom of the order, and he got the leadoff hitter on a shallow flyout. A grounder got the 2nd out. A single kept the game going for at least one more batter with the top of the order up.

The runner on 1st took 2nd on what was scored a defensive indifference, and he took 3rd on a WP.

A K ended the game.

Final: IU 8 Rutgers 3

 

[TomEric4756]

Let’s win this series tomorrow.

 

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If I had to pick a game that I thought IU was likely to lose in the series, it was this one with one of the top pitchers in the B1G on the mound for Rutgers and he had the conference's 2nd best ERA for starters at 2.55. Sinabaldi had given up just two homers all season long, but IU got to him for two homers and a triple. With IU going with bullpen pitching tonight, we got better than expected results against the B1G's top hitting team and three pitchers did a good job of holding them down.

IU and Rutgers both had 7 hits on the game with IU's obviously having more punch with their hits and they got to Sinibaldi for 7 earned runs in 6.1 IP. IU was 7 for 31 for a team average of .226, while Rutgers was 7 for 34 for an average of .206 (they were hitting .315 coming into the game.) IU had just one player with a multi-hit game with Brenczewski, the redshirt freshman, continuing his hot hitting. IU struck out just five times in the game.

Brenczewski - 2 for 4 with a three-run homer.

Mitchell - 1 for 3 with a two-run homer.

Sefcik - 1 for 3 with a two-run homer.

IU had two errors tonight which didn't affect the scoring, while Rutgers had no errors.

We couldn't have asked for a better performance with the bullpen pitchers used tonight, and they had just one inning where they had to pitch out of a jam and that was the 4th inning where it looked like Rutgers was going to tie the game and maybe take the lead. Tonghini came in to get two critical Ks to limit Rutgers to two runs in that inning after Rutgers had the bases loaded, and allowed IU to hold on to a one run lead. Two of Rutgers' three runs tonight were by a walk and a hit batter crossing the plate in that 4th. IU gave up just one walk, but they did hit two batters, and had three WPs.

Keyster - 3.0 IP, 2 hits to include a double and 2 earned runs, a K, a BB, and a hit batter.

Tonghini - 3.0 IP, 1 hit and no earned runs, 6 Ks, no BBs, a WP, and a hit batter.

Risedorph - 3.0 IP, 4 hits and 1 earned run, 1 K, no BBs, and 2 WPs.

 

[TomEric4756]

Nice to see good pitching show up for this game … let’s chase tomorrow’s starter early.

 

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Other Friday results from around the B1G:

Illinois 7 Maryland 4 - The Illini continue to roll.

PSU 7 Minn 3

MSU 11 OSU 4

Purdue 9 NW 3

Neb 7 Iowa 4 - This is a big series for both teams and especially Iowa who are trying to become relevant again as far as making the Field of 64 and they had five straight wins going into the series.

Michigan 14 Long Beach St. 7