Indiana opened its first game of its first Big Ten weekend of the season with its most complete performance of the year.
Graduate student left-hander Tony Neubeck struck out a career-high nine batters over six innings Friday night. Graduate student right-hander Gavin Seebold and junior right-hander Jackson Yarberry then combined for three scoreless frames to secure a 4-2 win at Bart Kaufman Field.
But the momentum did not carry through the weekend.
After Friday’s victory, Indiana dropped the final two games of the series. Washington’s offense found a rhythm that proved difficult to contain, and the Huskies won 9-2 on Saturday and 13-4 on Sunday.
Friday showed what Indiana is capable of when its top arms set the tone. Neubeck commanded both sides of the plate, Seebold extended his scoreless streak and Yarberry closed the door despite late traffic on the bases. Over the final two games, however, Washington’s offense flipped the script.
Washington entered the series having failed to score in its first three games of the season and not recording a run until the third inning of its fourth game against the University of Houston on Feb. 16.
In the opener, Washington’s only offense came from sophomore outfielder Jackson Hotchkiss, who made his first appearance of the season. Hotchkiss accounted for both Huskies runs with an RBI double and a solo home run, but Indiana limited further damage and controlled the game throughout.
The final two contests unfolded differently.
The series flipped as the offense surged, and redshirt junior catcher Colton Bower emerged as the centerpiece of the rally.
After being benched in Friday’s opener, Bower went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a walk in Saturday’s win before erupting in Sunday’s rubber match. He finished 4 for 5 with four runs scored, six RBIs and three home runs, nearly adding a fourth.
In the ninth inning, Bower drove a deep fly ball off the wall and raced to third for a triple before scoring when Indiana’s relay throw sailed into the dugout, completing a Little League home run and capping Washington’s 13-run outburst.
Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer pointed to two-strike execution as a decisive factor.
“It really comes down to executing with two strikes,” Mercer said postgame Sunday. “One swing, one run. One swing, two runs. That puts a ton of pressure back on your offense.”
Washington consistently capitalized in those situations.
“They did a good job of hitting crippled 0-2 and 1-2 pitches,” Mercer said. “Anytime you hang a breaking ball in a two-strike count, you’ve really sped that guy’s barrel up, and they hammered it.”
The theme stretched back to Friday’s opener. Both of Hotchkiss’ RBI hits came on two-strike fastballs that caught too much of the plate, pitches typically designed to finish an at-bat. Outside of those two mistakes, Neubeck was dominant and sat just a pair of hittable fastballs away from a scoreless outing.
Sunday’s game encapsulated the shift.
Indiana built a 4-2 lead through four innings behind a two-run single from sophomore shortstop Cooper Malamazian and a solo home run from sophomore first baseman Jake Hanley. But Washington answered with 11 unanswered runs, erasing the deficit in the fifth and pulling away late.
Bower and freshman third baseman Landon Young hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth on 0-2 breaking balls that stayed elevated in the zone. Instead of finishing the at-bat, the hanging pitches were driven out of the park, instantly swinging momentum. A two-run blast in the sixth gave Washington a lead it would not relinquish, and a four-run ninth inning put the contest out of reach.
Indiana returns to Bart Kaufman Field at 5 p.m. Tuesday to host Wright State University. Mercer said the Hoosiers will lean on a bullpen approach similar to the one used in their midweek wins over Bradley University and Xavier University earlier this season.
Follow reporters Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) and Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana baseball season.
