DeNato delivers again in 4-2 win

With one out in the eighth inning, starter Joey DeNato came out of the game to a standing ovation in front of the biggest crowd in Bart Kaufman Field history.

The senior ace had thrown 7.1 innings and given up just two earned runs on 104 pitches.

“I thought I pitched pretty well,” DeNato said. “The two runs they scored, really I think I had -- maybe I had a few bad pitches all game, but they definitely executed on them, on pitches that I missed on.”

He left with his team in the lead by one run, and the record attendance of 4,312 fans at Bart Kaufman Field got out of their seats to give DeNato, statistically the greatest IU pitcher of all-time, an ovation.

IU was able to maintain the lead and defeated Stanford 4-2 in Saturday night’s regional game. With the win, IU moves just one victory away from the regional championship.

IU will play the winner of the Stanford-Youngstown State game at 6 p.m. Sunday. The Penguin-Cardinal bout is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch Sunday.

DeNato, a San Diego native, was not recruited by California schools because he lacks size and fastball velocity. But the 5-foot-10 ace improved to 13-1 on the year, which set the record for most wins in a single season for an IU pitcher.

After the game, Stanford Coach Mark Marquess lamented not having DeNato.
“We did not recruit him,” he said. “Wish we had.”

The performance by DeNato was coupled with a clutch-hitting clinic by the Hoosiers. Of the four runs on the day for IU, three came with two outs.

Leading the way was Big Ten Player of the Year Sam Travis. The junior first baseman went 3-for-5 on the day with two RBI.

“Yeah, postseason play as a player, you know, coming up in key situations,” Travis said, “that's kind of what you live for as a player.”

In the top of the fifth inning on a 2-0 count, Travis drilled a ball over the left field fence to put IU up two runs at the time, and it sent Bart Kaufman into a frenzy.

“I think he was sitting fastball,” Stanford starter John Hochstatter said. “And he beat me on it. Nothing more than that.”

He went 7.1 innings in the loss, giving up nine hits for four earned runs on 114 pitches.

Another big at-bat for IU came in the top of the eighth inning. It was just a 3-2 lead, and right fielder Will Nolden faced a full count, two-out situation with runners on first and second.

And Nolden delivered.

He singled up the middle, and the hit scored Ramos from second base to give the Hoosiers a two-run cushion.

“It's those two at-bats that I remember as I was reflecting on that game that I thought were momentum gainers for us, momentum breakers for them," IU Coach Tracy Smith said.

The RBI gave extra insurance to closer Jake Kelzer, even though he didn’t need it. After DeNato came out in the eighth inning, Kelzer came in to throw 1.2 innings of one-hit baseball, not giving up a run.

While Kelzer and his wicked curveball have been proficient this year, he is still a redshirt freshman.

But Smith didn’t lack any confidence in his closer, who is a former swimmer on the IU swim and dive team.

“Anybody that spends their mornings at 5:00 a.m. staring at the bottom of the pool,” Smith said, “ … has some mental toughness.”

Christian Morris will get the start Sunday. He is 6-3 with a 1.82 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the Hoosiers will either play the Cardinal or the Penguins.

The Hoosiers knocked off both teams already, and are now one win away from their second consecutive super regional appearance.