Hoosiers defeat Xavier 10-4

A back-and-forth affair between the IU baseball team and visiting Xavier turned into a blowout after a five-run sixth inning led the Hoosiers to a 10-4 victory. \nThe Hoosiers (10-7) blew the lid off the game in the bottom of the sixth, sending all nine batters to the plate. A bases-clearing double from sophomore catcher Josh Phegley was the highlight of the frame, clearing bases that were previously loaded. \nThe Musketeers (6-12) got things going early on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, using an infield hit from leadoff man Drew Schmidt and a throwing error by sophomore right-handed starter Eric Arnett to put the first two men on. A sacrifice bunt and two infield groundouts ended the inning, but not before the visitors plated a run. \nBut the Hoosiers answered in the bottom half, taking advantage of two Xavier throwing errors and a wild pitch by starting pitcher Brian Muransky to score two runs. \nAfter Phegley walked, freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz reached on a throwing error. The next batter, freshman first baseman Jerrud Sabourin singled, scoring Phegley. Then a wild pitch and a subsequent throwing error by Xavier catcher Dan Hayden scored Schutz. \nArnett settled down for the next two innings before running into trouble in the fifth. After Phegley threw out Xavier’s Schmidt while he was trying to steal, the next three batters reached, scoring one run and running Arnett from the game. \nSenior right-hander Chris McCombs came in with runners on second and third and retired the last two Musketeer batters to end the inning. McCombs stayed in for another full inning – long enough to grab his first decision of the year. \nSchutz led the Hoosiers offensively, going 4-for-5 with three runs batted in. Phegley was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, but junior center fielder Andrew Means failed to extend a 14-game hitting streak to 15.\nWednesday’s game was a final tune-up for the Hoosiers prior to the start of Big Ten play. IU will first travel to Minnesota this weekend for a series with the Golden Gophers. Their first home conference series will come one week later, when Illinois comes to Bloomington for a four-game set.