Hoosiers sweep Buckeyes in final series at Sembower Field

About six minutes before first pitch Saturday, IU learned that Michigan State earlier that day had beaten Penn State, 8-2. The Spartans’ victory handed IU the two-seed in the Big Ten Tournament and with it, a first-round bye before IU took the field.

Not that it deterred the Hoosiers (30-26, 16-8 in conference) from going for the win.

The team made its third comeback victory in four games to sweep Ohio State (31-25, 11-13 in conference) on senior day. It was the team’s final game at Sembower Field.

“It’s huge, carries on to the tournament,” designated hitter Dillon Dooney said of the win. “We’re rolling right now, everyone’s hitting. We said before the game, ‘Let’s put on one more show for the fans and take this one last time at Sembower.’”

IU will play in game four of the conference tournament at 3:35 p.m. Thursday in Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.

The team enters the tournament on a roll, having won its last six games, 10 of its last 12 conference games and four straight conference series.

“I think strategically to have the second seed is very important,” Head Coach Tracy Smith said. “It does allow you to kick back one less pitcher. I was absolutely thrilled that we got that two-seed because we were so darn close and we’ve been
playing well.”

Saturday’s victory seemed a fitting way to send off Sembower, even if few will miss it.
“Heck no,” Smith said Thursday when asked if he’d miss the stadium. “I’ll be the first one to blow this thing up.”

Nonetheless, some players said they were happy to finish IU baseball’s tenure at Sembower on a winning note.

“It’s huge. I love it,” IU starting pitcher Chad Martin said. “It’s a great way to send off the field. I don’t know if the guys will miss it with that new, fancy stadium coming in, but it’s great that we can look back and say that in the last game here we got a win.”

Tied at two entering the bottom of the eighth Saturday, IU first baseman Sam Travis started the winning rally with a one-out single off OSU righthander Josh Desze and advanced to second on an error. Pinch-runner Will Nolden replaced Travis at second and scored the go-ahead run on a Dooney RBI single.

A Michael Basil RBI single to left made it 4-2. 

Righthander Johnny Hoffman (7-1) worked the final 2.1 innings for the win. Lefthander Andrew Armstrong (0-1) took the loss for OSU.

Martin was able to keep his composure during what appeared to be a blown call when Ohio State’s David Corna was called safe at home on a bang-bang play.

“It’s my last college game on my home field, and I really wanted to send it off with a bang,” Martin said. “Obviously, things didn’t go the way I wanted it early, but I just fought back to keep us in the game.”

After allowing a run in each of the first two innings, Martin was able to toss 4.2 straight scoreless frames. In total, he lasted 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, with six strikeouts, two walks and a hit batsman.

“He took control of the game,” Smith said of Martin. “That’s what seniors should do on senior day. I’m happy for him because we’re going to need him as we roll into this thing.”

On Friday, IU blanked the Buckeyes 5-0 behind eight shutout innings from lefty starter Kyle Hart (5-4). Hart allowed just three hits while striking out eight and walking four with 110 pitches.

Chris Sujka and Kyle Schwarber each had two hits and two RBIs and scored a run.

On Thursday, IU scored nine unanswered runs to cap off a dramatic comeback and win, 10-8.

IU sent 11 men to the plate in a six-run seventh inning to cut OSU’s lead to 8-7 and took a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the eight when Travis roped a go-ahead two-run double down the third baseline off OSU righthander Greg Greve (3-3), who took the loss.

Dustin DeMuth sparked the late rally with his first career homerun to lead off the seventh, which made it 8-2 for OSU. Schwarber went 3-3 with four RBIs, including a key, bases-clearing double in the seventh that cut Ohio State’s lead to 8-5, while Dooney finished the day 4-5 with two RBIs.

Hoffman recorded his sixth win of the season in relief.

Even with the Hoosiers’ recent success, Smith refuses to let his team get overconfident.

“The regular season’s over now. I don’t care if it’s two-seed, one-seed, six, five,” Smith said. “Everybody is trying to win at this point.”