Indiana baseball headed into its three-game weekend set with Maryland on Saturday needing some wins as it sat at just 20-17. The Terrapins needed it more than Indiana, sitting at 17-21 and sporting a 4-11 record in conference. This series will be a scrappy one for both teams and something has to give.
The first game of any series is big. A win sets the tone early and gets you off to a great start to the weekend. A loss, obviously, raises some eyebrows and starts you off on the wrong foot.
The Hoosiers and Terps got off to a very one-sided affair in game one. But when it came to winning time, Indiana made the right plays and kept Maryland off the score sheet. Down five (6-1) entering the bottom of the eighth, the Hoosiers rallied back to beat Maryland 7-6 with a walk-off single from Will Moore.
The comeback started late, but it was a comeback nonetheless. Here are three big keys to Friday’s victory.
Ryan Kraft showed up huge in 4.1 relief innings, only allowing one run to keep the comeback within sight
Indiana threw Jackson Yarberry to the hill for the start on Friday. Yarberry’s final line looked brutal, but it was really just a couple pitches that he would’ve liked back. He went 2 IP with 4 R on 2 H, with 3 BB and 1 K on 11 batters faced. All four runs were hit home on a grand slam in the second inning by Eddie Hacopian of Maryland. Jeff Mercer took the ball from Yarberry, and in came Ryan Kraft.
Kraft was nowhere near perfect. Kraft arguably had a worse line than Yarberry, giving up six hits, but zero runs. Kraft pitched fabulously, eating up four and one third innings for IU.
Before you can even think about the offense, Kraft keeping the Terps off the board kept Indiana in the game and kept the idea of a resurgent comeback alive in the minds of his teammates and Hoosier fans.
“Get ahead, stay ahead,” Kraft said postgame. “Maryland is a great offense and with the wind blowing out, anything can happen. Just trusting your stuff to get outs and then pass the baton to the next guy.”
Kraft added that he felt “pretty good” on his execution and that it's one pitch at a time.
Indiana chomped at the bit on the Maryland starter. Once replaced, the runs came with great at-bats
Maryland’s starting pitcher Friday, Kyle McCoy, was tremendous with six innings of clean ball until giving up two runs as part of Indiana’s comeback eighth inning. Indiana got to McCoy well at times, stranding runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth innings. But as the bases got full and the innings got longer, McCoy would find ways out.
Once the Hoosiers finally got to McCoy in the eighth, the flood gates started to open. The at-bats were competitive and the hitting was timely in some of the most nail-bitingly high leverage moments of the season.
McCoy threw 110 total pitches and also had eight strikeouts. Postgame, Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer touted him a “big leaguer.”
Mercer also credited his team’s demeanor down the stretch and to keep going, especially after having a tough night against McCoy.
“We’ve lost a couple close games and we had the opportunity to break through and win,” Mercer said. “We’ve lost a ton of those games. We’ve had guys on base late and opportunities and we haven’t always come through so to finish it today is a big deal.”
Will Moore’s final two plate appearances were the most important of the game. The first was more complex, but just as big as the second
The at-bat from Will Moore, immediately following the two-run home run from Cooper Malamazian in the bottom of the eighth, was Mercer’s answer when he was asked about the most important part of the comeback.
Moore’s at-bat following the home run was a six-pitch walk. Since the Hoosiers were still down a run, the ability to get back on base, as soon as they were emptied, was giant for Indiana. Mercer said that it's about keeping the pressure on the opposing pitching. Simply, the Hoosiers had come far enough and there was no point in backing down with just one run to left to go in the climb.
“As simple as it sounds, the next guy that gets on base is critical,” Mercer said.
But why was it so critical? The answer, a mostly the pitching strategy in the top of the ninth and the difference between a one-run deficit and a tie ball game. The magnitude of those two scenarios change, in the top of the eighth, that magnitude is very high. Mercer even described it as “no man’s land.”
“You don’t want to send (pitcher Jacob) Vogel back out, you don’t want to go to (pitcher Ben) Grable and so you are kind of stuck,” Mercer said. “I was praying we would tie it, and it would make the decision a lot easier.”
The next at-bats resulted in a Jake Stadler flyout that advanced Moore from second after stealing a base, an intentional walk to Devin Taylor, and then the tying RBI single from Korbyn Dickerson.
A win to start any weekend series will get any team feeling good, but Indiana needs more. There is still so much work to do. Moore and Kraft said postgame that this is a kind of win that creates a new season.
Indiana will look to tack onto the Terrapins, Saturday and Sunday at Bart Kaufman Field. The last two games of the series will begin at 2 p.m. EST Saturday and 1 p.m. EST Sunday.
