Joey Brenczewski pounded his chest as he rounded third base following a pinch-hit three-run home run. It moved Indiana baseball up 3-0 –– its first lead since the fifth inning Saturday against Xavier University. That lead was quickly erased as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas scored seven runs over the next two innings.
That sums up Indiana’s opening weekend as it came away winless in four tries at the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic in Surprise, Arizona.
Friday vs. UNLV
The struggles started Friday against UNLV in the first of two games the two squads played against each other over the weekend. Before the Hoosiers recorded a single out, the Rebels started up 4-0 on senior outfielder Dean Toigo’s towering grand slam.
Still, University of Southern Indiana transfer Gavin Seebold settled in well, giving up just one more hit across his four innings pitched, striking out three batters and allowing five hits.
Pitching in relief, graduate student Drew Buhr looked solid, throwing four innings, allowing just two hits as he struck out five batters. Buhr came into the game facing a 4-1 deficit after Brenczewski collected his first of five RBIs on the weekend, giving the Hoosiers their first run of the season.
Indiana’s bats came to life, outhitting the Rebels nine to seven, but after going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, they would score just one more run. While UNLV only obtained three hits after the first four batters of the game, Indiana still fell in its season opener for the sixth-consecutive season.
Saturday vs. Xavier
Indiana started another transfer on the mound in Cole Gilley, a graduate student formerly at Indiana State University. Gilley opened his season going 5 1/3 innings, striking out a career-high 11 batters –– the most by an Indiana pitcher on opening weekend since at least 2005. Gilley allowed just three hits and one earned run; however, he was charged with a no decision after Xavier took the lead in the top of the sixth with its four-run inning.
While the Hoosiers scored two runs in the first five innings, there was a lot left to be desired. In his first career start, sophomore pitcher Ryan Piech walked six batters in his three innings of work, but the Hoosiers brought just one of those players around to score. Timely hitting was an issue for Indiana all weekend long, but that didn’t stop sophomore infielder Jasen Oliver from sending a game-tying three-run blast over the wall in the ninth inning, forcing the game into extra innings.
Things were going in the Hoosiers’ favor with senior left-handed pitcher Ryan Kraft striking out the first two batters of the 10th inning. The very next batter, freshman infielder Eddie Peters, reached on a single and moved to second on junior shortstop Tyler Cerny’s throwing error. A bloop single followed to give the Musketeers a 7-6 lead, as they went on to win 8-6.
Sunday vs. No. 7 Oregon State
With the offense struggling in the first two games, a meeting with the No. 7 squad in the country was set to kick off for the Hoosiers, as they took on Oregon State University on Sunday.
If you can’t score against the Beavers, you’ll fall behind quickly. That’s exactly what happened to Indiana as it collected just one hit in the entire ball game on freshman Jake Hanley’s single.
The Hoosiers were tasked with facing Oregon State standout outfielder Gavin Turley, who was responsible for the Beavers’ first four runs with a single in the first inning and a three-run home run in the third inning.
Indiana redshirt junior pitcher Pete Haas gave up four runs in his three innings of work. The transfer from Stonehill University allowed six hits, one walk, hit a batter and finished with two punch outs. Redshirt junior Grant Holderfield gave up the final two runs of the game in his two innings of work. Sophomores Seth Benes and Ryan Rushing, along with redshirt senior Matthew Bohnert, finished the final three innings of the game, allowing just two hits and zero runs as the Hoosiers fell 6-0.
Monday vs. UNLV
Looking to salvage the weekend with a victory, Indiana once again took on UNLV, who was 1-2 on the weekend. Following Brenczewski’s three-run blast, the Hoosiers gave up four runs the following inning. Junior pitcher Aydan Decker-Petty got the start for Indiana, allowing three runs, two hits and a walk in two innings.
This was just the start of what became a back-and-forth battle between two teams desperate for a win. In the top of the fourth, UNLV jumped out to a 7-3 lead before junior outfielder Devin Taylor slugged a three-run triple to get the Hoosiers back to within one run. Those were Taylor’s first RBIs on the young season as he went 4-for-17 (.235) during the weekend.
Both sides were locked in a stalemate until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Tyler Cerny scored on Rebel sophomore pitcher Alex Overbay’s balk, tying the game at 7. Then, in the top of the ninth inning, junior college transfer Michael Cruz clocked a two-run double, putting the Rebels back in front.
In the bottom of the ninth, with one out Hanley came up with another big hit, cutting the deficit to one. Korbyn Dickerson, a redshirt sophomore transfer from the University of Louisville, scored from third as freshman infielder Will Moore reached on a fielder’s choice, sending the game to extra innings.
However, the weekend ended the same way it started: with a UNLV grand slam that proved too much for the Hoosiers to come back from as redshirt junior JP Hefft put the Rebels up 13-9. Despite Dickerson’s three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Hoosiers fell to 0-4 on the year with a 13-12 loss.
Indiana’s matchup with Purdue University Fort Wayne this Wednesday has been canceled, meaning the Hoosiers won’t see the field again until this weekend against Northwestern, Fordham University and Harvard University in Cary, North Carolina.
