Hoosiers drop 2 of 3 games in weekend set

The rain that never came pushed the IU baseball team’s weekend series against Illinois back one day, giving way to some of the best weather Bloomington has seen in 2008. \nBut the results did not go hand-in-hand with blue skies for the Hoosiers (14-11, 3-4) against the visiting Illini (16-8, 5-2), at least not in games one and three. \nThe Hoosiers welcomed Illinois to town for a four-game tilt set to begin Friday, but only got three games in this weekend after wet conditions pushed the series back a day. \nThe Hoosiers lost it late in game one Saturday, surrendering four ninth-inning runs in an 8-7 loss. The next afternoon, sophomore right-hander Matt Bashore soothed the previous night’s wounds with a seven-inning complete game, only surrendering one run in an 8-1 win. But the pitching struggled again in game three, and the Illini used three runs in the first two innings and four more in the fifth for a 7-4 win.\nAfter Sunday’s action, IU coach Tracy Smith said he wants to see more confidence from his pitchers. He said besides Bashore, he thinks his staff is walking too many batters and lacking what he termed “that killer instinct.” \n“The ability’s there, but it’s the mentality ... and right now we don’t have it,” Smith said Sunday. “It goes back to that mentality of ‘I refuse to be scored on.’ Right now I see a lot of doubt in our pitchers.”\nSmith said, however, Bashore’s performance in game one Sunday reaffirmed him as the staff’s most consistent pitcher. The sophomore from Tipp City, Ohio, threw a complete game Sunday, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out eight. \nSo far this season, Bashore is 3-2 with a 1.56 ERA in \nsix starts.\n“I’m just trying to give us a chance to win,” Bashore said after Sunday’s action. “Just trying to get ahead of hitters and not trying to do too much. Our defense has really picked up, and it’s made me a lot more comfortable out there.”\nIllinois’ Scott Shaw countered Bashore with a complete game performance of his own in game two Sunday, throwing an astounding 130 pitches over seven innings. \nSophomore catcher Josh Phegley said Sunday that he thought Shaw did a good job keeping his pitches away from IU hitters, something the right-hander appeared to be emphasizing from the mound all afternoon. Phegley said the Hoosiers tried too hard to pull the ball, leading to too many fly-ball outs. \n“He was just staying away from us,” Phegley said. “He did a great job keeping everything off the plate, away from our power zone.” \nThe Hoosiers managed two home runs Sunday – a two-run shot by freshman infielder Jerrud Sabourin in the fourth and a solo home run by Phegley in the seventh – off Shaw. They had little else to show in game three, however, scoring just one run in the third after Shaw walked the bases loaded with one out. \nConversely, the Illini forced the Hoosiers to use five different pitchers in game three, scoring off of three of them. They chased sophomore left-hander Chris Squires from the game after just one inning, plating three runs on the Fort Wayne native. Sophomore Jason Ferrell and senior Chris McCombs surrendered a pair of runs each in the fourth, digging a hole IU would never leave. \nGame two saw more big offense from the Hoosiers, who used 12 hits and eight runs to back up Bashore and cruise to victory. IU got a home run from freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz and two runs from junior center fielder Andrew Means in a game in which the Hoosiers never trailed. \nIt was one of Means’ two runs that likely turned the most heads, considering the junior stole home to get it. With two out in the bottom of the first, Means – currently 16-of-18 on the basepaths this year – took off from third and scored in one of the most unlikely ways to do so in baseball. \nIU was in firm control of game one headed into the ninth, thanks in large part to Phegley’s 5-for-5 performance at the plate. \nThe Hoosiers had rallied from a 4-1 deficit to take a 7-4 lead into the final frame, but four Illini crossed home plate in the ninth. The Hoosiers couldn’t answer in their half, and the game ended an 8-7 Illinois win. \nThe Friday postponement means the Hoosiers will have one less day off between the end of their series with Illinois and their Wednesday road contest at Miami (Ohio). However, Smith was adamant that today’s series finale against Illinois is all the Hoosiers are thinking about. \n“Our whole entire focus is on (today),” Smith said Sunday afternoon. “If we’ve gotta use 15 pitchers in (today’s) game, we’ll use 15 pitchers and throw a student trainer or manager on Wednesday.”