Over the weekend, Indiana baseball was swept by preseason No. 11 North Carolina. The Hoosiers scored a total of nine runs in that series.
It took Indiana no more than four innings on Tuesday to surpass that total in one game. The Hoosiers hosted Bradley in the home opener looking to bounce back from an unfortunate start to the year. Indiana defeated Bradley 15-3 in what was a pure offensive masterclass.
The Hoosier batting lineup features one of the more promising top to bottom lineups in the conference. But, it is a lineup that is driven by underclassmen. Eight of the nine starters announced on Tuesday were freshman or sophomores. The young Hoosiers rose to the challenge, as every player who recorded a hit was an underclassman.
It didn’t take long for the Indiana offense to make its mark on the game. Sophomore Hogan Denny deposited a two-run bomb over the left field wall in the bottom of the first inning to give Indiana an early 2-0 lead.
Less than two innings later, Denny seemingly replicated his home run from the first inning, and hit another two-run homer over the left field wall. Both of the homers went 427 feet and left the yard with plenty of clearance to spare.
Denny entered the year with expectations of being one of, if not the best offensive weapon for this Hoosier ballclub, and he played the role perfectly on Tuesday night.
The sophomore finished 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs, three runs scored and a team-high four runs driven in. Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer praised the performance of Denny postgame.
“He’s one of the best players in the conference, if not the country,” Mercer said. “He’s a great player, he’s tough, he’s a great teammate, he’s a great leader, he’s just a very special kid.”
Denny wouldn’t be the only Hoosier to provide contributions on the offensive end. In fact, six other Hoosiers drove in runs in the win.
The bottom of the fourth inning was where Indiana hit its stride offensively. The Hoosiers pushed across eight runs in the frame, thanks to six hits and one Bradley error.
The underclassmen-driven outburst started when sophomore Jake Hanley drew a bases loaded walk, followed by an RBI bloop single by fellow sophomore Cooper Malamazian. Sophomore Cole Decker hit a sacrifice fly to drive in another run, followed by an RBI double by another sophomore in Caleb Koskie.
The inning didn’t stop there.
Freshman Landen Fry picked up his first hit as a Hoosier, driving in a pair of runs on a single. Freshman Cal Gates singled to advance the baserunners for sophomore Will Moore who drove in the last two runs of the inning with his single to center field.
The fourth inning spurt gave Indiana a 12-2 advantage, which was added on to in each of the last two half-innings to the plate for the Cream and Crimson.
Malamazian hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Hanley hit a two-run inside-the-park-homer thanks to the Bradley left fielder losing the fly ball in the lights.
Despite the three homers that left the yard, Mercer doesn’t want his ballclub to start relying on the long-ball.
“Instant offense is nice, but not relying on it was a main focal point for us,” Mercer said postgame. “If we want to hit three or four homers a game, that would be okay too, just can’t be the only way we score.”
The offensive outburst gives Indiana a much needed confidence boost, especially with a young, and very promising offensive lineup that faced some adversity over the weekend.
This is a young lineup, with another big task ahead of them, a set of three games this weekend: one with each of No. 2 LSU, Central Florida and Notre Dame.
Indiana will have a few days of rest before heading to Jacksonville, Florida to take part in the Live Like Lou Jacksonville Baseball Classic.
