Minnesota@IU, Game 3: UMN 9 IU 8. Two-run homer in the 9th gives the Gophers the win...

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IU has already won the series and will now go for the sweep. RHP Bradley Brehmer, who started the yesterday's postponed game is back on the mound and has an ERA of 5.95 in 59 IP, while the Gophers are going with RHP Aiden Maldonado, a transfer from Illinois, with an ERA of 4.06 in 62 IP. Maldonado pitched well in his last start, a win over the Huskers.

In the 1st, Brehmer puts them down in order which included two Ks.

In IU's 1st, IU goes with the same lineup as in the first game today. Whalen pops out to lead off. Jessee then strikes out for the 2nd out. Pyne flies out to end the inning on a great play in LF.

 

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In the 2nd, the leadoff hitter walks. A fielder's choice gets the lead runner at 2nd with a runner on 1st and one out. An infield pop out results in the 2nd out with the runner still on 1st. A ground out ends the Gophers 2nd.

In IU's 2nd, we are at the 4 thru 6 hitters. Mathison and Tibbetts both strike out to open things up. Ellis then clubs a solo opposite field homer, his 16th of the season to tie Mathison, to give IU a 1-0 lead with two outs. Glasser then singles to put a man on with two outs. Doanes then singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Serruto strikes out to end the inning.

 

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In the 3rd, for the 2nd straight inning the leadoff man reaches, this time with a single. A WP moves the runner to 2nd. Brehmer then gets a big K for the first out and the runner still at 2nd. A ground out gets the 2nd out with the runner holding at 2nd. A single through the infield scores the Gophers first run of the day and ties it at 1-1, and that WP looks big right now with that score. Brehmer then gives up a two-out, two-run homer to the Gophers leading home run hitter to give the Gophers a 3-1 lead and Brehmer, after starting yesterday's game, just doesn't have it today. Mercer goes to the bullpen to bring in RHP Braydon Tucker with an ERA of 6.41 in 39.1 IP and he has the bases empty with two outs. Tucker didn't pitch well in his last outing against Michigan. A ground out ends the Gophers 3rd.

In IU's 3rd, IU is at the top of the order in Whalen. Whalen and Jessee both strike out to start the inning and the Minnesota pitcher has struck out five straight at this point. Pyne flies out to end the inning.

 

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In the T4th, a flyout gets the leadoff man. Tucker then gives up a one-out single to put a runner on. Tucker then gets a K on a 3-2 count for the 2nd out. Tucker is throwing a lot of pitches to some hitters with really anemic batting averages, so Mercer may not want to stick with Tucker too long since he is not getting ahead of the few hitters he's faced. An infield hit puts runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and he is at the No. 9 hitter in the lineup. Tucker walks a .208 hitter to load the bases for the top of the order and one of two batters for the Gophers that hit over .300. Mercer makes the right move to go to the bullpen and bring in LHP Grant Holderfield with an ERA of 6.02 in 40.1 IP and we will have a lefty vs lefty with the top of the order batter, but Holderfield has struggled of late coming out of the bullpen. A ground out ends what could have been a bad inning against a weak hitting bottom of the order.

In IU's 4th, Mathison flies out and Tibbetts grounds out to start the inning. Ellis flies out as IU goes down quietly in the 4th.

 

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In the 5th, Holderfield hits the leadoff batter, IU's 98th hit batter of the season. He then gives up a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. A SAC bunt moves runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out. Jessee loses a ball in the sun that goes to the wall and scores two runs to make it 5-1 Gophers with a runner on 3rd and one out. Mercer has brought in two straight relievers out of the bullpen that have really struggled in recent outings and they didn't perform any better today. He goes to a pitcher that hasn't struggled lately in RHP Reese Sharp with an ERA of 7.46 in 44.2 IP. It's second guessing, but getting the sweep is pretty important and why we didn't go with a pitcher that has been performing well of late out of the bullpen is beyond me. Sharp then walks a .236 hitter to put runners on the corners with one out, and maybe it's going to be one of those games where almost nothing goes right. Sharp then gets a flyout to LF with the runner holding at 3rd for the 2nd out. The runner on first stole 2nd with Serruto making the mistake of trying to throw him out and the runner on 3rd scored to make it 6-1. A flyout ends the inning for the Gophers.

In IU's 5th, IU hasn't done much against the Gopher starter and he gets the leadoff hitter in Glasser on a ground out. Doanes then walks to put a runner on with one out. Serruto then strikes out for the 2nd out and we are at the top of the order in Whalen. Doanes steals 2nd to put a runner in scoring position. Whalen then walks to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Jessee singles after a fly ball falls between outfielders in what may have been a sun problem which also hurt us earlier, and two runs score to make it 6-3. Jessee takes 2nd on the throw to get in scoring position with Pyne up. Pyne gets a double on what may have been another sun problem for the outfielders and Jessee scores to make it 6-4. The Gophers go to their bullpen to bring in their top reliever in LHP Tom Skoro with an ERA of 2.57 in 28 IP and the Gophers call him "Mr. Dependable." Mathison is up with Pyne on 2nd and two outs. Skoro walks Mathison to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and Tibbetts up. Tibbetts walks to load the bases and two outs with Ellis up. Ellis strikes out to end the inning, but IU has four innings to pull this game out, but we have to quit letting the anemic lower batting order hurt us.

 

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In the 6th, Sharp gets the leadoff man on a flyout. Sharp then gives up a walk and a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Sharp then walks a .237 hitter to load the bases with one out. As luck would have it, Tibbetts was trying to turn a DP with a throw to 2nd and it hit the runner in the back which scored a run on a fielder's choice and an error on the throw, keeping the bases loaded and still one out. An infield fly results in the 2nd out. A ground out to Sharp ends the Gophers inning and IU is probably fortunate to just give up the one run and stay somewhat close in this game.

In IU's 6th, Glasser reaches on a single to leadoff. Doanes then singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. Serruto strikes out looking for the 1st out and his 3rd K of the game, and we are at the top of the order in Whalen. Glasser scores on a WP and Doanes takes 2nd to make it 7-5 with one out. Whalen strikes out for the 2nd out. Jessee then singles to score Doanes from 2nd to make it 7-6. Pyne is up with a man on 1st and two outs. The Gophers go to the bullpen and they are probably looking for a righty vs righty matchup as they bring in RHP Will Semb with an ERA of 8.27 in 20.2 IP. Jessee steals 2nd to put a man in scoring position. Pyne is called out on a high strike to end the inning, but IU creeps closer.

 

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Some stats at this point to show how this game has gone.

The two Gopher hitters batting over .300 are hitless so far.

Hitters batting between .209 and ,237 have six hits and four RBIs.

 

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In the T7th, the Gophers are at the bottom of the order and Sharp gets the first two batters on Ks and then gets a ground out to put them down in order.

In IU's 7th, the 4 thru 6 hitters are up. The center fielder robbed Mathison of a homer at the wall in the deepest part of the park for the first out. Tibbetts then gets an infield hit to put a man on with one out. With Ellis up, the Gophers go to the bullpen again to bring in LHP Noah Rooney with an ERA of 4.91 in 18.1 IP and they are probably looking at a lefty vs lefty matchup here with Ellis being a home run threat. A DP ends the inning.

 

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In the T8th, the top of the order is up and IU has gone to RHP Nathan Stahl with an ERA of 9.53 in 22.2 IP. Stahl gets the leadoff hitter on a flyout. Stahl then gets a K for two outs. A line out ends the Gophers 8th.

In IU's 8th, the 7 thru 9 hitters are up starting with Glasser. Glasser starts things off with a single. Doanes doubles to the wall to score Glasser to tie the game with the go-ahead run at 2nd and no outs. Doanes is having a big game going 3-3 so far. In a mental error by the pitcher, Serruto put the ball in play and the pitcher tried to get Doanes at 3rd but Doanes easily reached with Serruto making it to 1st on a fielder's choice. Runners are at the corners with no outs. Whalen singles to score Doanes to give IU their first lead since the 2nd when they led 1-0, and this game has gone a lot like Friday's game when IU had that big rally in the 8th. The Gophers go to the bullpen again and bring in RHP Josh Culliver with an ERA of 5.50 in 18 IP. Runners are on 1st and 2nd with no outs and Jessee up. Jessee walks to load the bases with no outs and Pyne up. Pyne strikes out for the 1st out with Mathison up. A pop out results in another out which brings Tibbetts up with two outs and the bases loaded. Tibbetts strikes out to end the inning and we missed a golden opportunity to pad the lead, but at least we got the lead with three outs needed for the win.

 

[mk30]

My bad. Tuned in to see those last 3 lousy at-bats in the 8th. Unreal. Surely there’s got to be a better offensive approach than what I just saw.

 

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In the 9th, the 4 thru 6 hitters are up. Murrison goes to RF for Mathison and Jessee moves to LF. Stahl walks the leadoff hitter and we are at the anemic part of the batting order, but they have hurt us today at the lower half of the order. Stahl then gives up a two-run homer and just like that, IU is down 9-8, and leaving the bases loaded with no outs last inning and not scoring has really hurt to put it mildly, and IU is going to have to try and come from behind in the 9th, but needs to get out of this inning. Mercer brings in LHP Ryan Kraft with an ERA of 10.59 in 34 IP. Kraft came in with the count 3-0 on the hitter and he walked the batter. A ground out moves the runner to 2nd with one out. Another ground out moves the runner to 3rd with two outs. Another ground out ends the Gophers 9th.

In IU's 9th, IU is at the 6th thru 8th hitters and Ellis leads off. Ellis walks on four pitches and Vecrumba pinch runs for Ellis with Glasser up. Glasser flies out to CF for the 1st out. Doanes strikes out swinging for the 2nd out and Goforth pinch hits for Serruto. Goforth gets a two-out single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and the top of the order up in Whalen. Whalen grounds out to end the game and the Gophers get their first road win in the B1G this season. IU gets the series win but blows a big chance to move into a tie for 5th place, and has a difficult series at Iowa next weekend.

 

[ptrich]

After the the way the first game went, what a deflating game this turned out to be. There are a lot of things that happened in this game to point to, but having the bases loaded in the 8th with no outs and having three of our better hitters strike out twice and pop out to leave them loaded really, really hurt to say the least. The only two hitters in the Gophers lineup that are hitting over .300, and barely, went 0-6 at the plate while two hitters batting .235 and .239 went 4 for 9 and had six RBIs to include that 2-run homer in the 9th that cost us the game. Another batter in the 8th spot that was hitting .206 was 2 for 5 and scored a run for the Gophers. IU outhit the Gophers, 13 to 9, but left 11 runners on. Doanes and Glasser had a good game at the plate with three hits apiece and Jessee was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs. Ellis had the lone homer for IU in the 2nd to make it 1-0, IU. IU used six pitchers and it wasn't a glowing performance on the mound so I will let the box score do the talking on that since no one looked good, but I'll excuse Kraft from that bunch since he pitched just one inning and faced just three batters getting all of them on ground outs after Stahl was pulled in the 9th. Holderfield continues to regress as the season wears on and I don't think I would trust him coming out of the bullpen right now in a close game. We are facing a tough opponent at Iowa next week and they have the best pitching staff in the B1G right now as far as team ERA goes.

 

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Here's the link to the box score:

Baseball vs Minnesota (DH) on 5/15/2022 - Box Score - Indiana University Athletics

The official box score of Baseball vs Minnesota (DH) on 5/15/2022

iuhoosiers.com

 

[Orford]

I’d like to see stats on lead off walks. This year seems bad but I’d say even last y ar with generally strong starting three that was a huge bugaboo. Saw lotsa of this today in second game and am wondering why that is? Our pitchers almost never pitch from ahead…

 

[mk30]

This team simply can’t be trusted. I hate it, but I’m ok with the season ending.