Indiana Baseball: Opening weekend provides several tests for the Hoosiers

Indiana baseball kicked off the 2017 season this past weekend in Arizona.

Despite going 2-2 on the road trip, it was a successful weekend for the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers squared off against some of the best teams in NCAA and came away with a few wins. Here’s more on the Hoosiers from the past weekend.

Game One

Indiana fell short to No. 7 Oregon State 1-0 on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Jonathon Stiever made his fifth career start and pitched well. Stiever tossed a three-hitter in five and 2/3 innings while retiring nine-straight Beavers.

The lone run of the game came with the help of a throwing error by freshman Jeremy Houston in the sixth inning. Christian Donahue then delivered a RBI double to right-center field that brought in Steve Kwan to give Oregon State a 1-0 lead.

That’s all the Beavers would need. Indiana had plenty of opportunities to score and could not capitalize as it left two men on base in the ninth before the Beavers recorded the final out of the game. The Hoosiers struck out 16 times in 31 at-bats in the loss. Despite the loss, Stiever showed up. He is Indiana’s ace this year and made a statement in the Hoosiers’ debut this season.

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Game Two

Indiana’s bats would wake up for the back-end of the double on Friday against Gonzaga. The Hoosiers would outscore the Bulldogs 12-3 for Indiana’s first win of the season. Indiana matched the Zags’ nine hits with an impressive 14 of its own.

Four Hoosiers notched multi-hit games including Laren Eustace, Matt Lloyd, Ryan Fineman and Matt Matheny. Matheny tallied four RBI’s in the win including his first two career home runs. The freshman, who is the son of St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He is the first Hoosier to do so since Logan Sowers did in May of 2015.

Sophomore Tim Herrin earned the win in his first career start. He went five innings allowing just one run (unearned) while striking out three Bulldogs.

Game Three

Indiana would obtain the upper hand over Gonzaga yet again on Sunday with a 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs. The Hoosiers drew three straight walks in the first inning before Scotty Bradley drew a fourth straight walk driving in the first run of the game. Tony Butler then drove in Matt Lloyd after a two-out single that gave Indiana a 2-0 lead early on.

Freshman Andrew Saalfrank threw four innings in his collegiate debut striking out three while allowing just one run. Junior Kade Kryzsko picked up the win in Sunday’s outing going 1.2 innings in relief. Junior B.J. Sabol came in to relieve Kryzsko and held the Bulldogs to just one hit while striking out three going 2.1 innings.

Houston would eventually make up for his costly error against Oregon State as he tallied two hits and drove in two runs in the win.

Game Four

Oregon State defeated Indiana 4-1 on Monday afternoon. The Hoosiers struggled with the sticks again against the Beavers in Monday’s efforts. Junior Brian Hobbie started for the Hoosiers and went five innings. He allowed three runs on six hits and failed to record a strikeout in the loss.

Indiana tallied just five hits in Monday’s contest including a solo home run from senior Craig Dedelow marking his first of the season. Indiana was trailing 3-1 when it was threatening in the eighth inning. The Hoosiers had men on first and second with one out with the middle of the order coming up. The Hoosiers could not capitalize after Sowers flew out to center and Dedelow lined out to second.

The Beavers added a run in the bottom of the eighth to make the game 4-1 and that solidified the victory for Oregon State.

Next: Report: RB Coach Deland McCullough heads to USC

Moving Forward…

Indiana travels to the sunshine state this weekend, as they take on Florida Atlantic in a three-game series. Stiever will get the nod for Friday night, followed by Herrin on Saturday and Sunday’s starter is to be determined.