Baseball suffers 4th straight loss at hands of Miami

Hoping to bounce back from its first three-game losing streak of 2011, the IU baseball team couldn’t string together the timely hits in a 10-3 loss to Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday at Sembower Field.

Despite recording double-digit hits, the Hoosiers allowed 10 runs on 13 hits in losing the season series to the RedHawks.

“It’s just a little frustrating because we don’t seem to get the hits when we need them,” said IU coach Tracy Smith.  “I thought we struck the ball hard all day but just did a couple things to hurt ourselves mentally.”

Junior pitcher Drew Leininger started off the game with two perfect innings, which gave him 24 straight batters retired dating back to last Wednesday’s game against Morehead State.

However, Miami shortstop Ryan Kaup led off the third with a single and scored after stealing third base then advancing home on IU senior catcher Wes Wilson’s throwing error.

The Hoosiers’ offense would get rolling in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with no outs and junior outfielder Alex Dickerson stepping in the batter’s box. Dickerson drew a bases-loaded walk that brought in a run, Wilson’s sac flied to bat in a second score and senior first baseman Jerrud Sabourin knocked in another with a one-out single.

The three runs would be all for the Hoosiers as IU left a pair of runners on base in the third inning.

Things didn’t get any better for Leininger in the fourth as he gave up a pair of singles and a two-out walk to load the bases.

Facing a full count, Kaup did the damage again with a bases-clearing three-run single to make the score 4-3 RedHawks.

Timely hitting proved to be the difference again in the top of the fifth for the RedHawks.

After Leininger retired the first two RedHawk hitters, Brad Gschwind singled, and Bryce Redeker hit his fifth home run of 2011, pushing the lead to
three runs.

Smith noticed in Leininger a tendency to lack aggression on the mound.

“He became another guy for two hitters and was goosing the ball up to the plate,” Smith said. “He has to overcome that and continue to become aggressive. He got into a situation where he got a little tentative, and when you do that in this sport, or any sport, you get beat.”

Sophomore pitcher Jonny Hoffman relieved Leininger, but the result was the same. The RedHawks tacked on three more runs in the sixth.

The Hoosiers recorded a hit in every inning besides the eighth; and of the 10 men left on base, six of those were in scoring position.

“We felt good at the plate today, but that timely hit seems to be what we are missing the last couple games,” senior outfielder T.C. Knipp said. “That is what the other teams are doing against us.”

IU will head north this weekend to face the Big Ten-leading Purdue Boilermakers in a three-game series beginning Friday.

”Everyone knows that is one of our rivals, and I’m confident we will be ready to play,” Knipp said. “While we have struggled these past couple games, we are still only one game out of first place in the Big Ten, which to us is an opportunity to go up there and see what we can do.”