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The Indiana Daily Student

sports baseball

IU wins series finale at Purdue, loses series

Senior Craig Dedelow celebrates his RBI double at second base, which would ultimately be the Hoosiers’ only run in a 3-1 loss to Nebraska.

After struggling to find much offense throughout the three-game weekend series against Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, IU had already lost the series going into Sunday afternoon's series finale.

The finale, however, was the most complete game the Hoosiers were able to put together during the weekend. IU collected 13 hits and held the Boilermakers to nine hits of their own to win 14-9.

In his second start of the season, sophomore pitcher Pauly Milto pitched seven strong innings before surrendering four runs in the eighth and exiting. In his first seven innings, Milto gave up one run on three hits and no walks.

The sophomore’s eighth inning, in which he surrendered four runs on four hits, is what pushed his game totals to seven total hits and five earned runs through 7.1 innings.

Backing up good starting pitching has been a recent struggle for the Hoosiers, but by the sixth inning, IU had already scored as many runs in Sunday’s game as the Hoosiers had in games one and two. When Milto exited, IU had a 13-5 lead.

Sophomore Matt Lloyd hit his seventh home run of the season in the first inning to get an early lead on Purdue. Purdue sophomore infielder Jacson McGowan hit a home run to tie, and the score remained tied at 1-1 until the IU bats exploded for seven runs in the fifth inning.

Senior outfielder Alex Krupa singled to score a run and take the lead. Then sophomore infielder Luke Miller hit a 3-run home run — his second consecutive game with a home run — and senior outfielder Craig Dedelow responded with a 3-run home run of his own. Dedelow’s eighth home run of the season pushed IU’s lead to 8-1.

After the fifth inning, junior outfielder Logan Sowers hit an RBI single and an RBI double, Lloyd walked to bring in a run, Dedelow hit a sacrifice fly, and senior catcher Ryan Fineman knocked his second home run of the season for two RBI.

There wasn’t a player or two for the Hoosiers that led the way in the offensive onslaught; rather, the team as a whole contributed. Dedelow racked up the most RBIs with four, Krupa had the most runs scored with three, and Lloyd and Krupa combined for four of IU’s nine walks.

It was the best way for the Hoosiers to finish what was otherwise a lackluster series against the Boilermakers. A four-run rally in the eighth inning of game one got the win for Purdue, and the six runs scored in the third and fourth innings made the difference for Purdue in game two.

At one point in the series, IU saw its starting pitchers, bullpen and bats struggle to produce, but the series finale finished the series on a high note for the Hoosiers, whose record now stands at 16-13-2 overall and 4-4-1 in Big Ten play.

IU will travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, to take on Indiana State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Sycamores defeated the Hoosiers in their first mid-week matchup this season, 7-3.

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