While the bats and pitching have been extremely productive for Indiana baseball as of lately, they weren’t effective enough this past weekend, as the Hoosiers dropped two of three games to Illinois.
Riding a four-game win streak, Indiana hit the road, taking a short drive to Champaign, Illinois, facing the Fighting Illini in a three-game weekend series.
Friday
Pete Haas started on the hill for Indiana in what would be a bullpen day. Haas stood on the mound for two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, while striking out five.
The outing was Haas’ fifth time opening a game and his 13th appearance of the season. He now holds a 4.68 ERA over 25.0 innings.
Following Haas’ departure, Anthony Gubitosi allowed three earned runs across one frame, putting Illinois in the lead for what would be the remainder of the game.
While the combination of Haas, Gubitosi, Ryan Kraft and Jacob Vogel gave up just four runs, Indiana’s offense struggled to put the bat on the ball, collecting just two runs on five hits.
Even with Indiana’s offense failing to produce much, Devin Taylor assisted in putting Indiana ahead in the third inning, drilling a double which scored Jake Stadler off of a throwing error. Taylor’s double was tabbed as his 200th collegiate career hit, becoming the 25th player in program history to reach the feat.
Illinois starting pitcher Tyler Schmitt tossed an absolute gem, throwing for seven innings, allowing three hits, one run, zero earned runs, three walks and six strikeouts. Schmitt’s strong outing guided Illinois to victory in game one, 4-2.
Saturday
After being limited to just two runs in game one, Indiana completely turned it around in game two.
Indiana put together a five-run second inning, highlighted by RBI singles from Taylor and Jake Hanley.
The bats continued for Indiana periodically, scoring runs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Notably, Caleb Koskie compiled two doubles in this period, driving in a total of three runs and Hogan Denny homered and doubled in the back half of the game, driving in two runs.
Behind a strong offense, the duo of Indiana pitchers Ben Grable and Cole Gilley combined to silence Illinois batters.
While Grable lasted just 3.2 innings, Gilley completed the remainder of the game, allowing just one earned run on three hits across 5.1 innings, fanning seven batters.
Gilley has been a key difference maker for Indiana recently. In Gilley’s past seven appearances, Indiana has gone on to win each of the games. This is a stretch dating back to March 14 against Ohio State.
The strong all-around efforts from Indiana tied the series up at one a piece, with Indiana running away with game two, 12-3.
Sunday
Looking for a series victory and a pitcher to eat innings, Indiana handed the ball to Gavin Seebold.
Seebold, who had lasted for four or more innings in his past three appearances, left the ballgame after just one and a third innings pitched. Seebold initially allowed three runs in the first inning from a Vytas Valincius bases-loaded double, then erupted in the second inning, letting up five earned runs before being removed from the inning.
The bullpen defending Seebold consisted of Grant Holderfield, Aydan Decker-Petty, Brayton Thomas and Henry Brummel. The group continued the trend of poor pitching, allowing seven runs on 10 hits and five walks.
Indiana’s offense was unable to offset the poor pitching performance, getting shut out until the top of the seventh inning, where Tyler DeMartino blasted a pinch-hit solo home run in his fifth at-bat of the season.
Illinois’ lights-out pitching in addition to dominant hitting closed the game early in the seventh inning with a run rule, defeating Indiana 15-1, taking the weekend series.
Indiana will head back home and look to get back on track, hosting Indiana State on Tuesday in a non-conference midweek matchup. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. EST from Bart Kaufman Field.
