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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports baseball

Hoosiers split home opener with Aces

Baseball vs. Evansville

Amid frigid temperatures and sunny skies at Sembower Field, the IU (14-8) baseball team split two games Sunday with the Evansville Purple Aces (11-8).

The Hoosiers opened in Evansville on Saturday, where rain suspended the first game in the series after four innings.

Junior Blake Monar scattered seven hits and five walks, as the Aces were only able to get one run off the lefty.

The game resumed Sunday afternoon in Bloomington with the scored tied at one. For the first time in 2011, IU played in front of a home crowd, and the fans witnessed a back-and-forth affair that went into extra innings.

With the Hoosiers down 5-4 in the top of the ninth (since the game started in Evansville, IU was still the visitor), sophomore Justin Cureton drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a balk from Aces pitcher Cole Isom.

Facing a full count and two outs, freshman Dustin DeMuth sliced a line drive down the left field line, plating Cureton and sending the Hoosiers to their sixth extra-inning game of the season.

Another one-out walk drawn by IU, this time by sophomore Micah Johnson, proved to be the difference.

Johnson stole second and scored the eventual game-winning run after senior Wes Wilson singled down the left field line.

“I got a fastball in and was just looking for something to rip,” Wilson said. “We had a runner in scoring position and nothing to lose in a tie ball game.”

Late-inning dramatics were nowhere to be found in the second game Sunday as IU lost 7-5 to the Aces.

Freshman Brian Korte was shelled in the second inning as the Aces batted, scoring five runs on six hits.

The Hoosiers were held in check through the first six innings by Aces pitcher Cody Fick but finally chased the righty in the seventh inning.

DeMuth, who finished the series 5-for-9 at the plate, and senior T.C. Knipp started the inning off with a pair of singles. Junior Alex Dickerson hit a two-run double off the right field fence, but despite scoring two more runs in the seventh, that would be the final hit of the inning for the Hoosiers.

IU couldn’t muster another comeback in the final two innings, and the Aces’ 16 hits proved to be too much to overcome.

DeMuth and Johnson combined for 11 of the 20 hits for the Hoosiers and scored eight of the 11 runs this weekend.

Johnson also swiped six bases, and his 14 steals in 2011 are already eight more than he had all last season.

“I saw the ball really well this weekend,” Johnson said. “Last year, I didn’t have many steals at all, and this year I’m trying to get into scoring position and stealing third.”

After playing their first 20 and a half games away from Sembower Field, the Hoosiers will play at home again Tuesday against Northern Kentucky and Wednesday against Shawnee State.

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