Indiana baseball kicked off its 2022 schedule against Clemson University in a three-game weekend series in Clemson, South Carolina.
The Hoosiers’ opening series against the Tigers marked the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Indiana, which was on top of the Big Ten just a few seasons ago and won its seventh Big Ten title in program history in 2019, entered the 2022 season with a nearly completely different roster.
The Hoosiers’ bats found little success at the plate in the opening series. Clemson sophomore starting pitcher Mack Anglin held the Hoosiers hitless until the sixth inning on opening day. Though Indiana’s batters got two hits in the same inning, it didn't carry on from there as the team finished 3-29 in the batter's box on Friday and was shut out 9-0.
The Tigers’ hot hitting continued in the second game of the series Saturday as Clemson totaled 19 runs for a 19-4 win. Indiana started Saturday’s game with an early four-run lead after two innings off a pair of home runs in the first inning by graduate student Tyler Doanes and junior Matthew Ellis and another pair of hits to bring baserunners home in the second inning. From then on, the team’s bats couldn’t replicate the same consistency.
Related: [Indiana’s pitching staff throws itself into winless season-opening series at Clemson]
Indiana failed to record another run in the following seven innings, which eventually helped Clemson tie the score at 4-4 in the fourth inning. The deadlock didn’t last much longer as the Tigers scored twice in the fifth inning and erupted for seven runs in the sixth. Through 18 innings, the Tigers had a combined 28 runs in the first two days.
The final game of the series Sunday saw a back-and-forth battle after a lopsided first two games. Indiana senior Phillip Glasser hit his first home run of the season in the first inning, but similarly to Saturday’s game, Clemson came right back and tied it at 1-1 in the first inning. A double by Indiana sophomore Bobby Whalen and a walk with the bases loaded in the sixth inning gave the Hoosiers a 4-3 lead.
Despite Indiana’s improved pitching performance Sunday, Clemson found a way to comeback. After tying it up at 4-4 in the seventh inning on a walk with the bases loaded, the Tigers used extra innings to sweep the series. Clemson junior Bryar Hawkins hit a sacrifice fly ball in the bottom of the 10th inning to complete the comeback.
Indiana now sits at 0-3 after dropping its first three games of the year and will travel to Oxford, Ohio, to face off against Miami University for one game Tuesday.
