Baseball wins two games in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — From the first pitch Saturday, things went well for the IU baseball team.

The No. 17 Hoosiers beat Toledo 8-3 and No. 20 Louisville 6-2 during a doubleheader in Louisville, Ky.

On the first pitch of the morning, 6-foot, 240-pound junior catcher Kyle Schwarber, who played left field against Toledo, hit a deep fly ball to left field that went for a ground rule double.

It was the first time Schwarber had ever led off on any team, he said, but he went a combined 4-for-7 with a double, triple, three RBIs, five runs, two walks and a hit by pitch, totaling seven appearances on base.

“It was kind of a numbers move by skip,” Schwarber said. “It’s working out for us. People are getting pitches to hit now, and we are going to be more active on the bases.”

IU struck early and often, getting out to a 4-0 lead against the Rockets and a 3-0 lead against the Cardinals.

Starting pitcher Will Coursen-Carr improved to 1-2 and lowered his ERA to 3.94, and fellow starting pitcher Joey DeNato went to 3-0 with a .47 ERA, as the only run he allowed against Louisville was unearned.

“Because of the way we started, this was a very important game for us and we treated it that way,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities outside of conference to play quality ranked opponents like this.”

DeNato pitched seven innings and gave up one unearned run on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts. The Hoosiers have yet to lose with him on the mound.

“That’s what makes him so special,” Smith said. “He’s able to change up his pitches, he doesn’t get rattled and he just competes his rear end off.”

IU ran a double steal during the ninth inning against Louisville, with junior first baseman Sam Travis on first and Schwarber on third. The Cardinals’ catcher threw to second, allowing Schwarber to slide in safely at home and give the Hoosiers their sixth run.

“I don’t know if a lot of guys knew that was going on,” DeNato said. “I know the signs, so I knew it was going to happen. I was expecting it, but it definitely set the tone in that last inning for us to kind of shut it down.”

Against Toledo, the Hoosiers scored first as Schwarber came in on an error during the first inning, followed by a two-run double by senior Scott Donley during the third inning.
 
IU earned a single run during the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Nick Ramos. During the seventh inning, Schwarber tripled in Ramos, and then scored on a single by junior Casey Rodrigue.

Travis then doubled Rodrigue in, and soon after scored on a sacrifice fly from freshman Craig Dedelow.

During the afternoon game against Louisville, Schwarber scored on a fielder’s choice during the first inning. The Hoosiers scored twice more during the second inning thanks to a Schwarber double, and tacked on a fourth run during the third inning on a Dedelow single.

Travis singled in a run in the seventh inning before the double steal took place in the ninth inning.

“We needed something like this to boost our spirits up,” Schwarber said. “Play a ranked opponent like them and come out and beat them like we did last year, and it’s going to be a big confidence boost as we go on in the season.”