Louisville @ IU: IU gets a big Q1 win, 7-3...

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Game is on ESPNU.

It will be RHP Seti Manase opening the game for IU with an ERA of 1.40 in 25.2 IP. It will be Serruto behind the plate with Mathison the DH. I assume that Ellis is still nursing a hand injury.

It will be LHP Evan Webster on the mound for UofL with an ERA of 4.67 in 17.1 IP.

It's mostly sunny with the temp in the upper 60s.

It's a big game for IU from a resume standpoint with the game being a Q1 game for both teams.

1st Inning:

T1st:

The top of the order are the only players in the Cards lineup that are hitting over .300. Louisville is holding out two of their best players, giving some other players the chance to get some innings in.

The leadoff hitter reached on a single. Manase then got the next batter on a flyout with the runner still at 1st and one out.

IU then got a DP to retire the side.

B1st:

IU's batting order is the same as it was in the Illinois series with the exception that Jessee is back in the lineup hitting in the No. 7 spot in place of Colopy.

Glasser and Whalen both grounded out to lead off. Taylor popped up to 2B to end the inning.

IU 0 UofL 0

 

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2nd Inning"

T2nd:

It's the 4-6 batters up for the Cards and Manase put them down in order.

B2nd:

It's the 4 thru 6 batters up for IU. IU went down in order to end the inning.

IU 0 UofL 0

 

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3rd Inning:

T3rd:

It's the bottom of the order up for the Cards. Manase got the leadoff man on a foul out to 3B and Manase is off to a strong start to the game.

As soon as I said that about Manase, he gave up a solo homer to the No. 8 hitter and it was to a player that had played in only 12 games on the season so far. He then gave up a double to the No. 9 hitter and we are at the top of the order with one out. It's the guys with the weakest batting averages that are hurting Manase right now.

With this being an important resume game, Mercer wastes no time in hooking Manase and he brings in RHP Ethan Phillips with an ERA of 2.92 in 12.1 IP and he will face the top of the order with a man on 2nd and one out.

Phillips K'd the first batter faced and there are two outs with the runner still at 2nd. He then got a GO to retire the side with the Cards up 1-0.

B3rd:

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

Jessee walked to lead off and he is the first base runner IU so far.

Cerny, who had a hot bat against the Illini in the last game of that series, singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs.

A SAC bunt by Serruto moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out with the top of the order up in Glasser.

Glasser got an infield single to score Jessee to tie the game and runners on the corners with one out.

Louisville went to the bullpen and brought in RHP Kaleb Corbett with an ERA of 1.80 in 10 IP and he faced Whalen.

Whalen singled to score Cerny and a throwing error on the CF allowed Glasser and Whalen to advance to 2nd and 3rd with one out and Taylor up.

Taylor singled to score both Glasser and Whalen and it's 4-1 IU with a runner on 1st and one out.

A WP moved Taylor to 2nd and Tibbitts singled to score Taylor to make it 5-1 IU.

Louisville went to the bullpen a second time in the inning bringing in LHP Greg Farone with an ERA of 4.79 and he has seen a lot of innings with 35.2 IP.

Mathison singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with still one out.

Pyne popped out for the 2nd out which brought up the bottom of the order in Jessee. Jessee K'd to end a productive inning.

IU 5 UofL 1

 

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4th Inning:

T4th:

Phillips was back on the mound to face the 3 thru 5 hitters and he put them down in order.

B4th:

It's the 8, 9, and 1 hitters up for IU with Cerny leading off. Cerny K'd on a WP, but reached first on the pitch.

Serruto's SAC bunt moved Cerny to 2nd with one out.

Cerny reached 3rd on a WP and then scored on a throwing error by the catcher and the run is unearned.

Glasser flied out to the wall for the second out and Whalen then singled to put a runner on.

Taylor then walked on a full count to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.

Tibbitts K'd to end the inning.

IU 6 UofL 1

 

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5th Inning:

T5th:

Phillips was back on the mound to face the 6 thru 8 hitters. He got the leadoff hitter on a flyout.

Phillips then got a GO out for two outs before walking the next batter. A grounder to Phillips retired the side as Phillips has been rolling so far.

B5th:

It's the 5 thru 7 hitters up with Mathison leading off. The Cards went to the bullpen to bring in RHP Will Koger with an ERA of 3.98 in 20.1 IP.

Mathison grounded out for the first out. Pyne singled to put a runner on with one out.

Jessee grounded out for the second out with Pyne taking 2nd. Cerny flied out to end the inning.

IU 6 UofL 1

 

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6th Inning:

T6th:

Phillips was back out there to face the top of the order and he got the leadoff man on a GO.

Phillips walked the next batter with one out.

Phillips then K'd the next batter and with the runner on 1st taking 2nd, but they ruled him out because of interference from the batter for an unorthodox DP to retire the side.

B6th:

The Cards went to the bullpen again and brought in RHP Kade Grundy with an ERA of 4.39 in 26.2 IP. IU has their 9 thru 2 hitters up.

Serruto walked to lead off to bring up the top of the order in Glasser.

Glasser popped up to LF with Serruto still at 1st and one out.

Whalen K'd for the second out with a runner still at 1st.

With Taylor up, the Cards decided to bring in a lefty to face him and they brought in LHP Kayden Campbell with an ERA of 6.30 in 10.1 IP.

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

Tibbitts singled to score Serruto with Taylor taking 2nd, but a flyout ended the inning.

IU 7 UofL 1

 

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7th Inning:

T7th:

Phillips is back out there and he walked the leadoff man. He then got a K with the runner at 1st.

A single up the middle sent runners to 2nd and 3rd and the runner on 3rd scoring an unearned run on an error in RF by Taylor. A K and a G0 retired the side with the score 7-2 IU.

B7th:

Cerny walked in the inning, but two Ks and a GO ended the inning.

IU 7 UofL 2

 

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8th Inning:

T8th:

IU brought in RHP Craig Yoho in with an ERA of 2.45 in 22 IP.

The leadoff batter singled. A K got the first out with the runner on 1st taking 2nd. The runner on 2nd took 3rd on a throwing error by Serruto.

Yoho got a K for the 2nd out. A single scored another unearned run for Louisville to make it 7-3.

Yoho then hit a batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. A flyout retired the side.

Two of the Cards three runs have been unearned in the game.

B8th:

The Cards bring in RHP Alex Galvan with an ERA of 6.75 in just 5.1 IP and he faced the top of the order with Glasser leading off.

Glasser grounded out and Whalen flied out for two outs. Taylor grounded out as IU went down in order.

IU 7 UofL 3

 

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9th Inning:

T9th:

Yoho is out there to close it out and he faced the 6 thru 8 hitters.

Yoho K'd the first two batters for two outs. A GO ended the game and IU got a big Q1 win against a highly ranked team.

IU 7 UofL 3 (Final)

 

[Dude Where Is My Car]

Did the team have a new manager tonight? I am not even kidding when I say that is the best game Mercer has ever managed by a very large margin. For the first time ever he won them the game instead of just being there. His management of the pitching staff and who to use and when was perfect. The approach at the plate to try to hit soft singles against an elite pitching staff and not over swing was ideal as well.

If Mercer manages like this going forward instead of the stupidity he normal chooses to do (and outcoaching Dan McDonnell is no small feet) I will definitely get off his case. The key is to make decisions like this in game and in preparation going forward. This cannot be a one off. That is what I will be watching for and react accordingly going forward.

 

[ptrich]

This was a big game for IU from a resume standpoint and it's games like this that can get you an at-large bid if we don't get the automatic bid from the B1G tourney. IU's RPI jumped from 20 to No. 15 right after the game and it's still at 15 with maybe some games out west still going on.

IU pitching gave up just one earned run and that was the 3rd inning solo homer given up by Manase. The other two runs given up were unearned because of the two errors IU committed, but Louisville returned the favor with a couple of errors also.

IU outhit the Cards 9 to 6 with 6 (all singles) of IU's 9 hits coming in the 3rd inning and that was the deciding inning in the game. IU was 9 for 33 for .273 on the game to Louisville's 6 of 31 for .194. IU had just two multi-hit players and IU had no extra base hits in the game:

Tibbitts was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.
Whalen was 2 for 5 with a RBI and he scored a run.
Taylor was 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs and he scored a run
Cerny was 1 for 3 and he scored two runs.

The pitching was great in this game and like I said earlier they gave up just one earned run. Manase gave up a single to open the game but then breezed through the rest of the lineup for the first two innings. When Manase ran into trouble with the bottom of the order in the 3rd to include giving up a solo homer to the No. 8 hitter, Mercer didn't waste any time going to the bullpen, and Phillips and Yoho combined for 6.2 IP while not giving up an earned run. Here are the pitching numbers:

Manase: 2.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run which was earned, 1 K and no BBs. He gave up a double and a homer.
Phillips: 4.2 IP, 1 hit, 1 run which was unearned, 4 Ks, and 3 BBs. The rest of the slate was clean.
Yoho: 2 IP, 2 hits, 1 run which was unearned, 4 Ks, no BBs, and he hit one batter.

Note: IU dropped to 16 in the RPI rankings after I posted this.

 

[ptrich]

They haven't posted their game recap yet, but here is the link to the box score.

Baseball vs Louisville on 4/18/2023 - Box Score - Indiana University Athletics

The official box score of Baseball vs Louisville on 4/18/2023

iuhoosiers.com

 

[Orford]

Just noticed Indiana state beat vandy at vandy 10-2 yesterday

 

[Mas-sa-suta]

Did the team have a new manager tonight? I am not even kidding when I say that is the best game Mercer has ever managed by a very large margin. For the first time ever he won them the game instead of just being there. His management of the pitching staff and who to use and when was perfect. The approach at the plate to try to hit soft singles against an elite pitching staff and not over swing was ideal as well.

If Mercer manages like this going forward instead of the stupidity he normal chooses to do (and outcoaching Dan McDonnell is no small feet) I will definitely get off his case. The key is to make decisions like this in game and in preparation going forward. This cannot be a one off. That is what I will be watching for and react accordingly going forward.

Bwahahahaha!

..small feet....

Bwahahahaha!

 

[TomEric4756]

This was a big game for IU from a resume standpoint and it's games like this that can get you an at-large bid if we don't get the automatic bid from the B1G tourney. IU's RPI jumped from 20 to No. 15 right after the game and it's still at 15 with maybe some games out west still going on.

IU pitching gave up just one earned run and that was the 3rd inning solo homer given up by Manase. The other two runs given up were unearned because of the two errors IU committed, but Louisville returned the favor with a couple of errors also.

IU outhit the Cards 9 to 6 with 6 (all singles) of IU's 9 hits coming in the 3rd inning and that was the deciding inning in the game. IU was 9 for 33 for .273 on the game to Louisville's 6 of 31 for .194. IU had just two multi-hit players and IU had no extra base hits in the game:

Tibbitts was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.
Whalen was 2 for 5 with a RBI and he scored a run.
Taylor was 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs and he scored a run
Cerny was 1 for 3 and he scored two runs.

The pitching was great in this game and like I said earlier they gave up just one earned run. Manase gave up a single to open the game but then breezed through the rest of the lineup for the first two innings. When Manase ran into trouble with the bottom of the order in the 3rd to include giving up a solo homer to the No. 8 hitter, Mercer didn't waste any time going to the bullpen, and Phillips and Yoho combined for 6.2 IP while not giving up an earned run. Here are the pitching numbers:

Manase: 2.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run which was earned, 1 K and no BBs. He gave up a double and a homer.
Phillips: 4.2 IP, 1 hit, 1 run which was unearned, 4 Ks, and 3 BBs. The rest of the slate was clean.
Yoho: 2 IP, 2 hits, 1 run which was unearned, 4 Ks, no BBs, and he hit one batter.

Note: IU dropped to 16 in the RPI rankings after I posted this.

Yes wins in games like these balance the early season southern road trip losses to start the season. I fully expect IU to get a bid. Win the BiG Baseball tourney and then maybe see home games in Bloomington.