IU broke through with nine runs in the final game of the series against Western Carolina after IU Coach Chris Lemonis made a few major changes to the batting order.
After producing just four runs over the first two games of the series and struggling to score runs all season, Lemonis placed junior centerfielder and normal three-hole hitter Craig Dedelow in the leadoff spot to try and jumpstart the Hoosier offense.
“We’ve got a lot of gaps in there right now,” Lemonis said. “Just trying to find the right mix and make up, there was no rhyme or reason, just trying to mix it up a little bit.”
Although Dedelow recorded just one hit at from the top of the order, IU as a team had 10 total leading to the 9-1 victory. Production was found from one through nine in the order with every starter, reaching base at least one time in the series finale.
Senior shortstop Brian Wilhite drove in six runs for the Hoosiers in the series as he batted out of the nine and eight spot in the order in each game.
On Friday IU found itself trailing by one in the bottom of the seventh after the Catamounts took the lead due to a balk by senior starting pitcher Kyle Hart. Wilhite stepped up to the plate, after junior first baseman Austin Cangelosi was hit by a pitch, and sent a two run home run over the left field fence to give IU the lead and ultimately the victory.
“I’ve had a lot of pull side hits that have really worked out for me,” Wilhite said. “I’ve been working on keeping my hands through the zone a little bit better. It’s been great for me to get back on track.”
Junior left handed pitcher Bryan Sammons held the Hoosiers to just one run through eight innings of work while striking out nine in the first game on Saturday. His performance was rather unexpected due to the fact that Sammons carried in an ERA over seven with 10 strikeouts on through 17.2 innings entering into the game.
Wilhite attributed the Hoosier struggles at the plate against Sammons to the fact that he was locating his off speed pitches very well and the aggressive, fastball hungry Hoosiers had a tough time getting on track with what was coming.
Freshman right fielder Luke Miller drove in three runs for IU in the series and batted second in the lineup in the finale after hitting clean up in the previous two games. As Miller raised his season average to .320 he was also able to knock two doubles on the weekend.
Cangelosi also played a large part in the run production for the Hoosiers picking up four hits on the weekend and continuously reaching base in front of Wilhite before moving into the clean up spot in game three.
“When you’re not swinging it well offensively, you tend to get beat down a little bit,” Lemonis said. “To be able to keep fighting back, and then we got some huge hits from some kids as the game went a long.”
