The Hoosiers were up five runs in a game against a team with no conference wins and only four wins so far this year.
But when the ninth inning started, it was IU’s junior closer Jake Kelzer on the mound to try and win the first game of a series against Purdue on Friday night at Bart Kaufman Field.
He surrendered four runs but held on to help IU to a 10-9 win in a game featuring high winds to right field, rain and brief hail storms.
“It was some really tough conditions to play in today and it’s your rival so they’re not going to stop,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “That’s why we put Kelzer out there with a five-run lead because we knew the last three outs would be the toughest.”
The Hoosiers were led offensively by sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers who went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored.
IU senior pitcher Kyle Hart earned his sixth win of the season Friday after pitching six innings and allowing five earned runs.
Four of those runs came in the fifth inning, when he allowed a two-RBI triple to Kyle Johnson immediately followed by a two-run home run to Kyle Wood.
“Those two guys are two of the best in our league so he got beat by them a little bit,” Lemonis said. “But he competed and he was good.”
But Purdue’s four-run fifth inning didn’t hurt the Hoosiers too much, nor damage Hart’s chance to move into third place all-time on IU’s career win list.
That’s because in the third inning, IU scored seven runs bookended by two hits from sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers.
After leading off the inning with a single and scoring the first of four IU runs through walks, Sowers returned to the plate later in the third.
This time, the bases were loaded with two outs. This time, Sowers doubled threw the wind off the wall in left center field to drive in the final three runs of the third inning.
And like in the fifth inning when Purdue scored four runs, when IU scored its seven in the third, the weather was a little strange.
“During one of those rallies we were getting Dippin' Dots it felt like,” Lemonis said. “Kids were yelling Dippin' Dots because that’s what it looked like. That’s why you see some of those innings get big.”
Sowers said he’s never played in hail before and has no desire to play in it again.
Sowers also said the weather might have been why the Hoosiers lost some focus to allow multiple four-run innings after gaining a seven-run lead in the third. That’s one of the things that have hurt IU to start the season.
Lemonis said in past games, IU has gotten out to an early lead but let its opponent back in the game. The Hoosiers were able to salvage a win Friday night, but for the next two games, Sowers said his team will need to be better.
“We lost our focus a little bit at the end of that game,” Sowers said. “Those guys want to beat us as bad as we want to beat them and we have to remember that. We have to step on their throats and keep getting after them.”
