It was a line drive that was in the air for maybe five or six seconds before it caromed off the bullpen wall in left field.
“They pitched me in, and I just turned on it and tried to hit it as hard as I could,” Pasteur said of his home run.
It was the first home run of Pasteur’s IU career and just his third extra base hit. That is until the bottom of the fifth, when he did it again.
Louisville starting pitcher Anthony Kidston threw the same inside fastball, Pasteur put the same swing on the ball and it ended up in the exact same spot — bouncing around in the left field bullpen. Except this time, there was a runner on base.
Pasteur’s two home runs and three RBIs supplied all the offense in No. 24 IU’s 3-0 win against No. 7 Louisville.
“It’s a little unexpected, but he does have some power,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “He just hasn’t shown it a lot in the games, so I hope he keeps showing it.”
Pasteur said he hit a few home runs in high school. He even had a two-home run game during his time at Winters Mill High School.
But for the most part Pasteur has always been more of a gap-to-gap power guy, he said. He just puts the ball in play and lets his electrifying speed take care of the rest.
This was his approach in his third plate appearance against Louisville, when he drew a nine-pitch, two-out walk with nobody on base in the seventh inning.
This kind of situation presents a different opportunity for players who have already homered twice in a game. If he puts all his effort trying to hit his third home run and weakly flies out, it’s not a big deal because there was no imminent scoring threat.
But Pasteur is not most players. Pasteur took some pitches and stayed patient. When he got two strikes against him, he shortened his swing and worked the count full. After a couple more foul balls, he took ball four low and inside to give IU a two out baserunner.
The next batter, freshman outfielder Laren Eustace, singled to left field. Then senior second baseman Casey Rodrigue was hit by a pitch.
If Pasteur only tried to hit a home run the inning likely would have been finished. Instead, Pasteur just did what he could to get on base and keep the inning going.
Even though the next batter, sophomore Craig Dedelow, grounded out to end the inning, the opportunity was there to add to IU’s lead, an opportunity not possible without Pasteur’s maturity.
This game, arguably the best of Pasteur’s collegiate career, also came after what was arguably his worst, Sunday against Penn State. Pasteur went 0-for-4 and made three errors at shortstop in IU’s 13-7 loss against the Nittany Lions.
Tuesday, Pasteur went 2-for-2 with three RBIs and a clean nine innings in the field at shortstop.
“He’s an ultra-talented player, and he has a chance to play this game for a long time,” Lemonis said. “But he’s a freshman, so the game has been tough in some ways, and he’s had to fight it, and it was nice to see him fight back a little bit tonight.”
