Aaron Slegers turned in one of his best performances of the year, Dustin DeMuth hit a three-run homer and the IU baseball team took the rubber match from Nebraska with a resounding 10-2 win Monday in Lincoln, Neb.
A day after the Hoosiers had their nine-game winning streak snapped, Slegers (7-1) dominated the Cornhuskers from the onset, allowing just two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks in 8.1 innings pitched. He nearly threw a complete-game shutout but was pulled with one out in the bottom of the ninth after allowing a single, double and sacrifice fly to the first three hitters.
Six of Nebraska's seven hits were singles, and no Husker baserunner made it past first base until Bryan Peters reached second following a Rich Sanguinetti single.
The IU offense, meanwhile, did its job. The Hoosiers (36-9, 13-5 Big Ten) racked up 10 hits, the big blow DeMuth's 3-run home run in the fifth. Kyle Schwarber led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Michael Basil's single with two outs. DeMuth's blast brought home Schwarber and Basiland extended the IU lead to 5-0.
The Hoosiers got a run in the first when senior center fielder Justin Cureton led off the game with a walk, stole second and later scored from third on a passed ball by Nebraska starter Aaron Bummer (1-1). Chad Clark doubled home Casey Smith in the second to make it 2-0 IU.
In the ninth, DeMuth added an opposite-field RBI double down the left-field line that scored Will Nolden. DeMuth, a junior infielder, finished 2-for-5 with 4 RBI and two runs scored.
IU scored three runs in the ninth, its second three-run inning of the game. Nebraska (21-25, 12-6) responded with two runs in the bottom half with a pair of sacrifice flies. Both runs were charged to Slegers.
Sophomore outfielder Tim O'Connor, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Smith in the eighth, ended the game in dramatic fashion. Bryan Peters singled to right field, sending home Kash Kalkowski from second. O'Connor gunned down Kalkowski at the plate from right field to secure the win.
The game featured sloppy defense from both teams, though. Nebraska committed errors on back-to-back plays in the top of the ninth while IU committed an error in the fourth and eighth innings. The Hoosiers committed nine errors during the three-game series.
With the win, IU took the series from Nebraska and sole control of second place in the Big Ten.
