Hoosiers defeat Cardinals for 12 in a row

The bottom half of the order delivered four consecutive hits — three for extra bases — with two men retired against Louisville starter Kyle Funkhouser as No. 19 IU (19-3, 3-0) broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth and went on to win 5-1 Wednesday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field. The victory extended IU’s win streak to 12 games and gave IU the overall series lead at 11-10.

Senior shortstop Michael Basil began the rally, turning on a 3-1, 90-mph fastball and placing it into the left-center field gap. Junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth followed with an RBI triple to right-center. Despite being thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double two innings prior, DeMuth arrived at third before the relay throw.

Sophomore left fielder Chris Sujka drove him home with an RBI single four pitches later. The Oak Forest, Ill., native stole second during sophomore right fielder Will Nolden’s at-bat and scored when the latter tripled. Sophomore second baseman Chad Clark struck out to end the inning, but not before the Hoosiers captured a lead they did not relinquish.

Funkhouser threw first-pitch strikes to the first 14 IU hitters. Basil said the fourth-inning stretch shook him.

“Any time a pitcher gets two quick outs, especially on your three- and four-hole hitter, he thinks ‘All right, I got out of this inning,’” Basil said. “That’s kind of what happened to him, and we took advantage of that. He really wasn’t the same after those two string of hits me and Dustin had.”

With the win, IU also clinched the season series against UL.

“It’s awesome,” Basil said. “Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve kind of been Louisville’s whipping boys. We’ve only beaten them one time my first three seasons, so it’s awesome to come out here and do that to them.”

An inning later, without recording a hit, IU loaded the bases against Cardinals’ starter Kyle Funkhouser, knocking him from the game with two outs in the fifth. UL manager Dan McDonnell brought in left-hander Cody Ege to face DeMuth, who was 2-for-2 against Funkhouser. Cardinals’ first baseman Danny Rosenbaum hugged the first base line on the edge of the outfield grass, but could not field the ball cleanly — nor toss it to Cody Ege covering first — and Travis scored due to the error.

IU added a run in the eighth, and junior reliever Ryan Halstead secured freshman Scott Effross’s fourth win against no defeats.

Freshman starter Will Coursen-Carr pitched 4 1/3 innings, and allowed only one run, stranding four Cardinals, including three in scoring position. Effross relieved him in the middle of the at-bat after Coursen-Carr fell behind second baseman Nick Ratajczak 2-0.

“I said to Will, ‘You smell a victory like that’ — we were up 4-1 at the time — we were only go to the fifth with him anyway,” Smith said. “All you got to do is get three outs and get a win, you gotta get a bit more selfish. I was a little disappointed Will didn’t close it out.”

Effross’s 3 2/3 innings added to his team-leading total of 20 1/3 innings pitched in relief. Smith said he’s employing a two-closer system.

Halstead, five saves away from the single-season saves record with 31 scheduled games to play, said it’s all about the team.