Despite collecting more hits, IU fell 8-4 at Braun Stadium to the Purple Aces.
The Hoosier offense could only scatter their 11 hits, while the Purple Aces took advantage of their eight.
“The bad thing is when you get 11 hits you should score more,” Lemonis said.
He said IU not getting the run in the first inning has been its Achilles Heel.
Evansville scored seven of its runs in the first four innings, capping it off with four runs in the fourth off of IU junior Evan Bell. Bell came in as relief for starter junior Christian Morris.
Only two of the four runs off Bell — who only lasted a third of an inning — were earned.
Morris pitched three innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on four hits.
He also struck out three. His ERA ballooned to 6.53 on the year.
“I feel like it’s groundhog day,” Lemonis said. “We continue not to produce offensively and just execute. Today we didn’t pitch well, which is very uncharacteristic for us. You can hit us a little bit, but usually we throw strikes, but we had guys that just would not command the strike zone today.”
Lemonis did like what he saw from junior Will Coursen-Carr, who pitched 3.2 innings in relief, allowing one run while striking out six.
“He was good, he was really good,” Lemonis said. “Will pitched great.”
Senior second baseman Casey Rodrigue carried the offense, going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI, a run and two steals. Sophomore outfielder Craig Dedelow and senior catcher Brad Hartong also each had two hits.
IU (23-18, 6-10) made a late run, scoring two in the seventh and one in the eighth, but it was not nearly enough to make up the deficit.
Senior Ryan Bilo started for Evansville (23-18). He pitched seven innings and gave three runs, two earned, and struck out two.
“He had a lot of arm-side run, and when you don’t stay on it, it’s pop-up central,” Rodrigue said. “We didn’t ?stay on it.”
Bilo was able to hold IU when it had runners on base.
“He pitched well, he threw strikes and pitched under pressure,” Lemonis said. “He got outs when we had guys out there. We never got the big hit.”
The top three in the order accounted for seven of the 11 hits. Lemonis hasn’t been able to be very flexible with the bottom half of the order because of the limited results.
“Our bench guys haven’t had a lot of production lately,” Lemonis said. “It’s been very ?limited.”
The Hoosiers haven’t been able to get that one big hit in the past couple weeks.
It’s been a pattern one run at a time instead of scoring in bunches, something that has been getting to the players.
“They’re not going to groove one in there for you, you have to have good focus and look for a good pitch,” Rodrigue said. “We’ve been getting 10-plus hits, and we score two or three runs.”
IU has now lost three straight and is back in action today against Indiana State in Bloomington. Freshman Brian Hobbie will get the start.
“It’s frustrating, losing is never fun,” Rodrigue said. “We’ll be stuck in a funk and then get some momentum and then can’t capitalize on it. Maybe it’s a lack of focus or something, but it’s frustrating.”
