Andrew Wiggins led the game off with his 25th walk of the season. It was the sophomore right fielder’s first of two at-bats in the inning as Indiana baseball batted around to start the Tuesday matchup with Bellarmine University, collecting six hits along with five runs.
It was not the only time Indiana would bat around in the 13-0 win.
Later, in the bottom of the fourth inning, junior left fielder Devin Taylor collected his second lead-off extra base hit of the game — a double down the right field line — after crushing a ball 110 miles an hour off the bat in the second inning. Redshirt sophomore Korbyn Dickerson’s RBI single brought Taylor in to score later that inning.
Dickerson, who went 3 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, is first in hits in the Big Ten with 40, surpassing Penn State junior outfielder Paxton Kling and Indiana freshman first baseman Jake Hanley.
“He’s asking questions, he’s coachable, he accepts teaching and then he goes and applies it in real time,” Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said postgame. “He’s smart and if you have the ability to grow, then you can adjust to the game.”
The Hoosiers were not finished in the fourth and loaded the bases with just one out in the inning, bringing up Cooper Malamazian. The freshman shortstop hit a team-leading ninth double in the first inning, and he tattooed a baseball into deep right field that went over the wall and gave Indiana its 13th run.
It was Malamazian’s sixth RBI of the game, the most he’s had in a game in his young college career. Malamazian had zero RBIs through the first 12 games of the season, albeit with limited playing time. He now has 18 RBIs in 12 games since, including six games with two or more. He is starting to see more playing time in his freshman season and has capitalized on his opportunities.
Malamazian was one of five players that finished with two or more hits against the Knights as the Hoosiers collected 15 hits on Tuesday. Indiana has at least 10 hits in all 14 games so far this season.
“I think we just came out with a different mentality,” Hanley said when asked about the bats falling flat in the final two games against UCLA over the weekend. “I think later in those UCLA games we figured it out, it just took us a while.”
The pitching staff put together a group effort that allowed just three hits and zero earned runs across seven different pitchers. The one-two punch of redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Cole Gilley and senior lefty Ryan Kraft was once again successful.
In the last two games Gilley and Kraft have pitched together, they have combined for 11 innings pitched, allowing a combined five hits and one earned run along with nine strikeouts and just four walks.
“I think we have a variety of guys that we can open with based on the matchup and what we like,” Mercer said. “What we’ve done is just kind of feel out the first two, three innings.”
Indiana has now won seven of its last nine games and is averaging 8.3 runs per game in that span. The Hoosiers have also scored nine or more runs in four of those matchups.
They will now turn their attention to USC this weekend in Bloomington. The Trojans are 14-10 on the season and are entering the game coming off a loss to the University of California Irvine on March 25.
The series will begin with the first pitch slated for 6 p.m. Friday. The broadcast will be available on Big Ten +.
