Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers hammer rival Purdue in first home game

The Indiana baseball team played their first home game of the year and easily took care of hated rival Purdue 17-2.

The Hoosiers got to play a game at their home field for the first time after playing their first nine games on the road. It was the first of 20 straight games in the state of Indiana as the Hoosiers don’t leave the state until the beginning of April.

It was a successful home opener as the Hoosiers blew out the Boilermakers. The win is the Hoosiers seventh of the year and after two losses to start the year they are on a 7-1 run with their only loss coming to top-15 Ole Miss last Sunday.

The Boilermakers took an early lead by scoring in the top of the first but the Hoosiers responded right back scoring seven in the bottom of the first to take a big lead that they never looked back from. Indiana would score another run in the second, three in the fourth, and six more in the fifth to get their total up to 17.

Six different Hoosiers would collect at least two hits as Indiana pounded out 16 hits on the game. What was weird about the game was the Hoosiers had just one extra-base hit, a double by Jordan Fucci. All of the other 15 hits were singles. While there wasn’t much power, the Hoosiers hit the ball all over the field to help get the easy win.

Cole Barr led the Hoosiers with three hits, three runs scored and an RBI. Cal Krueger picked up the win in a game in which five pitchers pitched.  Head coach Jeff Mercer decided to use each guy for no more than two innings in order to save arms for the rest of the week. The staff combined to give up just four hits and one earned run while striking out 10 and walking only three. It was a solid effort for the Hoosier pitchers.

The win pushed the Hoosiers to 7-3 on the year as they get ready to host San Diego in a four-game set starting on Friday. The two teams will play a single game on Friday and Sunday and a doubleheader on Saturday.