Walkoff home run give IU 5-4 win

Chad Clark committed a costly two-run error in the top of the 9th, and things looked bleak for the IU baseball team in the first round of the NCAA Bloomington regional.

He more than atoned for his mistake in the bottom half of the inning.

Clark ripped an 0-1 slider from Karch Kowalczyk into the left-field bullpen for a two-run, walk-off homer that propelled the Hoosiers to a 5-4 win against Valparaiso and completed a miraculous four-run ninth inning comeback Friday at Bart Kaufman Field.

“I knew I was gonna smoke the ball right when it came out of his hand because he hung the slider, and I was sitting on the slider, too,” Clark said.  “I knew it was coming. And then right when I hit it, I knew it too.”

Perhaps most remarkable is that the walk-off was Clark’s first home run of his career, and it came off Kowalkczyk (1-1), who had allowed one run in 25 innings coming into the game.

Clark’s clutch hitting gave the Hoosiers their first NCAA Tournament win since 1996, and only their second all-time.

“I think we got a new life,” junior outfielder Casey Smith said. “I think that home run helped us just push that one aside, all the mistakes, forget about ‘em, keep moving on tomorrow.”

Down 4-1, Michael Basil started the rally with a one-out infield single and scored on a Dustin DeMuth double. Smith followed with an RBI double down the left field line, setting up Clark’s heroics.

Up 2-1, the Crusaders added two runs in the ninth on two defensive miscues by the Hoosiers.

With one out and runners on first and second, Tanner Vavra hit a slow grounder to short off junior right-hander Ryan Halstead. Clark was playing a few feet into the outfield grass in right, and had a long run to the second base bag. Basil fired it to Clark anyway, who was unable to reach the bag in time, loading the bases.

IU Coach Tracy Smith said Basil should have taken the out at first.

On the next play, John Loeffler hit a slower roller to second with Clark once again playing deep in the hole.

Clark charged on the play but let it slip under his mitt, allowing two runs to score before he redeemed himself at the plate.

“That’s never happened to me in my life. I’ve never had a walk-off hit,” Clark said. “It feels good to help the team out again, kind of make up for my mistakes in the field.”

Halstead (4-4) then got the final out, striking out Chris Manning with runners on the corners.

On the mound, Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers was out of sync, allowing eight base runners through the first two innings.

In the first, singles by Andrew Bain, Tanner Vavra and John Loeffler loaded the bases with one out before Chris Manning grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Bain.

After Billy Cribbs reached on fielder’s choice and moved to second on a passed ball, Bain singled to center to drive him in two batters later, extending Valparaiso’s lead to 2-0.  

Between an error by Basil to start the second, the passed ball and Slegers’ ineffectiveness, the Hoosiers (44-14) looked jittery in the early going in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,045.

“I felt like we were more worried about playing well for our hometown people rather than just going out and playing baseball,” Tracy Smith said. “And that’s all I said to them after the game: ‘OK, are we ready now?’”

Until the ninth, though, IU’s hitters looked lost at the plate against Valpo starter Cole Webb.

The Hoosiers did not get a runner to third base until the third when Scott Donley sacrificed Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis to scoring position. Both were left on base.

IU managed just three hits — all of them singles — the first six innings against Webb before cutting the Crusaders’ lead in half in the seventh.

Tracy Smith said IU’s left-handed hitters had a hard time picking up Webb’s cutter, which moved in on their hands.

A switch hitter, Casey Smith would normally hit from the left side against Webb, but decided to switch to the right side with one out in the seventh to get a better look at Webb’s release.

The move paid off, as Smith rocked a double that one-hopped the wall in right center and scored on a Clark single to left that made it 2-1 Valparaiso.

Slegers made it through just four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. Scott Effross came in and tossed 4.1 innings, allowing two unearned runs on Clark’s ninth-inning error.