On a cold, windy Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, Indiana baseball dropped the second game of its final nonconference series of the season, falling to Abilene Christian 8-4 at Bart Kaufman Field. After run-ruling the Wildcats on Friday, the Hoosiers lost the lead in the fourth
inning and never got it back as they were unable to string together any sort of sustained momentum.
Indiana (17-22, 6-12 Big Ten) sent out sophomore LHP Brayton Thomas, who struggled to find his footing on the mound. The Fort Wayne native spanned just 3.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits while walking three and striking out eight. Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer touched on what went wrong for Thomas postgame.
“He’s managed innings, and today he just didn’t manage it,” Mercer said. “He had good stuff, but he wasn’t good enough. He didn’t handle the adversity well enough.”
After an efficient top of the first, Thomas allowed his first run in the top of the second on an RBI single from senior Kanon Sundgren. It was the first of three RBIs on the day for Sundgren who, alongside freshman Brady Ladusau, accounted for six of the seven earned runs on the day for Abilene Christian (19-19, 2-4 WAC).
The Wildcats eventually chased Thomas out of the game in the top of the fourth. A two-RBI single to left center from Sundgren followed by another run scored via a wild pitch gave ACU a 4-2 lead, one it held on to the rest of the way. An inning later, Ladusau launched a two-run home run to left off redshirt-junior RHP Jacob Vogel, doubling the lead and putting the game out of reach for the Hoosiers.
The Wildcats plated an insurance run in both the seventh as well as the ninth innings. Ladusau notched his second home run of the game against freshman RHP Ivan Mastalski, while senior LHP Anthony Gubitosi issued a bases-loaded walk as ACU continued to build on its lead.
Meanwhile, for just the second time in its last 11 games, Indiana scored fewer than five runs. Sophomore outfielder Cole Decker put the Hoosiers on the board in the opening frame with an RBI single, and he added his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third. Redshirt freshman Brayden Ricketts and sophomore Hogan Denny each added solo home runs later in the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome multiple four-run deficits.
“We didn’t do a good job of lining up consistently and playing the game the way the game was required to win,” Mercer said. “And so, consequently, you don’t break through offensively and be able to score the runs that we’re accustomed to scoring.”
Despite Indiana’s offensive struggles, a bright spot from Saturday’s loss was sophomore outfielder Caleb Koskie, who with another base hit extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Koskie’s emergence has been key to the success of the Hoosier offense, as he continues to find his way on base even on nights where the offense isn’t playing well.
Indiana will look to bounce back Sunday as the series with the Wildcats is up for grabs, with first pitch from Bart Kaufman Field slated for noon.
