The bleeding couldn’t be stopped as the Hoosiers pushed their losing streak to six games, falling to Seton Hall in game one of the Snowbird Classic 7-2 on Thursday.
After taking an early 1-0 lead off a RBI double by senior shortstop Brian Wilhite, the Hoosiers stranded nine men on base and failed to cash in at the plate.
Junior right-hander Luke Stephenson earned his first career start as a Hoosier as IU Coach Chris Lemonis elected to keep his three-man starting rotation intact for the three weekend games.
Stephenson tossed three innings, allowing one run and striking out four Pirates along the way. Sophomore left-hander BJ Sabol then took over and struck out the first five of six batters he faced.
With the Hoosiers and Pirates deadlocked at 1-1 in the sixth, a costly error by the Hoosiers led to three unearned runs in Sabol’s final inning of work, giving Seton Hall a 4-1 advantage.
The Hoosiers then turned to another left-hander, sophomore Austin Foote, who surrendered a three-run home run in the seventh inning as the Pirates put the game out of reach.
For the remainder of the weekend IU will play Illinois State, Butler and Seton Hall again. Senior right-hander Kyle Hart will get the start against Illinois State on Friday to stop the losing streak for the Hoosiers.
Hart was shook up in his most recent outing at Cal State at Fullerton as he saw his 29-inning scoreless streak, dating back to last season, snapped by allowing four runs on six hits over 5.2 innings.
Senior right-hander Evan Bell has been stellar in his two starts for IU this season after shutting down Fullerton. He exited the game after seven innings allowing just two hits and one run.
Bell was in line to grab the victory but a defensive mishap by the Hoosiers allowed the Titans to tie the game and ultimately defeat the Hoosiers in 14 innings.
Junior outfielder Craig Dedelow has carried the team to this point after recording two more hits in the loss to Seton Hall on Thursday, including a triple.
Wilhite has picked up the pace at the plate becoming a surprising asset to the Hoosier lineup, batting low in the order after shifting from third base to shortstop, taking over for sophomore Isaiah Pasteur.
Zain Pyarali
