He had more than just the game in the balance.
With no outs in a tie game in the seventh inning with the go-ahead run on first base, freshman catcher Ryan Fineman also needed a hit to extend his hitting streak.
Fineman delivered with a full count, shooting a fastball down the right field line for what would be the game-winning hit in a 4-3 win against Ball State on Wednesday at Bart Kaufman Field.
“I’m just seeing the ball well,” Fineman said. “The first two at bats were okay. I hit the first ball hard but after that I wasn’t really doing team at bats which is what I need to start doing. I saw a good pitch and just tried to hit it the other way hard.”
Fineman’s double capped three unanswered runs for the Hoosiers also included two RBIs from junior first baseman Austin Cangelosi.
The first came on a fourth inning solo home run into the bullpen beyond left field.
“We were kind of dead at that point in the game, so for him to get that big hit was huge,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said.
The second RBI came in a much different way.
After hitting a ball over the 330 foot sign in left, Cangelosi singled about 50 feet back to the pitcher in the fifth inning to tie the game at three.
Cangelosi came into Wednesday's game sporting a .239 batting average, a stat he attributes more to misfortune than misexecution.
He said he’s been hitting the ball hard, but has been suffering from at ‘em balls, essentially when he manages to hit a ball hard but right where a defender is playing.
Wednesday, he caught a break.
“In this game you have to hit ‘em where they ain’t I guess,” Cangelosi said. “It’s funny that you’re going to hit a lot of at ‘em balls sometimes and other times you’re going to find a hole.”
The win was also the sixth in a row for the Hoosiers, who, after a slow start to the season, have started to build what they believe is a resume for the NCAA Tournament.
The Hoosiers also appear looser. Cangelosi called junior relief pitcher Thomas Belcher’s stuff “disgusting” after he picked up his third save in as many games Wednesday.
While Cangelosi was saying this, sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers and junior outfielder Craig Dedelow stood in his eyeline trying to distract Cangelosi while he was answering questions.
And then there was Coach Z, IU’s unofficial assistant coach. Coach Z, Zachery Mezger, attends all IU games with his family and sits beside the dugout. After every game he goes onto the field to talk with the players.
And Wednesday, Lemonis gave the floor to Coach Z. Lemonis said it was Mezger who urged him to substitute Belcher into the game in the eighth inning with a runner on second instead of gambling and waiting until the ninth.
Before the game, Mezger told the pitching staff it needed to keep its focus, before five pitchers combined for eight strikeouts and allowed only seven hits.
After the game, Lemonis let Mezger speak about the Hoosiers need to do to keep their winning streak going this weekend against an Iowa team that has won four of its last five games.
“We need to work on some stuff to get ready for Iowa,” Mezger said. “We’ve got a good team coming in here on a winning streak.”
