Pitching, defense woes return as Indiana baseball drops opener at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — While Indiana baseball no longer has the Big Ten’s worst fielding percentage (sitting at .961 on March 24, it improved to .978 entering the weekend), the Hoosiers’ defense let them down at Purdue on Friday.  

“Any time you go from all-turf to dirt, you go ahead and mark up two errors,” Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said postgame. “It’s a different game.” 

Indiana picked up a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an infield knock from designated hitter Joey Brenczewski, but left-handed starting pitcher Brandon Keyster failed to protect the early lead in his second start of the season.  

“What we were trying to avoid is exactly what happened,” Mercer said. “You may end up with a couple of free bases. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to — you wish you could’ve gotten one more inning.” 

Keyster followed a leadoff walk with a throwing error, one of several defensive blunders on the day for Indiana. On a sacrifice bunt, he fielded the ball up the first-base line, but his throw to first base pulled Brock Tibbitts off the bag. It put runners on first and second base with no men out for Purdue catcher Connor Caskenette.  

“That one bothers you,” Mercer said. “You practice that play a ton in the week coming into it.” 

Caskenette, the Big Ten RBI co-leader (he and teammate Luke Gaffney entered the weekend tied at the top of the table with 60), doubled home both runs and chased Keyster after he recorded just one out, giving Purdue a 2-1 lead after the first inning.  

Purdue starting pitcher Jordan Morales settled in, turning in 5 2/3 strong innings and keeping Indiana off the board from the second inning to the sixth, when shortstop Tyler Cerny doubled home outfielder Devin Taylor to level the scoring, 2-2, chasing Morales from the game with two outs. Right-handed reliever Drew Buhr was once again strong for Indiana, spinning 4 2/3 shutout innings against one of the Big Ten’s premier offenses.  

Although he was strong in his first inning of relief, righty Brayden Risedorph ran into trouble in his second frame. A pitcher who walks multiple batters in an inning is seldom successful, and Risedorph issued a pair of free passes in the seventh inning. Big Ten on-base percentage leader Camden Gasser beat Cerny’s throw to first on a would-be inning-ending double play, and Caskenette once again did the damage.  

He rolled a worm-burning single up the middle, scoring Gasser and second baseman Ty Gill, the latter of whom walked to open the inning. Risedorph got out of the inning with Indiana trailing 4-2, and Taylor brought the Hoosiers within a run on his team-leading 12th homer of the season, but that was as close as Indiana got. Third baseman Josh Pyne worked a one-out walk but was stranded as outfielder Nick Mitchell struck out for the third time in four at-bats and Cerny lined out to end the threat.  

Purdue blew the game open in the eighth inning, beginning with a leadoff single from infielder Logan Sutter on the first pitch of the frame. After pinch hitter Brody Chrisman struck out, infielder Breck Nowik reached on catcher’s interference, putting runners on first and second with one out for Gill.  

He hit the 0-1 pitch right to backup second baseman Brandon Burckel, who sailed the start of a potential inning-ending double play into left field, throwing the ball well over the head of Cerny and allowing a run to score. Righty Julian Tonghini came out of the bullpen to replace Risedorph and allowed a bunt single, a run-scoring wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to put the game out of reach.