IU’s bats turn cold; pitching, defense win game against Miami

A sunny Wednesday afternoon yielded an ugly, hard-fought baseball contest at Sembower Field. \nThe IU baseball team (13-9) defeated Miami of Ohio (6-18) 5-2, calling on its defense and pitching as the afternoon air cooled the Hoosier bats.\nIU senior Doug Fleenor started and got the win for the Hoosiers, pitching six solid innings and allowing only one hit and one earned run while striking out five.\n“Things were working well today,” Fleenor said. “All of my pitches were working, and when that happens, it is going to be a pretty good day.”\nIn only his fourth appearance this season, junior left-hander Joe Vicini pitched two solid innings, allowing only one hit and surrendering one walk.\n“I give Joe a ton of credit,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “He hadn’t been out there much, and he kept his focus and pounded the strike zone.”\nSophomore Chris Squires pitched his first inning since getting roughed up in Minnesota on Sunday when he gave up four runs on five hits in only 1 2/3 innings pitched.\nSquires seemed to have put his poor performance behind him as he worked a flawless ninth, retiring the side and earning his third save of \nthe season.\n“If you followed the game at all, the Sunday game at Minnesota, Squires struggled a little,” Smith said. “But I was proud of him for getting right back out there and attacking the strike zone. I thought he was very sharp today.”\nIU broke the game open in the bottom half of the fourth. The inning saw three Hoosiers cross home and was highlighted by an RBI bunt single by senior shortstop David Trager and a hustle play by sophomore second baseman Evan Crawford that beat what would have been an inning-ending double play, allowing the last of the Hoosier runs in the frame.\nBut by game’s end, the Hoosiers had stranded 10 runners as the Miami pitching staff teamed up to walk four batters on top of beaning six Hoosier batters. \n“Today wasn’t a great offensive day for us, and I think games like that are going to happen where we won’t swing the bat well,” Trager said. “I think our pitchers really stepped up and got a good start and good relief pitching. Those are the type of games we are going to have to win to do some damage in the Big Ten.”\nHighlighting the team’s defensive effort was junior center fielder Andrew Means, who made two diving catches on the day. The first came in the seventh inning as he nearly took out a teammate, sophomore Chris Hervey, in left field. \nThen in the eighth, Means bailed out freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz who threw his hand in the air during a fly ball hit in his direction, signaling he lost the ball in the sun.\n“It was good from a coaching stand point to see us win with pitching and defense,” Smith said. “Andrew Means was phenomenal in center field, and we took care of the baseball – with the exception of a double-play. Sometimes you have to win games like that, and it was good to see.”\nThe Hoosiers have their Big Ten home opener at 3 p.m. Friday as they host Illinois in the first meeting of a four-\ngame series.