IU victorious in pitching dual

For three and a half innings Saturday, Minnesota and IU engaged in a pitching dual between the Golden Gophers' Piper Marten and the Hoosiers' Alison Cooke, a junior. The game was scoreless heading into the Hoosiers' half of the fourth when a two-run home run by sophomore third baseman Stormy Hanson gave IU (11-22, 1-3) a 2-0 lead they would not relinquish.\nJunior Brooke Monroe started things off in the bottom of the fourth with a double to left-center. Two batters later, Hanson hit a towering fly ball, which bounced off the left field fair pole for Hanson's second home run of the season. Unaware the ball had cleared the fence, Hanson paused at second until coach Diane Stephenson gave her the word she had in fact hit a home run.\n"I think that when she hit the ball, she didn't realize that it had gone out of the park," Stephenson said. \nHanson said she wasn't sure if the ball had cleared the fence.\n"When you hit the ball, you don't look where it goes, you just run. So that's what I did. I knew it was a long fly ball to left field," Hanson said. "I wasn't sure if it hit off the foul pole or the fence. I just stopped because I didn't want to run Brooke (Monroe) off the base. \nHanson has mastered the art of the suspenseful home run. Her two shots this year have cleared the yard by only a few feet, collectively.\n"A home run is a home run. Whether it hits the girl's glove and falls over or whether it hits the foul pole, it's still a homerun," Hanson said.\nNot to be forgotten in Hanson's heroics is the effort of Cooke, who improved her record to 8-12 and 1-1 in the Big Ten.\nStephenson said the Hoosiers' battery of Cooke and Monroe took care of the Gopher hitters.\n"Alison (Cooke) did a great job of controlling (Minnesota) and keeping them totally off balance," Stephenson said. "I think a reason Alison (Cooke) has had some success this year is because Brooke (Monroe) is really in tune."\nCooke scattered eight hits, while walking none and striking out five.\n"The way I approached the game is I was going to give it 190 percent out there," Cooke said.\nSunday, a five-run first inning wasn't enough to down Minnesota (23-11-1, 2-2), as the Gophers came back to beat IU 6-5.\nThe Hoosiers jumped out of the gate in the top of the first with seven hits off Minnesota starter Angie Recknor\nOnce Marten came into the game, Hoosier bats fell completely silent, as IU couldn't muster a hit against the freshman. Marten went six and a third innings, allowed no hits, walked one and struck out four for Minnesota.\nHoosier batters, who managed two runs against Marten Saturday, could not figure out the righthander Sunday.\n"I think we kept swinging at her rise ball, which is not good," senior rightfielder Melissa Narewski said. "Obviously, she pretty much shut us out."\nThe Hoosiers did have a shot at tying up the game in the seventh inning, with the heart of the order to up for IU. But Marten's dominance continued, as she got through the inning with only a walk to Monroe.\n"I knew they could have put one over just as easily today as they did yesterday," Marten said of facing Monroe and Hanson.\nHanson's hit-streak reached 10 games with a single in the first inning.\nCooke, who came into the game in relief of senior Jen Smith, picked up the loss, as her record fell to 8-13 and 1-2 in conference play.