It took the Hoosiers 11 innings, but they were able to down the HawaiI Rainbow Warriors for the third straight game in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Friday night by a final of 8-5.
Throughout the series, IU has been able to lean on its pitching until the bats were able to catch up, but Friday was different. Five Hoosiers recorded multiple hits after just four players had done so in the last two games combined.
IU jumped on Hawaii early and pushed its lead to 5-1 in the fifth inning.
Freshman infielder Matt Gorski, sophomore catcher Ryan Fineman and senior infielder Austin Cangelosi knocked in a total of three runs before the fifth inning on RBI singles. Senior second baseman Tony Butler knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly and junior outfielder Logan Sowers had one RBI of his own on a double.
Junior pitcher Brian Hobbie turned in the most impressive outing of the three IU starting pitchers so far in Hawaii by going 6.0 innings and allowing five hits and three runs.
Junior Austin Foote and senior Luke Stephenson relieved Hobbie with a 5-3 lead and helped push the game into the eighth inning with a combined performance of 1.2 innings pitched, two hits allowed and no earned runs.
Sophomore Matt Lloyd, who also plays infield and made his first pitching appearance in game two of the series, smoothly closed out the eighth inning on the mound but allowed Hawaii to score two runs in the ninth to tie the game.
Lloyd pitched through the tenth and eleventh innings though and got the win while in a 3.1-inning performance, with four hits and two runs allowed.
After a scoreless tenth inning, IU got on the board first with a Craig Dedelow home run, and then again with a Cangelosi 2-RBI triple.
Lloyd retired the side in the bottom of the eleventh, and IU earned its fifth consecutive victory, which marks its longest streak of the season.
The 9-7-1 Hoosiers will finish the series and look to secure a sweep against the Warriors on Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
Taylor Lehman
