IU loses 5th in a row as bats stumble

Amazing defense from visiting Ball State subdued the IU baseball team’s normally strong offense Wednesday at Sembower Field. The Cardinals turned five double plays and held the Hoosiers to two runs on nine hits.\n“I don’t think that I have ever been in a game where we have hit into five double plays,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “You can do everything right – hit a ball hard – but once it leaves your bat, you are totally out of control of it.”\nWith the 5-2 non-conference loss, the Hoosiers fell to 15-18 on the year and now are on a five-game losing skid. \nA changeup from usual on their losing streak saw the Hoosier pitching staff, instead of their bats, excel Wednesday. The Cream and Crimson used five pitchers but kept an explosive Cardinal offense (21-11), boasting 55 home runs this season, in check.\nThe strongest performance on the mound came from sophomore Chris Squires, who allowed only one hit and struck out four in two innings of work.\n“I felt like I had nothing to lose,” said Squires, who came on in relief in the eighth. “I just used this as an opportunity today to go out there and say, ‘Hey, let’s just get these guys out, let’s go in, try and get a hit and not think about anything else.’” \nAgainst a strong Ball State team, the bullpen only allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings, a far cry from the team’s 6.04 earned run average.\nSmith says he loves baseball because “it is so unpredictable – so cruel.”\nThe cruelty he was referring to was his staff pitching well but getting no offensive help.\nLetting up five runs Wednesday and another five Tuesday against Louisville, the Hoosiers’ pitching is coming around after letting up 47 in a four game series with Iowa last weekend.\nBut the five double plays and the sudden dysfunction of his offense frustrates the third-year coach since the same bats led the Big Ten entering Wednesday’s game in batting average at .330 and runs scored at 221.\n“You hit, you hit, you hit and the pitchers don’t shut anybody down,” Smith said. “So you say, ‘Darnit pitchers, shut somebody down.’ And then when you do you don’t (hit).”\nJunior designated hitter Chris Hervey chalked up the double plays to baseball’s randomness and said he didn’t think it would happen again.\nThe Hoosiers will now travel east to Big Ten foe Penn State for a four-game series beginning Friday at 6:35 p.m. \nIU and the Nittany Lions both have 4-8 conference records and are tied with Iowa at the bottom of the division. Squires said wins on the road in the Big Ten are always hard to come by, but that his team is better and wins this weekend would be very valuable in moving out of last place.\nSmith said he refuses to check where his team’s conference record has them ranked and agrees with Squires that this weekend will be important.\n“I refuse to give up on this team, and they know they are going to win some games,” he said. “Five double plays are evidence of that, it can’t get any worse.”