Indiana baseball implodes in midweek loss at Indiana State

Indiana baseball missed out on an RPI-boosting win Tuesday, squandering a 6-0 lead and losing 15-7 to Indiana State University after numerous pitching miscues and defensive lapses. With its fourth loss in its last five midweek games, Indiana drops to 11-10 with conference play beginning Friday.  

The Hoosiers entered Tuesday 65th in the NCAA RPI, while the Sycamores were ranked 15th before the midweek festivities began. Up 6-0 after the top of the third inning, Indiana looked poised to grab a resume-boosting win in hostile territory, out to an early advantage on a windy afternoon at Bob Warn Field.  

Junior infielder Brock Tibbitts got things started with a sacrifice fly, picking up his team-leading 24th RBI. The Hoosiers added five more runs between the second and third innings, capped off by a two-run knock from redshirt junior catcher Jake Stadler.  

Right-handed graduate student Ty Rybarczyk turned in a pair of scoreless innings to set the tone on the mound for Indiana, but the wheels fell off when head coach Jeff Mercer went to the bullpen.  

Indiana scored just one run after the third inning while the Sycamores shelled every pitcher Mercer brought out — they scored all 15 of their runs between the third and eighth innings.  

Sophomore Aydan Decker-Petty replaced Rybarczyk in the third inning and allowed back-to-back home runs with two outs. Freshman Ryan Rushing kept Indiana State quiet in the fourth inning but ran into trouble in the fifth after a hit-by-pitch and a base knock.  

Sophomore Brayden Risedorph replaced Rushing and faced redshirt Indiana State senior designated hitter Mike Sears, a .233 hitter, who greeted Risedorph with a three-run homer to right-center field, tying the game at six runs apiece. Sears was one of many Indiana State hitters to feast on Hoosier pitchers, going 3-5 with a career-high six RBIs and two extra-base hits.  

Indiana briefly regained the lead when sophomore outfielder Devin Taylor plated freshman second baseman Jasen Oliver on an RBI groundout in the top of the sixth, but Tibbitts popped out harmlessly on the infield to strand two Hoosier baserunners.  

As is so often the case in baseball, one team’s missed opportunity is another team’s cue to blow the doors off their opposition. Indiana State stranded a pair of Hoosier baserunners and turned them into seven runs of its own, sending 10 batters to the plate in what was slated to be Risedorph’s first full inning.  

Once again, poor pitching and defense put Indiana out of contention. With two outs in the inning and a man aboard at first, Risedorph hit back-to-back batters (the first of whom was plunked with a 1-2 count) to load the bases for Sears.  

While also behind 1-2, Sears lifted a pop fly into the wind just beyond the infield. Indiana’s defense fought to locate the ball, with Oliver and the Hoosier defense scrambling to track down the popup and end the inning. Junior outfielder Nick Mitchell frantically raced forward and leapt in a last-ditch effort to save things from going from bad to worse, but it was in vain — the ball dropped onto the outfield grass and the bases emptied.  

Indiana went back to its bullpen, and senior Jack Moffitt contributed to the Indiana State hit parade, allowing a single and a two-run homer to the first two batters he faced. By the time the dust settled, the Sycamores had jumped out to a 13-7 lead after two hit-by-pitches, a bases-clearing little league double and a no-doubt bomb, all with two outs.