Hoosier bats come alive, beat Gophers 8-0

When Casey Rodrigue reached second base on a double in the bottom of the sixth inning, he turned toward his team’s dugout and raised three fingers.

It was just like the salute from the popular movie series, "The Hunger Games."

After Rodrigue’s salute, the whole dugout raised three fingers back at Rodrigue. The same thing happened when the next two batters, Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis, recorded doubles.

The back-to-back-to-back doubles by the Hoosiers in the bottom of the sixth propelled them to a three-run frame and gave the pitching staff a comfortable four-run cushion.

“When you get through our lineup without giving up hits once or twice, we’re sure gonna get to you the third time," Travis said.

Minnesota (27-21, 13-10) wouldn’t threaten again, as they fell to No. 9 IU (38-13, 21-3) in the rubber match 8-0. The win gave the Hoosiers the series win against the Gophers. On the year, IU won all eight of its Big Ten series, sweeping five of them.

In addition to hitting .359 on the year and leading the Big Ten in hits, RBI and home runs, Travis has another accolade.

When asked who on the team came up with "The Hunger Games" gesture, Travis let out a smile and said, “I actually did. I started it.”

“Getting extra hits in baseball, guys always got their own things they do back to the dugout," Travis continued "Some guys do like the bow and arrow thing. We did the wave last year. And we’re doing 'The Hunger Games' this year. It’s catching on.”

Not only do the players get into it, but the fans do as well. Toward the end of the game when a Hoosier would reach second base and salute the dugout, the public address system would play the patented "Hunger Games" whistle, and some of the fans behind the dugout would salute the player back, along with the entire dugout.

The Hoosiers recorded six doubles on the day, and their eight-run performance was more than enough thanks to another gem by the pitching staff.

Starter Brian Korte went five innings, Scott Effross went 2.2 and the 6-foot-7 Jake Kelzer closed it out as the three combined for the eight-hit shutout.

“I was pleased,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We always tell our pitchers get stingy. Regardless of the situation, and even though we’re up eight runs in that last inning, we wanna pitch as though there’s no scoreboard out there.”

The senior Korte threw just 64 pitches. Smith said he felt Korte could have gone longer, but he wanted to give Effross some extra work.

Effross, who has been the team’s closer since Ryan Halstead went down with an ACL tear on March 5, hasn’t been as exceptional as he was in the beginning of the year. That coupled with the emergence of Kelzer has opened up the team’s closer role.

Smith said who the closer is depends on the situation.

“Scotty’s a pound the strike zone, locating the zone, fastball kind of guy and Kelzer’s our strikeout guy,” he said. “But both guys we have confidence in to get it done, but we probably will leave it situational.”

It was senior day at Bart Kaufman Field. Before the game several seniors, including Joey DeNato, Dustin DeMuth, Casey Smith and Korte were honored before the game.

While based on projections the Hoosiers will most likely be host to regionals and possibly super regionals at Bart Kaufman during the postseason, it was still a special day, Smith and the players said.

“These guys are a big part of putting Indiana baseball on the scene nationally,” Smith said of the senior group. “I know I’ll be forever grateful for that, and the fan base will.”