Good pitching and timely hitting can solve a lot of problems.
For IU, they helped end a stretch in which the Hoosiers lost six of their last eight games. It helped IU sweep Rutgers at Bart Kaufman Field, with the Hoosiers winning two games 5-4 and one 6-0.
“We knew we had to come out with intensity and play our best game,” senior infielder ?Casey Rodrigue said.
IU got good starts from all three of its starting pitchers this weekend. Friday, junior starting pitcher Caleb Baragar pitched six innings and allowed two runs. Saturday, sophomore starting pitcher Jake Kelzer pitched eight scoreless innings.
Sunday, junior starting pitcher Christian Morris pitched four scoreless innings. But unlike Baragar and Kelzer, Morris wasn’t supposed to start. The original starting pitcher was junior Scott Effross, but that changed 15 minutes before the game.
“He didn’t even have his shoes on,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “He ran in, put his shoes on and got ready really quick.”
After Morris got his shoes on, he had to battle. He allowed a Scarlet Knight to reach second base in each of the four innings Morris pitched. In three of the four innings, he allowed a runner to reach third.
“I knew it was going to be a struggle,” Morris said. “I didn’t think it was going to be easy today, but I was proud of the team for backing me up and keeping those guys from scoring.”
Morris continually stranded runners on base and did so without the strikeout, which he had two of.
In both the first and second innings, Rutgers had runners on first and second and nobody out. Both times it tried bunting. The first attempt was popped out to Morris. The second attempt went back to Morris, who fielded it, spun and threw the runner out trying to move to third.
And when Rutgers hitters weren’t bunting, they still weren’t making good contact. In the second inning, Rutgers had runners on first and second with one out. Rutgers’ leadoff hitter, Mike Carter, popped up to shortstop and Joe D’Annuzio weakly grounded out to end the inning.
“He just kept persevering and gave us a great outing today,” Lemonis said.
Rutgers had at least one runner on base every inning Sunday. In seven of nine innings, it put a runner in scoring position. But outside of the fifth inning, when Rutgers scored all four of its runs, it was never able to capitalize.
IU’s first run on Sunday came from Rodrigue, who hit Rutgers starting pitcher Gaby Rosa’s third pitch of the game over the wall in right field.
“We had talked about jumping on them early because they were going to come out with a lot of intensity after going down two, so it was good to jump out and get a lead on them,” ?Rodrigue said.
The three wins against Rutgers were crucial for IU, who entered the weekend in 10th place in the Big Ten. After its win Sunday, IU is now tied ?for seventh.
“We never say we have to win,” Rodrigue said. “It’s just come out and play as hard as we can and play the best game we can, and let the chips fall where they may.”
