Hoosiers Defeat OSU to Win Series; Will Face Minnesota in Tournament Opener
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Indiana baseball (32-20-2, 14-9-1 Big Ten) closed out the 2017 regular season with a 4-3 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-3.
Indiana will be the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will face the Minnesota Golden Gophers to open the tournament on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Bart Kaufman Field.
Indiana collected 10 hits in the game, with sophomore Matt Lloyd leading the way with three hits and an RBI in the win. Sophomore Logan Sowers picked up his ninth multi-hit game in his last 12 games going 2-for-5 with an RBI. Senior Tony Butler and freshman Jeremy Houston also had two-hit games for the Hoosiers.
Freshman Cal Krueger picked up his fourth win of the season, going six inning of five-hit ball, allowing just one earned run. Sophomore Matt Lloyd picked up the save, as he went 1.2 innings giving up just one hit.
Butler led off the game with a single through the left side. Then with no outs, Sowers' hot-hitting continued with a double to right center to give the Hoosiers an early 1-0 lead. Ohio State answered when it got a runner on third with one out, who eventually scored on a sac fly to even up the score.
In the second, the Hoosiers got one more to get the lead back. An infield hit by freshman Matt Gorski eventually got him on second base with two outs, where Houston followed with his RBI single to right to make it a 2-1 game before the weather delay.
Following the weather delay and 4.5 scoreless frames, Indiana put two more runs on the board in the seventh inning. Houston led off a sing and Butler advanced him on a sacrifice bunt. Lloyd then doubled to plate Houston and then scored later in the frame on a wild pitch to make it 4-1 in favor of the Hoosiers.
Ohio State's Jalen Washington made the game closer in the bottom of the eight with a two-run home run to left, trimming the lead to 4-3.
Despite the leadoff guy getting on in the ninth for the Buckeyes, Lloyd forced three-straight outs to pick up
The Hoosiers closed the regular season with a 32-20-1 overall record and a 14-9-1 mark in Big Ten play. The Big Ten Tournament, hosted by Indiana, is a double elimination tournament that will run from Wednesday, May 24 to Sunday, May 28.
Boxscore within:
http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2017/5/2...will-face-minnesota-in-tournament-opener.aspx
Go Hoosiers!