Indiana baseball (11-18, 4-9 Big Ten) got exactly what it needed on Friday, leaving no doubt in their series opener against Rutgers (15-14, 4-6 B1G) by defeating the Scarlet Knights 11-0 in seven innings at Bart Kaufman Field.
Friday’s victory snapped a six-game Hoosier losing streak that stretched back to March 22, which included two midweek losses and a series sweep at the hands of Nebraska. Indiana is also now 3-0 in series openers at home, with all three occurring on Friday nights against conference opponents. It was the second run-rule win of the season for Indiana, with the other being the Hoosiers’ 15-3 win over Bradley in IU’s home opener.
Tony Neubeck took the bump, and the Indiana ace shut down Rutgers’ lineup, throwing six scoreless innings while fanning eight Scarlet Knights. The graduate transfer from Missouri has now pitched 18 innings home this season, having only allowed four runs thus far.
Jacob Vogel then came in to get the final three outs in the seventh. Neubeck and Vogel combined to pitch a three-hit shutout, striking out 10 while not giving up a single walk nor hit by pitch.
“Tony was electric tonight. Really pressured them [Rutgers] at the top of the zone and was able to execute there all night,” head coach Jeff Mercer said after the game. “And then Vogel was able to come in and do the same thing.”
The cream and crimson bats provided more than enough run support for Neubeck. The Hoosiers hit three home runs on the night, taking advantage of the warm weather conditions, with the nearly 80-degree temperatures certainly helping the ball carry.
Jake Hanley, Will Moore and Hogan Denny each hit one out of the park, with seven of Indiana’s 11 runs being recorded on those three shots.
The homers by Hanley and Moore certainly got some help from the wind, while Denny’s on the other hand left no doubt, as he put one above the scoreboard in left field.
“The whole year we've been hitting not bad, but it’s those timely hits with runners in scoring position that we’ve been really lacking success with,” Denny said after the game. “Capitalizing on those opportunities was huge and looking forward to carrying that through the rest of the weekend.”
All nine batters in the Indiana lineup recorded at least one hit on Friday. Caleb Koskie returned from injury and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, while Decker extended his on-base streak to a team-best 14 games.
Indiana will go for their second conference series victory Saturday evening, but weather will push the start time back to 6 p.m. Eastern after the game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Mercer did not announce a starting pitcher for Saturday’s game.
