Purdue Ft. Wayne @ IU: IU pitching gives up five homers in 9-6 loss...

[ptrich]

It's RHP Seth Benes on the mound for IU with an ERA of 9.00 in 1 IP. RHP Sean Kasper is on the mound for PFW with an ERA of 3.00 2.1 IP. Nick Mitchell is in RF, while Morgan Colopy is in CF. Brenczewski is at 1B with Hayden Carlson at 2B. Mathison is the DH.

1st inning:

T1st:

A flyout to Mitchell started the game. A foul out to 1b resulted in out No. 2. A flyout retired the side.

B1st:

Mathison led off with an infield single. Pyne Kd looking on three pitches for the first out.

Mathison advanced to 2nd on a WP. A groundout by Taylor moved Mathison to 3rd and two outs.

Tibbitts K'd to end the inning.

End of 1st: IU 0 PFW 0

 

[ptrich]

2nd inning:

T2st:

A pop out, a walk, a lineout, a stolen base to put a runner on 2nd, and a groundout retired the side

B2nd:

A flyout, a single by Mitchell, a FC with Mitchell out at 2b, and ground out by Colopy ended the inning.

End of 2nd: IU 0 PFW 0

 

[ptrich]

3rd inning:

T3rd:

A walk, a stolen base to put a runner at 2nd, another walk, a single loaded the bases. Cooper Katskee replaced Ryan Rushing on the mound and he Kd the next two batters to retire the side with no damage done.

B3rd:

After two outs, Pyne walked, but Taylor grounded out to end the inning.

End of 3rd: IU 0 PFW 0

 

[ptrich]

4th inning:

T4th:

Katskee gave up back-to-back homers to give the Mastodons a 2-0 lead.

A K, a single, a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Katskee with the runner making it to 3rd, a K for two outs, and a single scoring another run to make it 3-0 PFW, with a flyout retiring the side.

B4th:
Tibbitts Kd to lead off and Cerny grounded out for two outs.

Mitchell and Brenczewski both walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.

PFW went to the bullpen and brought in RHP Kyle Maurer with an ERA of 0.00 in 0.2 IP.

In a base running blunder, Brenczewski was caught stealing after getting in a rundown between 1st and 2nd, but the problem with it was that Mitchell was still at 2nd, and it resulted in the final out with Colopy not getting a chance to drive them in.

End of 4th: PFW 3 IU 0

 

[Bucket Getter]

Talk about a sleepwalking shatshow. I have no idea what Brenczewski is doing today. Horrible fundamental approach in the rundown play. Then doubles down by getting picked off himself.

And Katskee? Damn.

 

[82IU]

Going to be a bad loss if they don't get their act together.
82

 

[Bucket Getter]

Remember when Ft Wayne spanked Archie’s basketball team to open his IU tenure? This is about as sickening. The freaking Mastadons are 1-6 but clearly the superior team to this point. Time to wake the hell up Hoosiers!

 

[ptrich]

5th inning:

T5th:
Decker-Petty was on the mound replacing Katskee. He got a lineout for the first out. He then walked a batter to put a runner on with one out.

D-P then gave up back-to-back singles which scored the walk to make it 4-0 PFW. Mercer went to the bullpen to bring in their 5th pitcher of the game in Brandon Keyster and he got two Ks to retire the side.

B5th:
Colopy Kd to lead off.

Austin Bode came in to pinch hit for Carlson and he was hit by a pitch to put a runner on with one out.

Burckel came in to pinch run for Bode. The PFW pitcher had some type of hand injury and they went to the bullpen to bring in LHP Jake Paymaster with an 0.00 ERA in 0.2 IP.

Mathison was up with one on and one out. Burckel moved to 2nd on a WP.

Mathison grounded out moving Burckel to 3rd and two outs. Pyne hit a hard liner to SS to end the inning.

End of 5th: PFW 4 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

Remember when Ft Wayne spanked Archie’s basketball team to open his IU tenure? This is about as sickening. The freaking Mastadons are 1-6 but clearly the superior team to this point. Time to wake the hell up Hoosiers!

Lose to this team, and that loud pop you hear is all of the momentum built going poof. IU is flat and PFW is wanting this game badly.

 

[ptrich]

6th inning:

T6th:
IU brought in their sixth pitcher of the game in Evan Whiteaker and he got the first two batters for two outs, but then have up PFW's third homer of the game to make it 5-0.

Whiteaker then gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs.

Whiteaker gave up a three-run homer to make it 8-0 after having two outs.

Everything about this game is flat and our pitching has been pretty bad to say the lest.

Whiteaker got a K to end the inning after all of the damage had been done. He gave up two homers in the inning.

B6th:
Taylor grounded out to leadoff. Tibbitts doubled and Cerny singled to put runners on the corners and one out.

Mitchell was hit by a pitch to load the bases and PFW went to the bullpen.

Brenczewski singled to drive in Tibbitts and Cerny to make it 8-2 PFW.

Colopy hit a SAC fly to score Mitchell to make it 8-3.

Burckel walked and Mathison grounded out to end the inning:

End of 6th: PFW 8 IU 3

 

[Bucket Getter]

Boy. This kind of game just pisses me off. No excuse for letting this happen. 5-0 and threatening to blow the game completely open. Total BS effort. Mercer needs to answer some tough questions after this one. Damaging is an understatement.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Even when something good happens, we screw it up. How on earth did Mitchell not advance to 3rd on a ball that short-hopped the wall? Luckily, a wild pitch advanced them both so Colopy could get one in on his sac fly.

 

[ptrich]

7th inning:

T7th:

RHP Seti Manase was brought in and he put them down in order.

B7th:

It's the 2 thru 4 hitters up and Pyne singled for his first hit of the game.

Taylor hit into a DP to go 0-4 on the day and no one on base.

Tibbitts walked with two outs. Cerny Kd to end the inning.

End of 7th: PFW 8 IU 3

 

[ptrich]

Even when something good happens, we screw it up. How on earth did Mitchell not advance to 3rd on a ball that short-hopped the wall? Luckily, a wild pitch advanced them both so Colopy could get one in on his sac fly.

The top of the order for IU is 1-9 so far, and a hot Taylor is 0-3. They left their game back in Waco.

 

[ptrich]

8th inning:
T8th:
Manase is back on the mound and he puts them down in order for the second straight inning. Of the seven pitchers used by IU so far, Manase and Keyster are the only two that pitched well today so far. The other five pitchers watched their ERA balloon.

B8th:
It's the 6 thru 8 hitters up with Mitchell leading off.

Mitchell grounded out and Brenczewski singled with one out.

Colopy walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.

Burckel grounded out to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd and two outs.

Mathison clubbed a 3-run homer to make it 8-6 PFW.

Pyne reached on an error by the SS. Taylor got his first hit to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and Tibbitts up.

Tibbitts walked to load the bases with two outs and Cerny up.

Cerny Kd to end the inning.

End of 8th: PFW 8 IU 6

 

[ptrich]

IU went 17-0 against Quad 4 teams last season. Lose this game and they will have a Q4 loss almost right out of the game to start the season unless PFW can elevate themselves to a Q3 as the season progresses.

 

[ptrich]

9th inning:

T9th:

Jack Moffitt replaced a very good outing by Manase. He got the leadoff hitter on a ground out and then got a pop up for two outs.

Moffitt then gave up a two-out homer, the 5th homer of the game for PFW to give them a 9-6 lead.

A passed ball by Tibbitts put a runner on at 1st and two outs. A K retired the side.

B9th:

I was the 6 thru 8 hitters up for IU to try and keep IU in this game.

Mitchell Kd to lead off. Brenczewski popped out. Colopy reached on an error. Sefcik came in to pinch hit for Burckel and he grounded out to end a game that was a really bad loss for IU.

Final: PFW 9 IU 6

 

[ptrich]

This game is hardly worth doing a follow up on since it stunk to high heaven. Our young pitchers certainly took their knocks in this game and our hitters sleepwalked through the early innings only to wake up after they were down 8-0 and couldn't simply overcome that margin. We can forget monitoring the polls unless we have a big weekend coming up. At least we will have a better pitching staff on the mound for those games. I thought this would be a Quad 4 loss, but Warren Nolan shows it as a Q3 loss, and maybe the win against IU elevated them to that quad.

IU was outhit 12 to 9 and almost half of PFW's hits were homers. IU was 9 of 35 for a team average of .257 while PFW was 12 of 40 for a team average of .300.

IU had two batters with multiple hits. Taylor after being red hot down in Waco, couldn't get anything going today until he got a late single to go 1 for 5.

Mathison - 2 for 5 with a 3-run homer.

Brenczewski - 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored.

Colopy had the only other RBI.

IU had three pitchers (Benes, Keyster, and Manase) that had a pretty good day in limited action, but the other five pitchers were bleeding runs primarily on homers. When Keyster came in with one out and got the two Ks, he was replaced in the next inning by Whiteacker who had a nightmarish inning. I know that Mercer is trying give innings to his bullpen in midweek games like this, but why not stick with Keyster for a complete inning after he got those two Ks to end the previous inning and we were already down 4-0 at the time.

Benes - 2.0 IP, no hits or earned runs, no Ks, 1 BB, and the rest of the line was clean.

Keyster - 0.2 IP, no hits or runs/earned runs, no BB, and 2 Ks.

Manase - 2.0 IP, no hits or earned runs, 2 ks, no BBs and the rest of the slate was clean.

I'm not going to bother giving the results of the other pitchers and here is the link to the box score if your stomach can handle looking at their numbers.

Baseball vs Purdue Fort Wayne on 2/27/2024 - Box Score - Indiana University Athletics

The official box score of Baseball vs Purdue Fort Wayne on 2/27/2024

iuhoosiers.com

 

[ptrich]

Coach Mercer after the game after asked if his team overlooked PFW : "It's just one of those days."

 

[Seyton]

Yeah, it's like Coach Mercer said. Just one of those days. Still a brutal loss, though, and disheartening the pitchers either weren't ready or aren't good.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Yeah, it's like Coach Mercer said. Just one of those days. Still a brutal loss, though, and disheartening the pitchers either weren't ready or aren't good.

Whichever reason it was, I’m not putting it all on them. They didn’t check themselves into the game.

 

[Seyton]

Whichever reason it was, I’m not putting it all on them. They didn’t check themselves into the game.

Yeah. Bad performance all around. Bigger fish to fry this weekend, though. Onward and upward...

 

[82IU]

Yeah, it's like Coach Mercer said. Just one of those days. Still a brutal loss, though, and disheartening the pitchers either weren't ready or aren't good.

Just wondering if the wind didn't play into the situation. Their Pitchers were getting ahead of the counts and keeping the ball down in the zone with sinkers and sliders (my guess) and our guys were not, plus they really wanted this win. Their Starter was a very good HS prospect and he pitched an awesome game. Tip of the Cap to them. Hopefully we will get a more business-like approach for the next midweek opponent instead of treating it like a Junior Varsity game.
Go Hoosiers!
82

 

[ptrich]

Just wondering if the wind didn't play into the situation. Their Pitchers were getting ahead of the counts and keeping the ball down in the zone with sinkers and sliders (my guess) and our guys were not, plus they really wanted this win. Their Starter was a very good HS prospect and he pitched an awesome game. Tip of the Cap to them. Hopefully we will get a more business-like approach for the next midweek opponent instead of treating it like a Junior Varsity game.
Go Hoosiers!
82

Both our hitting and pitching left a lot to be desired yesterday. You would think that Taylor would knock the cover off the ball against a team like this, but he didn't do anything at the plate until late when he got that single. It wasn't just him but the entire batting order that couldn't do much until late in the game after the pitching staff gave up what ended up being an insurmountable hole.

We actually had three pitchers that pitched pretty well yesterday, but in a very limited time on the mound. Keyster came in with one out in the 5th inning and he Kd both batters on just 9 pitches and he was off to the showers. Instead of letting Keyster pitch another inning, Mercer replaced him with Whiteaker in the 6th and he gave up four earned runs in the inning.

Mercer is trying to get innings for the pitchers that don't see the mound very often in the weekend games, but losses like this can come back and affect your postseason status at the end of the regular season.

This team is too good to let a game like this send them in a spiral.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Both our hitting and pitching left a lot to be desired yesterday. You would think that Taylor would knock the cover off the ball against a team like this, but he didn't do anything at the plate until late when he got that single. It wasn't just him but the entire batting order that couldn't do much until late in the game after the pitching staff gave up what ended up being an insurmountable hole.

We actually had three pitchers that pitched pretty well yesterday, but in a very limited time on the mound. Keyster came in with one out in the 5th inning and he Kd both batters on just 9 pitches and he was off to the showers. Instead of letting Keyster pitch another inning, Mercer replaced him with Whiteaker in the 6th and he gave up four earned runs in the inning.

Mercer is trying to get innings for the pitchers that don't see the mound very often in the weekend games, but losses like this can come back and affect your postseason status at the end of the regular season.

This team is too good to let a game like this send them in a spiral.

I totally understand getting some of your bench guys at bats and innings on the mound. That’s smart. But basically sacrificing a midweek game to a lousy team is not. Virtually flushed all the good work you do on the weekends.

 

[mobilehoosier]

Baseball is a funny game. Somedays the other guy sees the ball better. May be a good focus moment going into a stacked weekend. Go Hoosiers!

 

[mobilehoosier]

P.S., on a personal note, I need this win v Bama.
Being a Hoosier and living in Alabama, I am still catching shit about Auburn kicking our ass in basketball.
Massive grin!
Go Hoosiers!