In the second inning, freshman infielder Tyler Cerny roped a pitch from junior Colin Bauer over the head of senior second baseman Cade Nelis and watched it roll all the way to the right-center field wall. Cerny, a dangerous baserunner, was thinking three bases out of the box. The Center Grove High School product strolled into third base with a leadoff triple, adding a pop-up slide for style points.
Cerny crossed the plate on a double from redshirt junior Bobby Whalen, opening the floodgates early on for the Hoosiers. Cerny’s leadoff three-bagger started the rally and a scoreboard-jarring three-run blast from sophomore Brock Tibbits punctuated it with an exclamation point. It was the first baseman's first home run of the year.
Not one to be left behind, senior shortstop Phillip Glasser continued his torrid run of form, striking fear into pitchers and baseballs from the east coast to B-Town. He picked up his fourth four-hit performance of the season Wednesday afternoon, driving in two runs, scoring three and swiping his seventh bag of the season for good measure. In total, the Hoosiers scored 15 runs on 14 hits, defeating Purdue Fort Wayne University by a score of 15-1.
The Hoosiers could have ridden the two runs they scored in the first inning all the way to a victory. Indiana’s pitching staff held the Mastodons to one run on just two hits. Redshirt senior Ty Bothwell had his longest outing of the season to date, giving up the lone Mastodon run on a ground rule double. He walked just one batter and fanned six en route to the victory on the bump.
It was a day of firsts for freshman Hoosier hurlers Aydan Decker-Petty and Ethan Phillips, both of whom picked up their first career collegiate strikeouts. Decker-Petty sat down all three batters he faced in order, fanning two as the first relief pitcher out of an Indiana bullpen that went for five shutout innings without allowing a hit.
Head coach Jeff Mercer said after the game that because Indiana plays four games against Bellarmine from Thursday to Saturday, it was critical to utilize Indiana’s bullpen depth. He also stressed the importance of being able to string together multiple wins over the course of consecutive days, referring to this week’s schedule as a “regional environment.”
Indiana has a quick turnaround as it hosts Bellarmine University Thursday at 2 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. but was moved up to late Wednesday afternoon. The entire series will be available for viewing on Big Ten Plus.
