Following a 2023 season in which Indiana baseball compiled 43 wins and dropped just two midweek games, this year’s campaign has been starkly volatile.
Just this past weekend, the Hoosiers averaged nine runs per game in a three-game series win over Minnesota. Wednesday afternoon, though, Indiana tied Ball State University 7-7 in 12 innings in Muncie, Indiana, after the game ended early due to the ballpark’s lack of adequate lighting.
Including Wednesday’s contest, the Hoosiers have failed to beat four teams in midweek games ranking worse than No. 100 in the NCAA Baseball RPI. With bullpen struggles and untimely offensive slumps headlining the Hoosiers’ misfortunes, they now find themselves on the outside looking in for the NCAA Tournament.
Against Ball State on Wednesday, which was initially scheduled to be played Tuesday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis, those both were evident at times. Sophomore righty Ethan Phillips got the start on the mound in Indiana’s staff game and only managed a single inning of work. After Indiana went down in order in the top of the first, the Cardinals immediately pounced.
Phillips surrendered three doubles and four total hits which amounted to a 3-0 Ball State advantage in the first frame. The Dunedin, Florida, native has endured a rocky second season with the Hoosiers, giving up 19 earned runs in 27 1/3 innings.
Indiana redshirt sophomore southpaw Brandon Keyster commanded a scoreless second with a pair of strikeouts, but Ball State’s bats quickly revived in the third. With Hoosier senior Jack Moffitt on the mound, the Cardinals put runners on first and second with two outs.
Ball State junior Nick Husovsky ripped a single to right field to plate his second RBI of the afternoon and put the Cardinals up 4-0. Indiana redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski singled to drive in sophomore Devin Taylor in the fourth to notch the Hoosiers’ first run, marking the first baseman’s sixth consecutive game with a hit.
Still, Indiana hardly mustered much more offensively until late. With the Hoosiers’ bullpen growing thin --- they used their fifth arm by the fifth inning --- the lineup couldn’t match the consistent production of the Cardinals.
With Indiana junior lefty Ryan Kraft taking over for freshman Seth Benes in the bottom of the fifth, Ball State tacked on another pair of runs. After Kraft issued a walk and surrendered a double, Husovsky added a third RBI, a single to left field, on an 0-2 count.
Still, Kraft couldn’t escape the jam with runners on second and third and two outs. Cardinal sophomore Dylan Grego brought home Husovsky with a single to put Ball State up 6-1 and knock two runs off Kraft for the first time in a month.
In the top of the sixth, down 0-1 in the count to Ball State junior reliever Logan Schulfer, Indiana junior Josh Pyne doubled to collect his 200th collegiate hit, becoming the first Hoosier to do so since 2018.
Still, the following three batters were retired in order and Indiana unceremoniously headed into the bottom of the frame. Junior Julian Tonghini held the Cardinals scoreless, but they added another insurance run in the seventh.
Evan Whiteaker took over for Tonghini, marking just the sophomore’s eighth outing of the season. He kept the damage to a minimum, only surrendering one hit and an unearned run, but Ball State’s advantage grew to a seemingly insurmountable 7-1.
Nonetheless, while Indiana’s offense struggled for most of the afternoon, it came alive in the top of the eighth. A walk from Taylor and a double from sophomore Tyler Cerny immediately placed a pair of runners in scoring position, and the Hoosiers cashed in.
Via an RBI groundout from junior Nick Mitchell, a throwing error and a single from redshirt junior Purdue transfer Jake Stadler, Indiana plated a trio of runs to cut the lead in half and make things interesting.
Then, in the ninth, consecutive singles from Pyne, Taylor and Cerny loaded the bases with no outs. Mitchell added another RBI to bring the Hoosiers within two, and then a wild pitch drove in Cerny to cut the deficit to one.
Immediately after, Stadler continued his hot form and doubled to right field to knot the game at 7 apiece. Sophomore righty Aydan Decker-Petty authored a clean ninth to send the game to extras, and neither team could break through for the ensuing three frames.
Decker-Petty and freshmen Ryan Rushing and Eli Shaw combined for four innings of scoreless work, giving up three hits and striking out two. While both sides threatened with runners in scoring position, the razor-thin bullpens did just enough to squeak away with a tie.
Indiana utilized a whopping 11 arms, and offensively, Pyne, Taylor, Cerny, Brenczewski and Stadler notched multi-hit efforts. The tie, which moved Indiana to 22-18-1 on the year, marked the Hoosiers’ first since a 1-1 affair against Nebraska in 2017.
With the relatively disappointing result, Indiana next returns home to Bart Kaufman Field for a three-game set against Rutgers this weekend. First pitch for the series opener is set for 6 p.m. Friday with all three games streaming on Big Ten Plus.
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Nick Rodecap (@nickrodecap) for updates throughout the Indiana baseball season.
