IU @ Abilene Christian, Game 1: IU takes the series opener, 8-4...

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Devin Taylor is not in the lineup tonight and I haven't seen or heard as to why, so far.

LHP Ryan Kraft is on the mound with an ERA of 3.72 and a WHIP of 1.40 in 38.2 IP. He has 38 Ks and 14 BBs and an OBA of .263. Stadler is behind the plate.

The batting order is Moore, Dickerson, Hanley, Denny (LF), Malamazian, Wiggins (RF), Cerny, z (DH), and Stadler.

ACU will have RHP Dominick Reid on the mound and he has an ERA of 3.66 and a WHIP of 1.19 in 66.1 IP. He has 79 Ks and 21 BBs with an OBA of .238.

It's cloudy and 66 degrees right now in Abilene with the wind NNE at 13 mph and gusts to 28. They have the rain/TS chance at 54%, but a check of the radar doesn't show any rain activity even close to Abilene right now.

T1st:

They said that Taylor is back at the hotel and they hope he will be available tomorrow. It sounds like a one-day illness affecting him, something we have had in a couple of previous games.

Moore flied out to start the game. Dickerson Kd and he has been a strikeout machine in recent games. Hanley walked on a full count, but Denny flied out to retire the side.

B1st:

Kraft gave up a leadoff single. A flyout got the first out with the runner at 1st. A foul out to 3B got the 2nd out.

ACU leads the WAC in stolen bases and the runner on 1st stole 2nd with a throwing error on Stadler sending him to 3rd. A grounder ended the inning with the runner stranded at 3rd.

End of 1st: IU 0 ACU 0

 

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T2nd:

It's the 5 thru 7 hitters up with Malamazian leading off and he was hit by a pitch to put a man on.

Wiggins Kd for the first out.

Cerny doubled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out.

Brenczewski grounded out scoring Malamazian with Cerny taking 3rd and two outs.

Stadler cranked a two-out, two-run homer over the RF wall to give IU a 3-0 lead.

Moore reached on a bunt single with two outs. Dickerson walked on four pitches to put runners at 1st and 2nd.

The ACU pitcher who is their best pitcher stat-wise, is at 47 pitches right now. Hanley grounded out to retire the side.

B2nd:

Kraft faced the 5 thru 7 hitters and he hit the leadoff hitter. A groundout moved the runner to 2nd with one out.

A wind driven two-run homer to CF made it 3-2 IU and it was the first homer of the season for the batter.

A K and a pop out ended the inning.

End of 2nd: IU 3 ACU 2

 

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T3rd:

It's the middle of the order up with Denny leading off and he grounded out.

Malamazian walked on a full count with one out and he then reached 2nd on a WP.

Wiggins doubled to score Malamazian with still one out. Cerny Kd for the 2nd out.

Brenczewski flied out to retire the side.

B3rd:

Kraft faced the top of the order and he put them down in order to include a K.

End of 3rd: IU 4 ACU 2

 

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T4th:

It's the 9 thru 2 hitters up with Stadler leading off and he Kd as did Moore for two outs.

Dickerson reached on an infield single and two outs and it's the first hit by him in quite some time.

Hanley reached on an error at 1B with Dickerson taking 2nd, but Denny reached on a FC with Hanley out at 2nd to retire the side.

B4th:

Kraft faced the middle of the order and he put them down in order for the 2nd straight inning.

End of 4th: IU 4 ACU 2

 

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T5th:

It was the 5 thru 7 hitters up with Malamazian up and the Wildcats went to the bullpen and brought in LHP Chandler Benson with an ERA of 4.93 and a WHIP of 1.33 in 46.0 IP.

IU went down in order in a quick inning.

B5th:

Kraft was back out there to face the bottom of the order and he put them down in order with all on Ks. It's the 3rd straight inning he has put them down in order.

Kraft is at just 70 pitches right now, but we are at a stage of the game where Mercer likes to go to the bullpen whether the starting pitcher is pitching well or otherwise.

End of 5th: IU 4 ACU 2

 

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T6th:

It's the 8 thru 1 hitters up with Brenczewski leading off and he flied out. Stadler grounded out for two outs and we were at the top of the order in Moore. Moore walked on a 3-1 count.

Moore moved into scoring position on a WP. Dickerson walked on four pitches to put runners at 1st and 2nd with Hanley up and two outs.

Hanley got a clutch two-out double to score both Moore and Dickerson to make it 6-2.

Denny homered to right center to make it 8-2. Malamazian grounded out to retire the side.

B6th:

Kraft was back out there to face the top of the order. If Kraft gets out of this inning, it will be just the 2nd time this season that a starting pitcher has gone six innings to start a game.

Kraft gave up a single to the leadoff hitter. Kraft then got back-to-back Ks for two outs.

Kraft then gave up a two-out, two-run homer to left center to make it 8-4 IU. A flyout ended the inning.

End of 6th: IU 8 ACU 4

 

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T7th:

It's the 6 thru 8 hitters up with Wiggins leading off and he walked on a full count.

Cerny walked on a 3-1 count to put two on and no outs.

Brenczewski reached on a FC with Cerny out at 2nd and runners on the corners with one out.

Stadler popped out on the infield for the 2nd out and more reached on a FC with Brenczewski out at 2nd to retire the side.

I don't know how many times we have had a runner at 3B with less than two outs this season and not score the run.

B7th:

RHP Cole Gilley came in for Kraft and he had an ERA of 5.01 and a WHIP of 1.16 in 46.2 IP and Gilley has had back-to-back bad games which started with the Illinois start in the rain. He faced the 6 thru 8 hitters.

Gilley walked the leadoff hitter on a full count. He then got a K for the first out.

A groundout moved the runner to 2nd with two outs. Another groundout ended the inning and it was good to see Gilley back in sync.

End of 7th: IU 8 ACU 4

 

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T8th:

It was the 2 thru 4 hitters up with Dickerson leading off and he lined out for the first out. ACU had gone to the bullpen. Hanley grounded out for two outs. Denny Ks to retire the side as IU went down in order.

B8th:

Gilley faced the top of the order and he gave up a bunt single to the leadoff hitter. Back-to-back flyouts got two outs with the runner still at 1st. A K ended the inning and it was another good inning for Gilley.

End of 8th: IU 8 ACU 4

 

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T9th:

It's the 5 thru 7 hitters up with Malamazian leading off. ACU brought in another pitcher who has an ERA of just under 10.0 IP in limited appearances this season. Malamazian flied out for the first out.

Wiggins reached on an error by 3B. Cerny grounded into a DP to retire the side.

B9th:

Gilley was back out there to close it out and he faced the 5 thru 7 hitters and he Kd the first two batters. A groundout ended the game.

Final: IU 8 ACU 4

 

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IU got off to a good start to the weekend series and they only used two pitchers which is big to start a series. We didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball in this game and we didn't have Taylor tonight, but we made the most of our scoring opportunities.

IU outhit the Wildcats, 7 to 5, and half of IU's 8 runs came on two two-run homers by Denny and Stadler. All of ACU's 4 runs came on two two-run homers. There were no multi-hit players for IU with all 7 hits spread out down the batting order.

As stated earlier, Denny and Stadler both had two-run homers.

Hanley had a double and 2 RBIs, with the other two RBIs in the game by IU coming from Wiggins and Brenczewski.

Despite giving up two homers in the game and Kraft leads the team in extra base hits given up, he pitched well and became just the second starter this season to go six innings before being pulled. Gilley came in after two bad starts and pitched extremely well to close it out over the last three innings.

Kraft - 6.0 IP with 4 hits and 4 earned runs on the two homers. He had 7 Ks and no BBs, and he hit a batter.

Gilley - 3.0 IP with 1 hit and no earned runs, and he had 4 Ks to 1 BB, with the rest of his slate clean.

Look for Grable and Haas to be the starters in the other two games and not necessarily in that order.

IU had one error while ACU had two errors.

 

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A mention on the B1G baseball race as to who gets that No. 1 seed. Iowa dropped their Friday opener out in Seattle against the Huskies, with the Huskies scoring a run in the 9th to win it 4-3. Iowa's Obermueller was on the mound to start that game. It looks like UCLA is the only team that can catch Iowa for that top seed, and they won their game over USC last night to move within 1 1/2 games of the Hawkeyes.