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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports baseball

Baseball team loses 2 of 3 games during weekend to Loyola Marymount

The Hoosiers won game one of their weekend series against Loyola Marymount, 3-1.

Incoming rain caused the Hoosiers to play a doubleheader against the Lions on
Saturday. LMU swept the Hoosiers in the doubleheader. In game one, each team scored twice in the first inning.

The Lions scored their third run off a bunt single by the Lions’ second baseman, Cullen Mahoney, an inning later.

They never relinquished their lead as they tagged senior starting pitcher Drew Leininger for seven runs in five innings.

In game two, the Lions’ freshman starter, Colin Welmon, limited the Hoosiers to three hits in seven innings as the Lions claimed a 9-0 victory.

The Hoosiers committed three errors in the contest, though these only led to one unearned run.

Freshman Sam Travis has now reached base in all 19 games in which he’s played.

“He’s disciplined at the plate,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “He’s a very accomplished hitter, and he’s a competitive kid.”

On Friday, sophomore Joey DeNato took the ball for the Hoosiers.

The southpaw allowed only three hits as he threw a complete game to give IU its second 1-0 series lead of the trip.

The Hoosiers scored first in the fourth. With two outs, Travis singled to left field.

Sophomore designated hitter Dillon Dooney drove him home with an RBI
double.

Three consecutive base hits to open the sixth inning pushed two more across the plate, including freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber’s third triple.

It was all the run support DeNato needed to pick up his third win, throwing 101 pitches.

Smith said he was pitching aggressively. Smith described Schwarber’s method as “throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters and locating his pitches.”

DeNato’s performance lowered his ERA to 1.64 in five starts.

It was the second game of the trip in which the Hoosiers did not commit an
error.

In their 7-6, 11-inning win against San Diego on Wednesday, and in their 3-1 win against Loyola Marymount on Thursday, the Hoosiers achieved a perfect fielding percentage.

Wednesday was their first error-free game since March 2, a span of eight
contests.

Smith said taking care of the baseball is the key to the Hoosiers’ success.

“When we play defense, we usually win,” he said. “When we don’t play defense, we’re not good. That’s the big thing we stress with our team. We need to play better defense as we prepare for the Big Ten.

“The formula’s pretty simple: Pitch and play defense, you give yourself a chance to win. Our wins up to this point have all pretty much indicated that. We got to get better defensively to be a consistent Division I baseball team.”

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