On a day built to honor seniors, IU’s offense was powered by freshmen.
Specifically, it was the trio of catcher Ryan Fineman, third baseman Luke Miller and designated hitter Scotty Bradley that led the Hoosiers offensively.
Back-to-back first inning doubles by Miller and Bradley helped the Hoosiers to a 4-1 win Sunday against the Illini at Bart Kaufman Field.
“They’ve had some good spots,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “Sometimes when we hit them all three together, they seem to thrive off that, I don’t know.”
Bradley laughed this off, saying it was a coincidence and had more to do with luck than anything else. But then he went on to say they thrive off each other’s successes.
When Bradley watched Miller hit an RBI double in the first from the on-deck circle, he said he felt compelled to one up him. He did, driving in two runs with a double of his own.
This left out Fineman, the clean-up hitter for the Hoosiers. So when he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh with a chance to provide IU with an unnecessary insurance run, Fineman drove in IU’s fourth run of the day with a sacrifice fly.
All four runs in IU’s win Sunday were driven in by the three freshmen in the middle of the order.
“We’re seeing the ball pretty well and everything, and I think we feed off each other,” Bradley said. “When we see one of us get a hit it makes us want to go up and do something to help the team out.”
Those three runs were enough to support senior starting pitcher Evan Bell, who pitched his first career complete game in his final home start.
In a season where he hasn’t received much run support, Bell said the three first inning runs were huge for his confidence.
Oftentimes, Bell’s starts have snowballed this season, meaning it’s typically one bad inning that does Bell in. But when he gave up a third inning solo home run, he still had a two-run lead. The home run was one of three hits he surrendered in his complete game.
“I think it probably helped because he hadn’t much all year,” Lemonis said. “It was confidence and relief for everybody, I think the whole ballpark felt it.”
The win helped the Hoosiers keep pace with Minnesota, who still leads IU by half a game in the Big Ten.
The only remaining avenue for the Hoosiers to qualify for the NCAA Tournament is to win the Big Ten Tournament and receive the conference’s automatic bid.
For Bradley and the rest of the freshman class, this would mean an opportunity to keep playing with and learning from a senior class that has already played in three NCAA tournaments, won two Big Ten titles and played in the College World Series.
“Being a freshman, I look up to every single one of them so much, and they’ve helped me out so much this year,” Bradley said. “It couldn’t have been a better way to go out. I’m really proud of these guys, and I hope we’ve got a long way to go.”
