Hoosiers continue road struggles at Evansville

EVANSVILLE -- The IU baseball team continued its road trip last night with an 11-4 loss at the University of Evansville, marking its fifth loss in the first six games of an 11-game road stint. \nThe Hoosier defense struggled again, committing six errors in the game. \n"A lot of teams would kill to pound out 13 hits like we did tonight," said IU coach Tracy Smith. "It's a shame it went to waste because we can't catch the ball." \nEvansville opened the scoring early, plating five runs on five hits in the first inning against IU freshman starting pitcher Tyler Tufts. Evansville sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, and was helped by three Hoosier errors. The Purple Aces touched up Tufts again in the second inning with two runs, one earned, on three hits and one Hoosier error. Tufts (0-3) took the loss after finishing four innings. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits and two walks. \nFacing a 7-0 deficit, the Hoosier offense got to Evansville starter Kai Tuomi in the fourth. Junior third baseman Steve Head led off the inning with a single, followed by a single from junior second baseman Keith Haas. After both runners advanced on a ground out, sophomore catcher Jon Fixler plated both runs with a single. \nFixler finished the night 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs. \n"I felt good and saw some good pitches," Fixler said. \nTuomi got the win for Evansville, giving up two runs on eight hits over six innings of work. \nThe Purple Aces added a run in the sixth on a RBI single by first baseman Kasey Wahl. Second baseman Kyle Smith walked to lead off the inning, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Wahl followed with the single. \nThe Hoosier offense went quiet after the fourth, managing four hits over the next five innings but failing to score a run. \nEvansville added three more unearned runs off IU reliever Matt Saba in the bottom of the seventh on one IU error, to run the score to 11-3. \nSaba made his first appearance of the season on the mound, allowing the three unearned runs on two hits in 1 1/3 innings pitched. \n"It was awkward at first," Saba said. "It was good to get out there and contribute to the team." \nIU added two runs in the top of the ninth. With one out and two runners on, pinch hitter Ben Greenspan doubled off the left field fence to drive in one run and put runners at second and third. \nPinch hitter Michael Nilles followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to make the score 11-4. \nThe Hoosiers return home for a day, then resume Big Ten play with a road series at Northwestern on Friday.