Indiana baseball faced No. 11 North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Friday, looking for their first opening day victory since head coach Jeff Mercer’s inaugural season in 2019. It was the first of a three-game set, a true road series for Mercer’s squad against one of the best teams in the country. Despite showing signs of promise, the Hoosiers couldn’t get out of their own way time and time again, and ultimately fell to the Tar Heels, 9-4.
Transfer LHP Tony Neubeck got the start and was spectacular in his Hoosier debut, tossing four scoreless innings while only surrendering one hit. The former Missouri Tiger induced two double plays, and stranded two in scoring position in the first inning to keep the game scoreless.
The Indiana bats were quiet early on. They had no answers for North Carolina starter Jason DeCaro, who fanned seven Hoosiers across five scoreless innings of work.
Transfer RHP Reagan Rivera entered in relief of Neubeck in the bottom of the fifth. That’s when the North Carolina bats woke up. The Tar Heels loaded the bases before a Jake Schaffner sacrifice fly put the home team on the board. A two-run triple from Gavin Gallaher made it 3-0, North Carolina.
Indiana responded in the top of the sixth, as sophomore Cole Decker banked one off the second base bag with the bases loaded to bring in two runs and make it 3-2.
Rivera returned for his second inning of work in the bottom of the sixth, and that is when everything went wrong for the Hoosiers.
The inning started with a Cooper Malamazian error, as he attempted to backhand a Macon Winslow ground ball. Rivera then loaded the bases before throwing a wild pitch that scored Winslow. Cole Decker could not track a Tyler Howe fly ball that ended up over his head in left field for a double, bringing in another run. Back-to-back extra base hits opened up the flood gates, as by the end of Rivera’s day, it was 8-2 in favor of North Carolina.
Rivera was charged with seven hits and nine runs, eight of them being earned. He only recorded four outs.
Another wild pitch, this time from reliever Michael Sarhatt, made it 9-2 before the inning finally ended.
That wild pitch was the only mistake Sarhatt made, as he was excellent in his 2.2 innings of relief. More importantly, the transfer from Point Loma preserved the rest of Indiana’s pitching staff for a doubleheader tomorrow.
Indiana’s bats woke up too little too late. Jake Hanley’s first knock of the season produced two runs in the top of the ninth before Malamazian was retired to end the game. The Hoosiers left 10 runners on base for the game while striking out 12 times. Indiana finished 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Indiana will look to bounce back Saturday as they stay in Chapel Hill to play a doubleheader against North Carolina to close out the series. The first game will begin at noon, with the second game to start one hour after the end of the opening game.
