Hoosiers go 2-1 in opening weekend

IU scored runs in bunches Sunday afternoon to defeat South Florida 12-2 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Fla., and for the third time in four seasons of participation, won two of three games at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge. 

The Hoosiers scored four runs in the fourth inning, three runs in the fifth and four runs in the eighth in support of sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Hart, who threw seven innings and scattered 10 hits while allowing two runs — one earned — to earn his first victory of the season.

Sophomore first baseman Sam Travis’ three doubles gave him five extra-base hits on the weekend.

IU Manager Tracy Smith attributed the Hoosiers’ offensive burst to the fact they knocked the Bulls’ starter out of the game quickly. Nolan Thomas surrendered four earned runs in 3.1 innings.

“We’ve faced some quality arms down here,” Smith said. “Today we kind of got into South Florida’s bullpen on their third game. That has as much to do with it as anything.”

To give the bullpen some rest, Smith asked Hart to go deep into his start. The Hoosiers used seven pitchers in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Connecticut that lasted 15 innings. Less than 13 hours later, IU took the field against USF.

“We needed a good quality start out of him,” Smith said. “He did his job and then some today.”

Hart threw to sophomore Chad Clark, who started behind the plate at the catcher position. Sophomore Kyle Schwarber, typically the team’s catcher, started in left field. Smith said he filled out his lineup card that way to give the Middletown, Ohio, native a break.

“Chad Clark’s done a really good job behind the plate anyway,” Smith said. “He was going to catch one of the games. It was a perfect scenario, given that Kyle had caught so many innings the first two days.”

Against UConn, IU left the bases loaded in the seventh and 12th innings Saturday night, and the Huskies capitalized in the 15th inning after pinch runner Bryan Daniello scored on junior reliever Walker Stadler’s wild pitch to help the Huskies prevail 4-3 at Al Lang Stadium.

The Hoosiers missed their chance to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2005. However, IU’s pitching gave the team opportunities to score that elusive game-winning run. Three relievers pitched 3.1 innings of shutout baseball in a losing effort.

By shutting out No. 19 Louisville on Friday, IU began its season 1-0 for the first time in the last eight seasons. The Hoosiers also held the Cardinals scoreless for the first time since Seton Hall defeated them 1-0 on May 6, 2011.

Junior starter Joey DeNato and freshman reliever Evan Bell each threw four innings without surrendering a run, and the latter earned the win.

Junior closer Ryan Halstead earned his 12th career save.

The Hoosiers’ pitching staff ended the weekend with a 1.09 earned run average after allowing only six total runs in their three games.

Travis closed the weekend as IU’s leading batter after earning seven hits in 12 at-bats and getting on base in about 71 percent of his hitting appearances.

The Hoosiers’ next game will be the first of a three-game series from Feb. 22-24 at Georgia Southern. The Eagles are 2-1 after a three-game set against Georgia that opened the 2013 season.