With half his body hanging over the left field wall, Devin Taylor stayed still for nearly 10 seconds.
Indiana baseball’s junior outfielder was nearly motionless, his back turned to the three players gleefully rounding the bases at Bart Kaufman Field on Wednesday afternoon. Northern Kentucky University redshirt junior outfielder Josh Williams had just belted an opposite field home run in the fourth inning.
Gusts of wind carried the flyball deeper and deeper as Taylor tracked back, and his attempt to snatch it near the wall was futile. The ball dropped into Indiana’s bullpen, and Taylor –– just next to 2013 College World Series logo on the wall’s green padding –– looked defeated.
On a rainy and gloomy evening in Bloomington, the Hoosiers, now 6-7 after a 13-11 loss to the Norse, remained inconsistent.
“It’s the base running mistake,” Mercer said postgame. “It’s the double play ball we don’t turn, it’s the leadoff walk after you score six dag gone runs. It’s those things that come back inch by inch, and you look up and you’re two or three runs short. It’s all of those things that combine to get you beat.”
After convening with reporters inside the batting cages, Mercer stopped along his walk to scoop a plastic Gatorade cup off the ground and throw it away. The door he exited through rested under the sign of another reminder of Indiana’s 2013 College World Series appearance.
Another reminder of what Indiana strives to be.
Another reminder of how far Indiana feels away from it.
“The reality is we weren’t good enough,” Mercer said.
The Hoosiers’ pitching staff was pummeled. Northern Kentucky combined for 16 hits and batted .400 as a team and .467 with two outs. Williams led the Norse with five RBIs on a pair of homers.
Freshman righty Henry Brummel started and was charged with the loss after giving up three runs from the first four batters. The ensuing seven relievers continued to struggle collectively, with innings snowballing and Indiana’s chances at a win diminishing.
“You can’t get a grenade on the mound where you look up and it’s like ‘what the hell was that?’” Mercer said. “Now all of a sudden everybody else is left scrambling.”
Nonetheless, the Hoosiers were relatively strong at the plate. Four different players notched multi-hit games, and all but one member of the starting lineup had at least one hit. Sophomore outfielder Andrew Wiggins was especially productive in the leadoff spot.
Wiggins’ defensive abilities have evolved considerably since last season, and he credited his improvement to a highly intense effort during batting practice. In a series against Minnesota last April, Wiggins injured his wrist while diving for a flyball before the game had even begun.
He wasn’t yet an everyday outfielder. To Wiggins, those sessions were crucial learning opportunities.
“Had I not done that,” Wiggins said, “I don’t know where I’d be today.”
His plate discipline has developed, too. Wiggins is tied for seventh in the country in walks with 16, frequently out-dueling pitchers in full counts. The highly touted prospect and Heritage Christian School product worked a full count walk on his first at bat, ultimately scoring courtesy of freshman first baseman Jake Hanley’s single.
As part of a six-run fifth inning, Wiggins launched a two-run homer to right field. The ball left his bat at 107 mph and cut through strong wind gusts to travel nearly 400 feet.
“I’m just trying to take my at-bats more seriously, trying to win every pitch in any way I can,” Wiggins said. “A walk, a hard hit, moving the runner or anything like that. Just trying to be disciplined with every AB.”
Despite Wiggins’ continued emergence, Mercer said the Hoosiers didn’t string together enough consistent at-bats. Both Indiana’s run total (11) and hit total (14) against Northern Kentucky topped its season averages.
Redshirt sophomore Joey Brenczewski batted 3-for-5 and moved to .452 on the season. Hanley –– a 6-foot-6, 235-pound lefty –– was 2-for-2 with three walks. He’s batting .393 and continues to display an approach mature beyond his age.
It felt like Indiana did enough on paper. Wednesday’s contrast between hitting and pitching could conceivably be infuriating for Mercer. Still, he’s taking a different approach as struggles and inconsistencies continue to mount.
“I don’t think that the answer is always flipping chairs and hollering and yelling,” Mercer said.
He said he’s conducting careful evaluation of where the Hoosiers are going wrong, not giving an emotional response.
“That’s always been my personality type,” Mercer said.
Now 0-2 at home in midweek games, Indiana gets its first taste of Big Ten play over the weekend against Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania. As it currently stands, the Hoosiers aren’t playing up to the standard they expected.
When they walk in the batting cages or glance at the left field wall at Bart Kaufman Field, they’ll be reminded of just that.
