The game is at Victory Field in Indy, and IU in the top of the 1st, went down in order, all on Ks. Bierman got the first two batters in the bottom of the inning, but then gave up two straight singles and a double which scored one in the inning. Fineman is back in the lineup for IU.
IU vs BSU: IU 9 BSU 3, Final
- Thread starter ptrich
- Start date
IU is off to a bad start in this game as they handed the Cards a run without a hit. The lead-off batter in the B2nd reached 2nd base on a throwing error to 1st by Barr. The runner was moved to 3rd on a bunt, and scored on a passed ball by Fineman. Fineman is probably going to be a little rusty after his long layoff.
With a runner on 1st and two outs, BSU gets a triple to score the runner. We have yet to get out of an inning without giving up a run. The Cards have five hits to our one so far. The only good thing is we have only given up just one run in each of those innings, so we are just one good inning away from getting back in this one.
Rusty or not, it's great to have Fineman back. Let's hope his infirmity is a thing of the past.
In the 6th, Lloyd led off with a single, and after one out, Barr walked to put two on. Richardson then singled to score Lloyd, which would be the only run in the inning, but it gave us the lead. IU has outhit the Cards, 8 to 5 right now.
Cross came in to pinch hit for Fineman in the 7th, so Fineman's night is over. Hopefully, that was the plan and Fineman didn't have a relapse with his back. I don't want to put the whammy on our pitching staff tonight, but they haven't given up a walk so far, which can often come back to bite you.
Big inning for Manous in the 8th. He got the meat of the order out in order, thanks to a tremendous play by Gorski on a tough play to CF that he had to track down for the third out. Lloyd has been warming up, so I assume he will be coming in to try to close things out the 9th.
IU blew this game wide open in the 9th. Barr opened the inning with a single and then stole 2nd. Richardson was hit by a pitch to put two on and no outs. Dunham then walked to load the bases with no outs. A WP scored Barr from third, and then Cross was hit by a pitch to load the bases again with no outs, which forced the Cards to the bullpen. Walker then struck out for the first out, which brought up the top of the order in Ashley. Ashley then singled to bring in a run. Gorski singled for another run, which left the bases still loaded with one out. Lloyd added to the 9th inning massacre with a double scoring two more runs. The Cards went to their bullpen again with two on and still one out. Bradley struck out on a full-count for the second out. Barr who opened the inning walked in his second at-bat, to load the bases again, but Richardson popped up to end the inning for IU.
As luck would have it, after getting the first out, Lloyd appears to have hurt his back pitching to the 2nd batter and has left the game. If this is a significant injury, Mercer is going to be second-guessed about bringing him in when we were up 9-3. This will be a huge loss if it is serious. Scott has come in for Lloyd.
IU wins, but Lloyd's injury has certainly cast a pall over the win. It's amazing how IU can strikeout 18 times in a game and still win it. Box score:
https://ballstatesports.com/sidearmstats/baseball/individual;team=away
https://ballstatesports.com/sidearmstats/baseball/individual;team=away
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Positives
- Win going away
- Offense came in spurts
- Fineman is back (but rusty)
- Manous had a kick ass attitude
- Solid pitching all around
- Richardson hit on hand (but stayed in and actually hit again)
- Crazy strikeouts
- Poor base running
- Lloyd getting hurt
I don't know that we're that impatient.....I think that's it more that just about everybody of the team swings for the fences. Even a guy like Walker. I'd imagine that the % of our hits that are singles is probably one of the lowest %s in the country. It would be good to have 1-2 pure on base % guys as set up for Gorski, Lloyd, Barr, Richardson, but we just don't have them.
I fully believe at this point that Coach Mercer is more of an MLB guy. Swing for the fences just in case you connect. New era baseball. Remember when he was hyped as an advanced stats coach and admitted as such in some of his early media interactions. I don't particularly care for it, but I guess it works with some lineups. I'm just old school enough to think putting the ball in play and constantly putting stress on a college defense is a pretty good recipe. Nevermind bunting and playing small ball when in a tight game. We'll see how this all works out come tourney time.
Yes, I know what you mean........
I'd sure like to have a couple of guys like Purdue had a couple of years ago that walked and got HBP a lot, ahead of all our power.
But you can't argue much with success. I took a look at Big 10 stats (all games), and this is what they show:
BA: 265 (6th)
RUNS: 297, 1st by 36 over Michigan. We average 7.2/G, Michigan 6.7, OSU 5.9
2Bs: 82, 2nd to MD's 87
HRs: 72, 1st by 28 over OSU
BB: 178 (5th, but MD leads with only 189)
Ks: 430 (1st by 49 over MD, and almost 100 more than #3)
So....all-in-all we're getting enough BBs to be effective, and the K/HR trade-off seems to work very well.
As you indicate, some of this may reflect beating up on sub-par pitching....how that translates to winning close games in the NCAA tourney remains to be seen.
