IU takes 2 from Big Ten’s top team

You would have been hard-pressed to find many smiles among the 38 faces of the IU baseball team last weekend after getting swept at Penn State and falling to last place in the Big Ten. What a difference a week makes. \nJust seven days after losing their ninth straight game, the Hoosiers rebounded in a big way, beating conference-leading Michigan 11-4 to take a series split against the Big Ten’s only nationally ranked team. \nThe Hoosiers put the bat to the Wolverines in game four, taking a 4-1 lead after one inning and never looking back. Junior right-hander Tyler Tufts threw a stellar complete game, surrendering four runs on seven hits and striking out three on 141 pitches. After giving up a run in the first and two in the third, Tufts settled down, retiring 18 of the last 23 batters he faced, including 12 in a row at one point. Tufts recorded most of his outs on ground balls, wearing out the middle infield. \n“Keep the ball down, that’s been our plan, not just for me but for all of our pitchers,” Tufts said, referring to IU’s strategy against a Michigan team that leads the Big Ten with 49 home runs.\nThe Hoosiers had plenty of success at the plate as well. Freshman first baseman Jarrud Sabourin went 4-for-5 and sophomore catcher Josh Phegley banged his team-leading seventh home run. The Hoosiers scored four in the first, two in the second, one in the fourth and four in the seventh, plowing through four Michigan pitchers in the process.\nIn game one, Michigan rode 18 hits – including two home runs – to drive through three different IU pitchers. Right-hander Doug Fleenor took the loss after giving up nine runs – eight earned – in 3 2/3 innings of work. \nSophomore second baseman Tyler Rogers came off the bench to provide half of the Hoosiers’ runs. Rogers blasted a three-run pinch-hit home run, his second of the season.\nGame two was a starkly different story for the Hoosiers, who sent southpaw and staff ace Matt Bashore to the hill to counter Michigan’s ace, Carmel, Ind., native Chris Fetter. Bashore pitched a seven-inning complete game, surrendering just one run on five hits while striking out eight. \nThe Tipp City, Ohio, native got into trouble in the top of the seventh, putting runners on second and third. But Bashore induced a ground ball from Michigan second baseman Leif Mahler, sparking an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. But it was sophomore infielder Evan Crawford who stole the show in game two with just one swing of the bat. Sabourin led off the last frame with a single before he gave way to senior pinch runner David Trager, who moved to second on Rogers’ sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk to sophomore infielder Michael Earley, Crawford shot a 1-2 pitch from Zach Putnam back up the middle and into center, scoring Trager and ending Michigan’s 12-game win streak. \nBashore said he tried to keep Michigan “off-balance” throughout his game-two win. \nGame three saw IU jump out to a 4-0 lead on Michigan starter Travis Smith, who lasted just 1/3 of an inning before giving way to Michael Powers. But Powers shut the Hoosiers down, allowing just two hits over the next 5 2/3 innings. Michigan turned the tables on IU offensively again in the third game, hitting three solo home runs and scoring in every inning en route to victory. \nAfter Sunday’s win, Smith expressed his pleasure at the Hoosiers’ improved defense, a weakness IU has struggled with all season. The Hoosiers committed just two errors in their two wins at the weekend.\n“It showed we play well defensively, (we) have a chance to win games,” Smith said in front of the dugout at Sembower Field on Sunday. “So I hope that it shows them the emphasis that we put on defense in practice, why we do that.”\nSabourin joked after his four-hit Sunday that his success at the plate was just luck. However, the San Diego native had a little extra incentive with his father visiting Bloomington for the first time. \n“My mom and dad both went to the University of Michigan, actually,” Sabourin said with a grin, “so I’m sure he wanted to see me get some hits on them.”