Hoosiers drop 8th straight game

Tracy Smith’s ball club had been looking for a win since April 15. But Miami University of Ohio dealt the Hoosiers their eighth loss in a row following a 10-1 loss to the Redhawks, as victory no. 15 eluded IU Tuesday night.\nReturning to Oxford, Ohio for the first time since he left the Redhawks to coach IU two years ago, Smith saw his Hoosiers succumb to Miami pitching with a team four-hit performance – all coming on singles.\nIn his seventh start of the season, junior pitcher Doug Fleenor failed to build on his 1-4 record and 5.02 ERA start to the season. The left-hander gave up six runs – four earned – over 4 and 1/3 innings as the Hoosiers dropped to 14-23 on the season.\nCoach Smith was displeased with his team’s apparent lack of effort Tuesday night. \n“I’m just disappointed because we rolled over and tonight, for whatever reason, we were very flat and lethargic,” Smith said. “There was no fight in us, and I just thought we didn’t have any competitiveness tonight.”\nAfter Redhawk pitcher Nick Kurash blanked IU hitters through the first two innings, Miami got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. With runners on first and second base, a fielder’s choice scored designated hitter Eric Darlage due to a throwing error by IU second baseman Evan Crawford.\nFleenor gave up three runs in the fourth inning, two of which came off a double by Miami freshman and right fielder Gary King. Another throwing error by the Hoosier infield – this time by IU first baseman Jon Fixler – scored another unearned run for the Redhawks and put IU in an early 4-0 hole.\nIn the following inning, Smith elected to go to his bullpen after Fleenor gave up two more runs. After retiring the first batter of the bottom of the fifth, the IU pitcher gave up a single, followed by a triple and another single to make the score 6-0.\nAdding to the team’s starting pitching woes, the IU bullpen failed to hold the Redhawk offense at bay, giving up three runs in the bottom of the sixth and one more in the bottom of the seventh.\nWith runners on first and second and two out in the top of the ninth, the Hoosiers scored their lone run of the game on a single from sophomore pinch hitter Billy O’Conner. However, the Redhawks retired freshman left fielder Sterling Mack right after to close the game.\nIn the midst of the Hoosiers’ longest losing streak of the season, Smith admitted the blame doesn’t just fall on his team’s performance, but on him as well.\n“Obviously I’m the leader of this ship, so something’s not clicking,” Smith said. “But you hope that, at some point, as a competitor and an athlete, you say ‘enough is enough.’ And at some point, someone’s going to need to step up and refuse to lose, but we’re just not getting that right now.”\nThe Hoosiers will return to Bloomington this weekend, with a four-game series against Penn State beginning Friday.