After a disappointing appearance in the Big Ten Conference tournament a couple of weeks ago, IU was given a two seed in the Lexington Regional hosted by the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Hoosiers needed to win their double-elimination regional to keep their season alive and advance to the super regionals. IU’s hopes of making a trip to the College World Series ended Monday after the team was eliminated in its third game, their second loss of the regional.
IU played all three of the other teams playing in Lexington before getting eliminated.
The regional kicked off Friday with a Big Ten vs. ACC matchup featuring IU and the Wolfpack of North Carolina State. In 12 innings of baseball, the Hoosiers let the lead slip away from them resulting in a 7-6 loss.
Sophomore Pauly Milto started on the mound for the Hoosiers and pitched well in his six-inning outing. He struck out a career-high nine batters while giving up four runs on seven hits.
N.C. State scored first, but the lead wouldn’t last for long as the Hoosiers battled back for three runs in the bottom of the first inning. IU led for most of the game, but allowed the Wolfpack to tie it up in the fourth inning and then again in the eighth.
In the top of the 12th inning, N.C. State finally took the lead due to a few errors by the IU defense.
After scoring one run off a triple from senior Craig Dedelow, the Hoosiers had the tying run only 90 feet away from home. With the game in the balance, the Hoosiers struck out to end the inning and the game.
IU bounced backed the next day and defeated the No. 4 seeded Ohio Bobcats 11-2. Junior Logan Sowers led the way as he went 4-for-5 with a career-high three home runs. He had five RBI and four runs scored on the day.
The Hoosiers also got another quality outing from one of their sophomore starters. Pitcher Jonathan Stiever collected the win in his first complete game of his career. He allowed seven hits in his nine innings of action.
In a high-scoring affair, IU ended its season with a 14-9 loss to the Wildcats. In their last games wearing an Indiana uniform, seniors Tony Butler, Craig Dedelow and Austin Cangelosi each had two hits and a home run. Junior Logan Sowers also had two hits and a homer, but it wouldn’t be enough to get passed Kentucky.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead in the first and added another run in the second giving them a 2-1 advantage. Kentucky extended the lead to 4-1 in the fourth before breaking the game open in the sixth.
Kentucky’s Tristan P ompey scored two runners with a double making the score 6-1. Kentucky’s Riley Mahan hit a grand slam later in the sixth to give the Wildcats a 10-1 lead.
The Hoosiers never gave up despite the overwhelming hole they found themselves in. In the seventh inning, Sowers led off with a solo shot to right field. Senior Alex Krupa was then hit by a pitch before Cangelosi homered cutting the lead to six runs.
Kentucky responded again in the eighth by scoring four runs, giving them a 14-4 lead heading into the ninth.
IU rallied again in the ninth to score five more runs, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Hoosiers ended their season in Lexington.
Austin Ghirardelli
