Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

IU outlasts Cincinnati in pitcher's duel

Freshman infielder Matt Gorski tags first base to get Cincinnati's Eric Santiago out during the Hoosiers' game Wednesday evening. The Hoosiers won 3-2. 

In IU’s turn to welcome visiting Cincinnati in the 2017 home-and-home series, the Hoosiers were able to send the Bearcats back to Ohio with a 3-2 loss while picking up their sixth victory in the last seven games.

After defeating No. 1 Louisville last night to end the Cardinals’ undefeated start through 19 games, Cincinnati’s bats struggled in Bloomington, and the Bearcats now drop to 10-10 on the year.

It was a pitcher’s duel early on in the ballgame. The starters for both teams held their opposition off the base paths through three-plus innings. IU Coach Chris Lemonis said it was one of those days.

“The wind’s blowing in, it’s cold, some good pitchers on the mound, and it was a battle,” Lemonis said. “We knew it was going to be a battle when we started, and we won the game by just putting together four good at-bats.”

Sophomore pitcher Jonathan Stiever started the game for IU, now 10-8-1, but was scheduled to pitch just one inning as he rehabs from an upper body injury.

The Cedarburg, Wisconsin, native needed just 10 pitches to send Cincinnati’s first three batters down in order, and sophomore lefthander Tim Herrin took over to begin the second inning.

Herrin led IU on the mound by tossing four innings and allowing only one run on one hit to pick up the win.

Junior pitcher A.J. Olasz 
entered the game with a 2-0 record and a 0.57 earned run average and got the nod for the Bearcats. He has experience against the Hoosiers and beat them in the previous matchup this season and in a game last season.

After retiring the first 10 IU batters, Olasz allowed four consecutive hits that let all three of IU’s runs cross the plate.

Freshman first baseman Matt Gorski got the rally started with a bunt single and moved over to second on a base hit by senior center fielder Craig 
Dedelow.

Next came sophomore third baseman Luke Miller, , who knocked an RBI double that plated Gorski and advanced Dedelow to third. Freshman catcher Jake Matheny joined the fun by following that up with a single that scored both Dedelow and Miller.

Stiever and Herrin combined to no-hit Cincinnati until there was one out in the fifth inning, when Cincinnati sophomore catcher Mason DeAnna delivered an RBI single to right field to drive in junior center fielder Treg Haberkorn, who had reached on a walk then stolen second base.

Herrin said it was nice to beat Cincinnati after the Bearcats bested the Hoosiers in the first game between the two teams.

“We don’t like making it easy. At least, we haven’t recently,” Herrin said. “But we have a lot of grit on this team. However you get it done works.”

Junior utility player Matt Lloyd, the second IU position player to take the mound Wednesday after Miller started the eighth on the mound, came in to pitch with two outs in the eighth inning, and was able to secure a 4-out save and a Hoosier victory.

Lloyd is now 2-0 with a save and a 2.25 ERA in his four pitching appearances. Lemonis said in addition to playing the field and being in the lineup, Lloyd will continue to be the go-to guy late in games for the foreseeable future.

IU returns to the field Friday in Evanston, Illinois, where the Hoosiers will take on the Northwestern 
Wildcats.

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe