Hoosiers split series in rain-filled weekend

In a waterlogged weekend, IU baseball (3-2) split two games with Georgia Southern (4-2) after two days of weather delays.

“People spent a lot of money and a lot of time this weekend,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “You don’t want to be sitting around in a hotel room, so yeah, it was nice to get back out there.”

Originally a three-game series, the third game was canceled after the teams could get through only four innings of the first game in two days.

Senior infielder Michael Basil said there was a lot of downtime in between the eight announced start times on Friday and Saturday.

“A lot of guys sit around and play cards, and some guys will do homework,” Basil said. “There’s not a lot to do in these situations.”

The opening game was suspended Friday night because of dense fog and then Saturday due to rain and lighting.

Game one of the series concluded just before noon Sunday, roughly 41 hours after the opening pitch Friday evening. The Hoosiers fell for the second time this season, 12-7.

Game two was a different story and saw the Hoosiers pick up their first road win of the season, grounding the Eagles 11-5.

IU rode the strong performances of sophomore pitcher Kyle Hart and freshman pitcher Scott Effross. The duo went a combined 8.2 innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits.

“I thought they both threw really well,” Smith said. “(Hart) didn’t have his best stuff today, but Effross came in and picked him up. They did their job.”

After debuting for the Hoosiers last weekend, Effross said he was proud of how he pitched today.

“I’m pretty happy,” Effross said. “It was good to go out there and help the team. Our offense put a lot of runs on the board today. Basil had a good game, and I didn’t make a close game out of it.”

Basil and sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber spearheaded the Hoosier offense. Each had one home run and three RBI.

Basil was a perfect 3-for-3 and finished a triple short of the cycle.

“Only having played two games, it would have been nice to win both,” Basil said. “Given how the first game started, and then given how long the process was to even get that game in, I’m happy with how we responded.”

Even though Basil and Schwarber had big numbers, Smith said he thought highly of sophomore Scott Donley and junior Casey Smith because sophomore first baseman Sam Travis, who won the Big Ten player of the week last week, struggled at the plate.

“Donley and Smith swung the bat really well,” Smith said. “Travis struggled a little bit today, so it was nice of those guys to pick him up.”

This series had national media attention, as Baseball America classified this series as a “compelling mid-major showdown,” Smith said he was happy with his team’s performance.

“We weren’t really sharp defensively against a quality opponent,” Smith said. “So yeah, the way we played, I’ll take it.”