Hoosiers survive Wildcat comeback

Tuesday's baseball game started the home season off with a bang for IU.\nOn the first pitch of the first inning, redshirt freshman Mark Calkins drove a home run over the center field fence.\n"I just saw a good pitch and hit it well," Calkins said. "I wasn't trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to get on base."\nThree hours later, the game ended in an 11-10 IU victory at Sembower Field.\nCalkins later added a bunt single and finished the day 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. IU pounded out nine hits during the afternoon.\nThe Hoosiers (2-2) came out strong. The left-handed hitters, including Calkins, took advantage of a wind blowing to right field early in the game and scored seven runs on five hits to knock out Wildcat starter Josh Bain after just 1 2/3 innings. Bain was the Wildcats' top pitcher last season, but failed to shut down the Hoosiers' offensive attack. \nJunior shortstop Eric Blakeley had a good day on offense, driving in three runs. The biggest hit of the day might have come from sophomore Nick Evans, who knocked in two key runs with a seventh-inning pinch-hit double after the Wildcats began to mount a comeback. \n"Evans had a big hit to spark us," Blakeley said. \nWith Big Ten play fast approaching, Coach Bob Morgan has some issues for the team to address. He was upset that his team surrendered an early lead and had to settle for a one-run victory.\n"We wanted to get out there and play, and get as much pitchers out there as possible after our weekend struggles," Morgan said, alluding to the 49 runs IU gave up in a three-game series at Furman last weekend.\n"We were not very productive of the mound," Morgan said. "We jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and then lost our discipline in the middle innings. You have to credit (Indiana Wesleyan)." \nMorgan said that he is unhappy his team gave up 10 or more runs for the fourth consecutive game but that he was glad to see a warm February day for the fans.\nFreshman Chris Behrens, who gave up a single and a walk, was the first of nine pitchers summoned to the mound. Behrens picked off Wildcat shortstop Nathan Ritchey. Freshman Corey Poret entered in the seventh inning, yielding a walk and an unearned run. \n"I felt good on the mound," Poret said. "I'm just trying to go out there and compete. The pitchers could've done a whole lot better."\nAfter the Wildcats scored five runs off sophomore Ryan Smith in the eighth inning to close within a run of the Hoosiers, IU freshman Adam Pegg came in to seal the Hoosier win. Pegg pitched two scoreless innings, striking out four to earn the first save of his IU career. \n"If not for Pegg today, we would've been in big trouble," Blakeley said.\nHoosier pitchers struck out 12 Wildcats, who appeared patient at the plate, and held the Wildcats' Josh Bain, who hit .340 last season, hitless.\nMorgan said the team's biggest concerns for the next game -- Friday against Eastern Kentucky in the Winthrop Tournament -- are to be sharper, play better defense and shore up pitching. \n"(When the score was) 11-5, we didn't put them away," Calkins said. "We lost our plate discipline on offense. We have to become more selective and get ahead on the count. But a win is a win, and that's all that matters"