IU saw the end of a five-game winning streak Saturday night in Honolulu as it lost the final game of a four-game series to Hawaii, 11-10.
The Hoosiers only put up 11 runs in the first half of the series, but they posted eight in the third game and then 10 in the final game. But the pitching struggled.
Freshman pitcher Andrew Saalfrank went three innings and gave up seven hits and four earned runs. The six relief pitchers combined to allow nine hits and seven earned runs. Freshman Cal Krueger allowed just two hits in three innings of relief.
Freshman Matt Gorski put the Hoosiers up early with his first career home run in the first inning. Then the Rainbow Warriors scored four runs in the second and third innings.
Down 4-2 by the fourth inning, IU scored eight runs with the help of a 5-run eighth inning. Gorski and sophomore Luke Miller each had RBI doubles and junior outfielder Logan Sowers added a home run.
But Hawaii answered with a 5-run eighth inning of its own against junior pitcher Brandon Kelley and senior Luke Stephenson.
The Hoosiers then surrendered the remainder of the six-run lead in the bottom of the ninth before Hawaii sophomore catcher Kekai Rios finished the game with a walk-off single off IU sophomore pitcher Pauly Milto.
While IU wasn’t able to compete the sweep of Hawaii, it was able to eclipse the .500 mark and win its second consecutive series after tying or losing the first three. IU is 5-2 in the last seven games.
IU begins Big Ten play in its next series March 24. The Hoosiers travel to Evanston, Illinois, to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in a three-game series after a mid-week matchup against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday at Bart Kaufman Field.
Taylor Lehman
