Indiana baseball took the opening matchup of its weekend series against UCLA behind power from the offense as well as a disciplined performance from the pitching staff. Junior left fielder Devin Taylor, redshirt sophomore center fielder Korbyn Dickerson and junior shortstop Tyler Cerny all launched home runs for the Hoosiers. Senior lefty pitcher Ryan Craft and graduate student pitcher Cole Gilley shut the Bruins offense down, which gave the Hoosiers a pivotal Friday 5-1 victory in Jackie Robinson Stadium to extend their winning streak to six games.
Indiana had seemingly gotten over the hump.
With the Hoosiers looking to take the series against the Bruins — who entered the weekend 16-4 and 5-1 in conference play — UCLA pitcher Michael Barnett was tasked with stopping a red-hot Indiana offense. Barnett, a 6-foot-4 junior righty, had a no-hitter going in the top of the fifth inning before freshman first baseman Jake Hanley singled to lead off the inning. Freshman infielder Cooper Malamazian stepped up to the plate later in the inning and knocked in two runs on an error by UCLA sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call, giving the Hoosiers a 2-1 advantage.
Indiana carried that lead into the bottom of the sixth inning with graduate student Ben Grable still on the mound. After he recorded the first two outs in the inning, Grable gave up a single followed by a go-ahead two-run home run off the bat of UCLA redshirt senior right fielder A.J. Salgado. UCLA would score six runs across the sixth, seventh and eighth innings which gave the Bruins a commanding 7-2 lead.
The Hoosier’s slip-ups that had cost them in many games early in the season were starting to creep back in.
A ninth inning rally that started with a solo home run from Hanley and an RBI double off the bat of Malamazian put the Hoosiers within three runs. Indiana would load the bases and bring Dickerson up to the plate who grounded out to the second baseman to end the game with the Hoosiers falling 7-4 in the Saturday meeting.
The Bruin victory forced a rubber match on Sunday with senior left-handed pitcher Deron Swanson taking the mound. Swanson made his first appearance just a few weeks ago on March 11 against Indiana State University when he gave up just one earned run in three innings pitched while also collecting five strikeouts. Swanson followed that up with a 3 1/3 inning performance against Ohio State on March 16 where he struck out seven and allowed two earned runs along with three hits.
Through six batters, the University of Saint Francis transfer gave up two hits including a double, while walking a batter. Swanson would go just 2/3 of an inning, giving up two earned runs that put the Hoosiers behind 2-0 early.
Indiana turned to redshirt senior Gavin Seebold who had been impressive in three appearances prior to Sunday. After giving up nine earned runs to Penn State on March 7, Seebold gave up just six hits, two earned runs and collected four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Seebold’s job was to come in and hold the Bruin offense while the Hoosiers tried to mount a comeback.
UCLA sophomore outfielder Dean West reached first base on a walk with one out in the inning and eventually moved up to the third on a throwing error by sophomore second baseman Jasen Oliver. From there, West would score the Bruins’ third run of the game on a sacrifice fly from sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu. It was charged as an unearned run.
Seebold would go 4 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run before being relieved by junior lefty Anthony Gubitosi, who has been one of the more reliable arms out of the bullpen for Indiana.
Gubitosi, who has only given up five earned runs in 11 2/3 innings on the year, was solid through his nine batters faced, as he gave up two walks and two hits and held UCLA scoreless. Gubitosi’s ERA is now down to 3.86 on the campaign, and the two hits allowed were just the fifth and sixth he has allowed all season.
The Hoosiers cut the Bruins’ lead in half at the top of the eighth inning with Hanley coming up with yet another clutch hit that went through the right side of the infield. Freshman outfielder Cole Decker would come around to score after coming in as a pinch runner.
Indiana was down just one run and turned to redshirt junior Pete Haas out of the bullpen. He pitched two innings of one hit baseball against the University of Evansville on March 18 and struck out a season high four batters.
Haas would see just one inning of work; however, three runs came across to score, including an unearned score after redshirt senior catcher Jake Stadler made a throwing error that allowed UCLA sophomore infielder Roman Martin to advance to third.
Cerny would lead the top of the ninth inning off with a solo shot to left field, but back-to-back strikeouts and a fly out concluded what was once a promising weekend as Indiana lost 6-3.
The Hoosiers had the entire weekend right in front of them against one of the top three teams in the Big Ten at the time. Taking the series would have had them standing below Iowa and Oregon in third place, but instead Indiana fell to fifth place after the two-game skid.
Indiana has the chance to pick up its 14th win of the season when it takes on Bellarmine University in a midweek matchup Tuesday at Bart Kaufman Stadium. The first pitch will be at 5 p.m. and be streamed on Big Ten+.
