Coming into its fourth Big Ten series of the season, IU baseball had won or split each series it played.
The Hoosiers were on the road to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes and came out with a strong start. In each of the first two games, IU took a 4-0 lead.
The Hoosiers won game one but were unable to hold the lead in game two.
IU junior Jonathan Stiever pitched IU to victory in game one by throwing seven shutout innings, featuring six strike outs.
Game two was a different story for the Hoosiers, as sophomore starting pitcher Cam Beauchamp only threw 3.2 innings while giving up four runs. However, only two of those runs were earned as the IU defense committed two errors in both the second and third inning.
The game remained tied at four until the bottom of the seventh inning when senior utility player Noah McGowan launched his eighth home run of the season.
Junior Pauly Milto, the usual Saturday starter for IU, did not make the trip with the team due to arm soreness.
The Buckeyes would go on to win the game 5-4 and snap IU’s nine-game winning streak. Splitting the Friday and Saturday games sent the Big Ten rivals into a decisive game three of the series.
IU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second but surrendered the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
The lead change was one of three in the game.
Just as was the case in game two, the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were tied at the end of six innings.
This time around, IU grabbed the lead in the seventh as sophomore first baseman Scott Bradley sent a single down the left-field line.
IU was unable to hold the lead after sophomore relief pitcher Cal Krueger gave up a one-out, RBI single in the eighth. Neither team scored in the ninth, and the game went into extra innings for the second time this week for IU.
The game remained tied at five before McGowan came up clutch for Ohio State.
Less than 24 hours after hitting the game-winning home run of game two, McGowan sent a two-out double to right field to bring home the winning run in the 12th inning.
This loss marks the first time since early March that the Hoosiers have lost back-to-back games.
Sophomore left fielder Matt Gorski was able to get a hit in each of the three games, extending his hit streak to 11 games.
IU will be back in action Wednesday when the team travels to Purdue for a non-conference meeting.
With junior Tim Herrin making the start on the mound for IU on Sunday, no decision has been made as to who will start for the Hoosiers against the Boilermakers.
Stefan Krajisnik
