Hoosiers fall in extra innings, 2-1

Brad Hartong had a lot of ground to cover in left field.

His full extention on the diving attempt on Minnesota shortstop Connor Schaefbauer’s fly ball came up just short.

“I got a pretty good read on it,” Hartong said. “It came close enough where if I dove, I would have had a chance. Hit me in the glove, so I should have come down with it.”

As the ball fell, Schaefbauer recorded the go ahead RBI double in the top of the 10th inning to give the Gophers (27-20, 13-9) a 2-1 lead against IU (36-13, 19-3), which would be the final score.

The Hoosiers had their nine-game winning streak snapped on the night when hits wouldn’t fall. IU recorded only four hits on the night, but the team still had a chance to win in extra innings.

However, Minnesota was able to push a run across the board in the 10th when Hartong couldn't come up with the ball in his diving attempt.

Starter Joey DeNato was in the IU bullpen at the time, which is located in left field, so DeNato was a just a few feet away from the dive. When Schaefbauer’s hit came off the bat, DeNato said he thought it was going to be a close play.

“He covered a whole lot of ground trying to get to that ball,” DeNato said. “He put as much effort into that as possible.”

DeNato had a streak of his own snapped. The lefty had won each of his last eight starts he’s thrown. Even though he put forth a solid effort, the offense couldn’t give him the necessary run support.

On the night, DeNato’s line was nine innings pitched, five hits, one run, which was earned, five walks and seven strikeouts on 115 pitches.

The San Diego native had some issues with control. In the fifth inning, DeNato walked the bases loaded on three consecutive batters. He got out of the jam by inducing a groundout, but he walked five batters total on the night.

“The hitters were taking a lot of good pitches,” DeNato said. “They had good approaches at the plate, so that didn’t help me. Usually I get some bad swings on my slider and stuff like that.”

The Hoosiers and Gophers will play game two of their series 8 p.m. Friday at Bart Kaufman Field.

Christian Morris – who is 4-3 on the year with a 2.15 ERA – will get the start for IU.

Even though the loss snapped their winning streak, some of the players said they thought it was beneficial for the team to go through this hardship.

“It was probably good for us to lose a close one like that,” catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “We gotta realize how important those close ones are.”