Morehead St. @ IU, Game 3: IU pulls game out in the 9th to get the series sweep, 5-4...

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It's 34 degrees at game time and it's cloudy with the wind at 13 mph. There was a 30-minute delay to the start of this game and who knows how the cold weather will affect the players, especially the pitchers.

It's RHP Luke Sinnard on the mound for IU with an ERA of 3.43 in 21 IP with Serruto behind the plate. Taylor is in RF today with Ellis the DH.

For MSU, it's RHP Grant Herron with an ERA of 4.41 in 16.1 IP.

1st Inning:

T1st:

Sinnard opened the game by striking out the side.

B1st:

Glasser grounded out to lead off. Pyne K'd for the 2nd out. Taylor walked to put a runner on with two outs.

A two-out triple by Tibbitts scored Taylor. Mathison grounded out to end the inning.

 

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2nd Inning:

T2nd:

The cold weather was not bothering Sinnard any. He mowed them down in order again, all on strikeouts and he has 6 straight Ks to start the game.

B2nd:

Ellis flied out to the CF wall to lead off. Cerny got a standup double to put a runner in scoring position. Whalen flied out to short RF with Cerny holding at 2nd and two outs. Serruto K'd looking to end the inning.

 

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3rd Inning:

T3rd:

It's the bottom of the order up for the Eagles. Sinnard walked the leadoff hitter after the six straight Ks to open the game. Sinnard finds the strike zone again and K'd the next batter with the runner on 1st.

In an unbelievable event, the No. 9 hitter, who is a freshman in his first appearance of the season for MSU, clubbed a HR to RF to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Sinnard K'd the next batter for the 2nd out. A GO retired the side.

B3rd:

Top of the order is up and Glasser grounded out to lead off. Pyne K'd looking.

Taylor walked for the 2nd time in as many plate appearances to put a runner on with two outs. Tibbitts grounded out to end the inning:

 

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4th Inning:

T4th:

It's the 3-5 hitters up. A hard hit fly died in RF for the 1st out. Sinnard then got his 9th and 10th K of the game to retire the side.

B4th:

It's the 5 thru 7 hitters up for IU. Mathison and Ellis grounded out to lead off the inning for two outs.

Cerny then singled to put a runner on with two outs. Cerny took 2nd on a passed ball to put a runner in scoring position.

Whalen walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd with Serruto up and two outs. On a full count, Serruto K'd looking to end the inning.

Through the first four innings, IU has had only one runner from the first two batters in any inning reach base so far. All runners on base , with the exception of that one double by Cerny, came after two outs.

 

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5th Inning:

T5th:

It's the 6-8 hitters up. The leadoff hitter reached on a single but was thrown out at 2nd on a tag by Cerny.

Sinnard got his 11th and 12th K of the game to retire the side.

B5th:

It's the top of the order up and it's time for the Hoosiers to start getting some baserunners from the first two batters of an inning. The MSU pitcher is at 78 pitches right now.

A diving catch by Carter Owens in LF robbed Glasser of a hit and he is the same guy that hit the 2-run homer in his first plate appearance of the season.

Pyne doubled and Taylor then walked for the third time today to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.

A Tibbitts walk loaded the bases with one out and the starter might be running out of gas for MSU, and they have their bullpen active.

Mathison walked to bring in Pyne to tie the game, and after three consecutive walks, the Eagles go to the bullpen.

MSU brought in RHP Luke Helton with an ERA of 9.68 in 17.2 IP. Helton is normally a starter who is making his first appearance in relief on the season.

Ellis walked to score Taylor which gave IU a 3-2 lead with the bases still loaded and one out.

Cerny popped out to 2b in shallow outfield for the 2nd out.

Whalen then walked to bring in Tibbitts to make it 4-2 with the bases still loaded and two outs, and Jessee came in to pinch hit for Serruto.

Jessee fouled out to end the inning with IU up 4-2.

 

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6th Inning:

T6th:

Sinnard had sat for quite a while in a long inning for IU, so IU had the bullpen active. The 9 thru 2 hitters were up.

The leadoff hitter fouled out to Langerman who came in for Serruto behind the plate. Sinnard then got his 12th K of the game and then another pop up to 1B which retired the side.

B6th:

The top of the order is up. Glasser grounded out to lead off. Pyne reached on an error by the SS and he reached 2nd on the error with one out.

Taylor, who had walked in his first three plate appearances, K'd on a full count for the 2nd time.

Tibbitts reached on another error by the SS to put runners on the corners, but a GO ended the inning.

 

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7th Inning:

T7th:

LHP Ryan Kraft relieved Sinnard and Kraft and EWRA of 1.93 in 14 IP, and he faced the 3 thru 5 hitters.

Kraft got the leadoff hitter on a close play at 1st. Kraft then made a great play on a little dribbler that required Kraft to run down the runner with Tibbitts off the bag trying to make a play. Back-to-back singles put runners on 1st and 2nd, but Kraft got a K to retire the side with no damage done.

B7th:

It's the 7th inning stretch time, and IU had the 6 thru 8 hitters up, and IU went down in order to end the inning.

 

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8th Inning:

T8th:

Kraft faced the 8 thru 1 hitters and he got the leadoff man on a K. He then walked the next batter to bring up the top of the order.

A FC got the runner at 2nd for the 2nd out with a runner at 1st. Kraft then walked the next batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and brought up the leading run at the plate.

Mercer went to the bullpen to bring in RHP Seti Manase with an ERA of 0.69 in 13 IP, and he gets the final out on a flyout to retire the side.

B8th:

It was the 9 thru 2 hitters up for IU and MSU went to the bullpen again and brought in RHP Luke Lyman with an ERA of 7.36 in 7 IP.

Langerman fouled out to lead off. Glasser then doubled with Pyne walking to put runners on 1st and 2nd and one out. Taylor K'd looking for the 2nd out and the Eagles go to the bullpen again to bring in RHP Jarrett Miller with an ERA of 2.89 in 9.1 IP to face Tibbitts. Tibbitts K'd to end the inning.

 

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9th Inning:

T9th:

Colopy went to RF, Murrison to CF, and Whalen to LF in defensive moves. Manase was to face the 4 thru 6 hitters.

An error on a throw from Glasser hit Tibbitts in the head which put him down on the ground, but he was eventually able to walk off the field after getting attended to. A single put runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs.

A SAC bunt move the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out.

A double scored two runs to tie the game and then Manase K'd the next two batters to retire the side with the game tied at 4-4.

B9th:

Colopy flied out and Ellis grounded out for the first two outs of the inning. Cerny singled and took 2nd on a WP to put him in scoring position. Whalen then singled to bring in Cerny to win the game, 5-4.

 

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It was the coldest day of the three-game series with the game time temp at 34 and no sun and around a 13 mph wind to make things feel even more uncomfortable. Cold weather affects players in different ways so you didn't know how this game was going to go. Unlike yesterday, IU had trouble generating any offense and most of their action on the bases came after there were two outs in most innings. In fact, the game winning hit/rally came after there were two outs to start the 9th. Pitching was really good until we got to the last two innings where we started seeing pitchers starting to struggle some, but fortunately not to the extent to where we lost the game. Here's hoping Tibbitts is okay after having to leave the game with the throw that hit him in the head at 1st.

IU had 7 hits on the game and left 13 runners on the base. There was only one multi-hit player in Cerny. Three of IU's five runs in the game were the result of walks.

Cerny was 3 for 5 with a double.
Whalen was 1 for 3 with the game winning hit in the 9th and he had 2 RBIs.
Pyne and Glasser had one hit each and both were doubles.
Tibbitts lone hit was a triple.

IU had one error with MSU being charged with two errors.

Sinnard had a huge game in cold weather. He was a strikeout machine, and outside of the hiccup he had in the 3rd when he walked his only batter and then gave up a 2-run homer to a freshman in his first at-bat of the season, he throttled the Eagles. Kraft and Manase had up and down innings in relief of Sinnard but not to the point of losing the game. Here are the pitching numbers.

Sinnard: 6 IP, 2 Hs, 2 runs, both earned off the homer, 13 Ks, 1 BB.

Kraft: 1.2 IP, 2 Hs, no runs, 2 Ks, 2 BBs.

Manase: 1.1 IP, 2 Hs, 2 runs with 1 earned, 2 Ks and no BBs. The double he gave up tied the game, but he did get the two Ks that retired their side of the 9th with a runner on 2nd, so there's that. Manase got the win.

 

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Here's the link to the box score:

IU20 - Indiana University Athletics

IU20

iuhoosiers.com

Here's the link to the game recap:

Hoosiers Complete Series Sweep of Eagles - Indiana University Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana baseball team (13-7) used a walk-off single from junior Bobby Whalen in the bottom of the ninth inning to take down Mor...

iuhoosiers.com