He thought he was going to be bunting.
Then, a couple minutes later, sophomore outfielder Laren Eustace was at the plate with a chance to win the game and instructions to swing away.
He came through, driving a 1-0 fastball over the heads of the five infielders and into center field for a walk-off single in a 3-2 IU win against Kentucky on Tuesday at Bart Kaufman Field.
“Honestly I just wanted to see a fastball and hit it as hard as I could somewhere and it worked out the right way,” Eustace said. “That’s all you can ask for.”
Lemonis said he originally planned on using Eustace the batter before to pinch hit for freshman third baseman Luke Miller to sacrifice junior first baseman Austin Cangelosi to third base.
Instead, Lemonis stuck with Miller, who grounded out to second base to advance Cangelosi to third himself.
Then, as sophomore infielder Colby Stratten was walking to the plate with a chance to win the game, Kentucky made a switch to a pitcher who excelled against right-handed hitters.
This meant Lemonis had to switch from a right-handed hitter to a left-handed hitter, meaning it was time for Eustace.
“It’s just a lefty,” Lemonis said. “We were matching up to that guy. We had Colby in the game who came in in a switch, and Colby hadn’t had a lot of at-bats either. I just felt more comfortable with the left on right.”
Eustace said he was ready to drive in the winning run. He was also ready to sacrifice a runner over the batter before. He was ready the entire game, because that’s the approach you have to take coming off the bench.
Eustace should know. He appeared in 29 games his freshman season but only started eight of them, so most of his appearances were off the bench.
And while he has started the majority of games he’s played in this season, he still pinch hits for the Hoosiers.
“I did that a lot last year so I have a lot of experience doing that,” Eustace said. “You just have to stay mentally in the game the whole time and just be ready to have your name called and have your swing with you.”
Which explains why when Kentucky brought in a fifth infielder as Eustace stepped to the plate, he wasn’t rattled.
Even though Eustace is a player who hits a lot of balls on the ground, he adjusted. Just like he adjusted his mentality from bunting to swinging away, he adjusted his approach to trying to drive the ball into the outfield.
And while Lemonis wasn’t quite sure what he wanted Eustace to do in the ninth inning Tuesday, he was more than confident after the game.
“He had his helmet on and everything but he actually thought he was bunting and then we flipped it on him,” Lemonis said. “Just glad we didn’t bunt him.”
