IU surges to 4th straight win

IU freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz’s monstrous two-run home run yesterday in a snowy fifth inning secured going to weekend sweep for the IU baseball team (9-7) against IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne (2-13-1).\nIU now has a four-game winning streak going into a midweek contest against Xavier before starting Big Ten play against Minnesota next weekend. \nBoth games this weekend were played without IU coach Tracy Smith because he served a two-game suspension for a benches-clearing incident in Fresno, Calif., on March 12, which Smith called a “philosophical disagreement.”\nPitching coach Ty Neal took over managing duties for \nthe weekend.\n“I think me being around the game enough, (Smith) trusts me when he is away to manage the games, and it is sort of a guilty pleasure,” Neal said. “I enjoy getting to coach the games.”\nIn IPFW’s half of the fifth inning yesterday, the Hoosiers found themselves up 1-0 but saw the Mastodons threatening with men on the corners and no outs. But IU starting pitcher junior Tyler Tufts was determined to get out of the inning without a blemish. \nTufts stormed off the mound to cut off a Mastodon squeeze bunt, and instead of settling for the safe play at first, he threw home to sophomore catcher Josh Phegley who blocked the plate, holding IPFW scoreless.\n“Tufts was very good today,” Neal said. “We can’t control what happens behind us, can’t control what the hitter does or what the umpires do, but we can control what we do, and that is fielding our position.”\nNow with runners on second and first, the next IPFW batter grounded out to Tufts, who began a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the jam.\nSchutz said the great defense in the top half of the fifth enlivened the whole team, which was evident as junior center fielder Andrew Means launched a triple over the Mastodon center fielder’s head in the bottom half of the inning. Means scored on the next at-bat when sophomore second baseman Evan Crawford flew out to center field.\nPhegley laced a single, and then Schutz’s towering home run to right-center put the Hoosiers up for good as they would go on to win 4-2.\nOn Saturday, sophomore pitcher Matt Bashore turned in a solid performance, striking out nine batters and allowing only two runs while walking four.\n“Bashore was obviously good, not as good as he usually is, but did a good job battling,” Neal said. \nBut IU found itself down in the bottom half of the ninth. After a Mastodon reliever walked in the game-tying run, Means extended his hitting streak to 13 games as he drove in the game-winning run in the Hoosiers’ home opener.\n“It was a tough day at the plate for me,” Means said. “But I just wanted to get the win for this team and get us going in the right direction.”\nThe Hoosiers’ four-game win streak will be tested by Xavier, which comes to Bloomington at 3 p.m. Wednesday.