CINCINNATI — The Hoosier pitching was dominant from start to finish Wednesday, never giving an edge to the Xavier Musketeers on offense.
Six different arms combined to toss a four hit, 8-0, shutout on the road to get the Hoosiers five-game road swing off to an ideal start.
“We’re playing really good baseball right now,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “It’s a professional approach, and I thought in all phases of the game we took care of business.”
Junior right-hander Luke Stephenson earned his fourth start of the season in what was his most complete outing of his career. After battling back from arm issues and going through rehab, Stephenson has gotten better each time out.
Stephenson hurled four shutout innings and allowed just three hits and one walk. He faced two hitters over the minimum and was able to correct some issues from his previous start by attacking the strike zone early and using his slider to keep batters off balance.
In his start against Ball State last Wednesday, Stephenson was efficient through the first two innings but allowed three runs in the third and was replaced afterward. His four innings pitched is a career high, and he said he’s just hoping to help the team in some way or another.
“It’s not just me coming back, it’s all the people that have helped me get back,” Stephenson said. “I’m so grateful for them giving me the opportunity to come back out and kind of revive my career.”
IU pitching coach Kyle Bunn said, in a perfect world, the Hoosiers would like to give Stephenson enough innings to grow as a starter, but also not do too much that he’s unavailable on the weekend. Getting the right-hander through four was the plan from the beginning, and it was executed perfectly by IU.
Five pitchers combined to throw the final five innings of the game in shutout fashion and allowed just one hit as a group. Freshman Jonathan Stiever relieved Stephenson in the fifth, followed by sophomore Brian Hobbie and freshman Pauly Milto.
Stiever and Milto each retired the side in order, while Hobbie allowed two base runners but was able to get out of the inning unharmed.
“I thought everybody was sharp,” Lemonis said. “We were trying to get a lot of guys work, but I just thought everyone looked fresh, which is exciting because we need them all for the weekend coming up.”
Xavier finally got its lone hit off the IU bullpen in the eighth inning, a one-hit single off junior right-handed pitcher Kent Williams.
Williams retired the final two hitters in the inning, and junior right-hander Jake Kelzer shut the door in the ninth by striking out shortstop Andre Jernigan to end the game.
With the pitching staff performing tremendously for all nine innings, IU hitters were given a chance to relax, settle down in the box and not be overanxious to swing at quality pitches.
“It’s so much easier to come out and play and makes it more relaxing for everyone,” senior shortstop Brian Wilhite said. “The ability to simplify the game and calm down and just look for a pitch is really big for us, and I hand a lot to the pitchers for going out and putting up zeros.”
