Hoosiers lose 4-3 to Aces

The Hoosiers (5-24, 1-3) lost in the toughest fashion – via a walk-off home run in extra innings.

Evansville (8-18, 2-8) knocked IU off 4-3 on a ninth-inning home run from the tip of second baseman Kristen Shirk’s bat.

“We just didn’t finish the game,” senior shortstop Emily Bergeson said.

The senior stepped up with a 2 RBI single in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game for the Hoosiers at 3-3.

The loss will be charged to sophomore pitcher Sara Olsen (4-6) in the stat book, but Olsen did all she could to keep the Hoosiers alive. The sophomore pitcher was able to hold the Purple Aces to two earned runs in five and one-thirds innings of work.
On top of that, Olsen got the Hoosier rally going with a solo home run to start off the seventh inning.

Although the Hoosiers suffered a tough loss, they were able to take away a couple of positives.

“We learn from every situation,” Bergeson said.  “We kept battling, and that’s the No. 1 thing.

The loss marks the fourth-straight one-run game the Hoosiers have played in. With talented Northwestern next on the schedule, IU knows it has to have a short-term memory.

“We need to clear our heads and focus on this weekend,” Bergeson said.