At the seventh inning stretch, IU and Maryland were in a pitchers duel with no particular end in sight. Both teams were into their bullpens, after equally impressive performances from both starting pitchers.
Then after a dropped third strike, a walk, two errors, two fielders choices and a single, the Terrapins had scored four runs against sophomore Jake Kelzer.
Those four runs were enough, as Maryland defeated IU 4-2 Saturday, ending the Hoosiers’ quest for a third straight Big Ten Tournament Title.
“The team that wins tournaments, regionals, super regionals, they just execute,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis.
All four runs against Kelzer were unearned. After the first, Lemonis said he wasn’t phased. He said the way his team has played the last few weeks, the problems would correct themselves.
After the third run, however, Lemonis said he had to turn his head and look away. The third run was maybe the most difficult to comprehend.
With runners at the corners and one out, Kelzer fielded a ground ball straight at him. Kevin Biondic, the runner on third, broke home as soon as contact was made and was caught half way between third base and home plate.
But Kelzer panicked. After looking at Biondic for a moment, he tried to start a double play. The throw to second base was not in time. No outs were recorded and the third Terrapin of the inning crossed home, At that point, the Terrapins hadn't recorded a hit in the inning.
“I didn’t think it’d be us,” Lemonis said. “We’ve played with a lot of pressure for about the last three weeks. We’ve been handling it pretty good but it just got to us a little bit.”
The disastrous seventh inning spoiled one of junior Caleb Baragar’s best starts in recent memory. The left-hander pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only four hits.
Baragar attributed the turn around to his slider, a pitch he learned how to throw in the past week after struggling with his curveball in recent outings.
“I was able to throw my slider in pretty much any count today,” Baragar said. “I actually had a feel for an off-speed pitch which I have been struggling with as of late.”
But IU failed to score any runs with Baragar in the game.
In the third inning, sophomore first baseman Austin Cangelosi led off the game with a double off the left field wall, his second extra base hit in as many days.
After a sacrifice bunt advanced Cangelosi to second, senior second baseman Casey Rodrigue and the top of the Hoosier lineup had a runner on third base with one out.
But IU failed to capitalize.
“Just early in the game with getting the runner in from third with less than two outs,” Lemonis said. “We’re not asking our guys to make the greatest play.”
Rodrigue flied the ball high to shallow center field, some 10-20 feet beyond the infield dirt. Cangelosi tested the arm of Maryland center fielder LaMonte Wade anyways, and was gunned down for the final out by plenty.
Still even after the seventh inning went wrong for the Hoosiers, Lemonis had faith, drawing on memories from weeks prior.
The Hoosiers had battled back from deficits late to win close games. The Hoosiers did fight and battle back, but the hole was too deep.
IU managed two runs in the eighth, but freshman Logan Sowers struck out with runners on first and third to end the threat.
Sowers, who has hit three home runs in the last six games, could not capitalize on back-to-back hanging breaking balls. He watched the first sail by and swung though the second to end the Hoosier scoring threat.
In the ninth, the Hoosiers stranded a lead off double from sophomore outfielder Craig Dedelow.
“We’ve been playing some really good baseball and se just didn’t execute to the level we had to when you play a really good team like Maryland,” Lemonis said. “They took advantage of it. I guess it’s over.”
