Indiana baseball brought out the brooms for the fourth straight weekend. The Hoosiers may not have swept the entire three-game series at Penn State, but, after dropping Saturday's series-opener 7-2, Indiana swept Sunday's doubleheader 4-1 and 22-11, winning the series.
There's an aura about Indiana that, whenever the opposition scores, the Hoosiers are personally offended. That may explain the numerous comeback victories this season: Texas, Georgetown, Bellarmine twice, Morehead State and most recently, Ohio State twice.
"When someone scores, and we walk in the dugout, it's like, alright, they scored; now they're going to see what we got," Indiana junior outfielder Bobby Whalen said Wednesday before playing Penn State. "We take a lot of pride in rebounding from bad innings or innings that could have gone better. It's just a confidence thing and just a positive attitude."
Two of Penn State's premier arms, right-handed juniors Jaden Henline and Travis Luensmann, stunted Indiana's bats Saturday. Henline pitched the first five innings, allowing just two runs. Luensmann secured the 12-out save, striking out 10 Hoosiers.
Indiana went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Sophomore infielder Brock Tibbitts, who recorded his fourth-career four-hit performance, drove in Indiana's two runs. Saturday marked Luke Sinnard's first loss of the season. The sophomore right-hander tossed five innings, allowed two home runs and struck out two batters — Sinnard's new season low.
Indiana's eight-game win streak vanished. By the end of the third inning, the Hoosiers trailed for the remainder of Saturday's loss — stranding eight runners on the basepaths in the final five innings — failing to replicate one of their previous comeback victories. That posed the alternative for the Hoosiers to come from behind in the series as a whole.
Indiana’s three-run second inning in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader put the Hoosiers ahead 4-0. If that’s not personal, well, Penn State used two three-run innings to win 7-2 Saturday. Tibbitts again drove in two of those four runs, hitting a two-run single.
In the fourth inning, Penn State countered as senior outfielder Johnny Piacentino and graduate infielder Grant Norris knocked back-to-back extra-base hits against Indiana right-handed junior starter Seti Manase. That marked the third run Manase has allowed through 22 innings pitched this season. Indiana still led 4-1 and evened the series by that score.
Left-handed sophomore Ryan Kraft entered for Manase in the fourth, retiring the last batter to strand Norris in scoring position. Both Indiana and Penn State were held scoreless for the remainder of the game. Kraft tossed his new career-high 5⅓ shutout innings to seal the victory. Despite Penn State graduate right-hander Steven Miller hurling 7⅓ scoreless innings, Indiana's four runs charged to graduate starter Daniel Ouderkirk proved the decider.
Ouderkirk lasted 1⅔ innings. The Hoosiers batted just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position — Tibbitts' two-run single, a sacrifice fly and a groundout totaled the four runs.
In the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, Indiana's conversion rate with runners in scoring position spiked to 11-for-25. Again, a three-run third inning put Indiana up 4-0 early. Again, Penn State countered. Unlike Sunday's first game, Penn State took the lead, 6-4.
Penn State senior infielder Josh Spiegel tallied the go-ahead two-run base hit against Indiana senior reliever Craig Yoho — the runs were charged to the previous Indiana reliever, graduate Gabe Levy. Yoho and left-handed senior Nathan Ball combined to hold Penn State scoreless for the next three innings. Meanwhile, Indiana regained the lead, 13-6.
The Nittany Lions chased Ball out of the game in the seventh inning, scoring five runs to close the gap, 14-11. Graduate right-hander reliever Wes Burton entered the game and stranded the bases-loaded in what could have been a disastrous half-inning for Indiana.
The Hoosiers took that rally attempt personally — scoring eight unanswered insurance runs in the ninth inning to win 22-11 — sweeping the doubleheader. Burton held Penn State scoreless over the final two innings, earning his first save this season.
Following the 2-1 comeback series victory, Indiana improves to 5-1 in the Big Ten, tied for first place with Michigan in the standings. The team’s season continues Tuesday at Indiana State University. The first pitch is set for 5 p.m.
