Junior pitcher Brian Hobbie’s final pitching line in IU’s 6-5 victory over Northwestern in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader did not do his performance justice
The line shows a complete game of nine innings pitched, 10 hits, five earned runs and four strikeouts in a win that moved IU’s record to 12-8-1. But Hobbie was far more dominant than those five runs insinuate.
After allowing a three-run home run to Northwestern senior left fielder Joe Hoscheit in the first inning, Hobbie was lights out until faltering a bit in the ninth and giving up two runs before recovering in time to secure the win for the Hoosiers.
Hobbie had his groundout pitch working Frday and forced the Wildcats, now 5-16, to hit into three double plays.
At the plate for IU, junior designated hitter Matt Lloyd fed off of his phenomenal performance in the first game of the day, when he hit three home runs and closed out the game on the mound to earn the save for the Hoosiers, by hitting a three-run dinger in the first inning to extend IU’s lead to 4-0 at the time.
Senior center fielder Craig Dedelow got the scoring started for IU at the plate in the first inning by knocking in senior left fielder Alex Krupa with a single to right field.
Krupa would prove to be a tough out for the Wildcats and finished the ballgame just a triple shy of the cycle. The Greenwood, Indiana, native hit a solo homer in the fourth inning to give IU some breathing room and extend the lead to two runs.
After a single to begin the ninth, Krupa stoled both second and third bases and crossed the plate on a sacrifice bunt by freshman first baseman Matt Gorski to give IU some extra insurance with a 6-3 lead.
The Wildcats pushed two runs across in the bottom half of the ninth to make things interesting, but came up just short.
IU will look to complete the sweep of Northwestern tomorrow afternoon in its first Big Ten series of 2017.
Spencer Davis
