IU has been outhit in each of its last four games.
The Hoosiers have been victorious in each of those four. Beyond that, IU has won five consecutive games and 10 out of its last 11.
The Hoosiers were host to the now 8-16 Evansville Aces on Tuesday night at Bart Kaufman Field and defeated the visitors 6-3 to move to 14-8-1 on the year.
IU Coach Chris Lemonis has his team doing the little things, and it’s working.
“We just play tough,” Lemonis said. “We’ve got some guys that have had some good at-bats and are getting going offensively. Everybody’s just playing together and better collectively.”
In the fourth inning, Lemonis called for two consecutive suicide squeezes, where a runner on third base breaks for the plate as the pitcher begins his windup and the batter bunts to allow the runner to cross home safely with a head start.
“Once they moved the infield in, the guy was throwing good balls to bunt in some ways, so I just felt like we were getting the right pitches,” Lemonis said.
The first such bunt Tuesday came from the bat of senior second baseman Tony Butler. With junior right fielder Logan Sowers standing at third in a 4-2 ballgame, Butler laid down a short bunt to the pitcher that allowed the streaking Sowers to touch home and extend IU’s lead to three runs at 5-2.
“I like it,” Butler said about playing on a team that implements bunting. “I take a lot of pride in it. I know we do it as an offense, and I think it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Especially when you’re playing a team that may be a little bit shaky in the field, it can really rattle them.”
Butler’s bunt did just that. The Evansville pitcher had to defer to his second look and attempt to throw Butler out at first after realizing Sowers would score easily.
Sophomore pitcher Alex Weigand’s throw was wide to first base, and Butler wouldn’t be denied in his attempt to get all the way around to third on a ball that started out just a mere few feet in front of the batter’s box.
This, of course, set up another opportunity for Lemonis to play small ball and call for the squeeze. However, junior shortstop Colby Stratten didn’t get the bunt down and Butler was caught in between third and home and tagged out.
Butler finished the night 3-3 with four runs batted in and two doubles, including getting the run back that Evansville had scored in the top of the sixth inning by doubling down the right field line to drive in Sowers in the bottom half.
Timely hitting once again proved to be extremely important for the Hoosiers, and they took advantage of it tonight.
“I think they have just been able to relax in those situations,” Lemonis said. “Early in the year we pressed a little bit and tried to do too much and now guys are just going up there. Once it happens it’s just a little bit contagious — the two-out hitting and some of those things.”
