Hoosiers go .500 during break

You win some, you lose some.\nThe IU baseball team took that old adage to heart for its annual spring trip, losing its first four games before rebounding and running off four straight victories to wrap up its Florida visit.\nThe Hoosiers wrapped up their eight-game road trip Saturday with a doubleheader sweep at Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Fla. \nIn Saturday’s first game, IU headed into its half-of-the-ninth inning trailing by a run, but junior catcher Jon Fixler came through with a bases-loaded double that put the Hoosiers up two runs. \nSophomore pitcher Joe Vicini earned his first save of the season, pitching two-thirds of an inning to end the game.\nIn Saturday’s late game, the Hoosiers came alive at the plate with 14 hits while capitalizing on eight A&M errors that led to eight unearned runs scored by IU.\nSophomore center fielder Andrew Means led the way for the Hoosiers, going 3-for-6 in the second game with three runs scored and three RBIs. Means was one of nine players to knock a run in as the Hoosiers romped their way to a 16-10 victory.\nThe win brought IU’s record back up to 8-8 on the season.\nWhile IU wrapped up its spring trip on a positive note, it struggled out of the gate as it traveled to No. 10 Florida State.\nThe Seminoles pitching staff stymied the Hoosier bats, limiting them to just two runs over the course of a three-game sweep, 6-0, 8-2, and 9-0.\nMoving east to Jacksonville, Fla., for a two-game set with North Florida, IU found itself in the midst of a marathon game March 13. \nAfter nine innings, the two teams were knotted up at eight runs apiece as they headed into extra innings. Both IU and North Florida notched a run of their own in the 10th, but both teams settled in for the long haul.\nNeither team was able to muster a run for the next five innings until the Ospreys finally got to junior pitcher Doug Fleenor in the bottom half of the 16th inning. A North Florida double knocked in the winning run in a game that lasted 4 hours and 40 minutes. \nIn four plus innings of relief, Fleenor issued five walks and gave up seven hits but only allowed the one run to score as IU fell 10-9.\nFollowing the extra inning loss, the Hoosiers rebounded to win the next day against North Florida with a 10-9 victory of their own. IU won its Friday opener at Florida A&M before sweeping the Saturday doubleheader.\nThe IU baseball team will now return to Bloomington for its first home series as the Hoosiers host IU-Purdue University at Fort Wayne beginning this Friday at Sembower Field.