Indiana baseball dropped its series opener 12-2 against Iowa on Friday night at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington. The Cream and Crimson fell to 19-23 and 6-13 in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes opened the scoring in the second inning with a sacrifice fly before senior infielder Gable Mitchell and senior outfielder Miles Risley hit back-to-back RBI singles with two outs. Iowa scored four runs in the frame.
In the fourth inning, Risley hit a three-run home run to extend Iowa’s lead to 7-0. Risley finished the contest 2 for 4 with four RBIs and one run scored.
Graduate student left-handed pitcher Tony Neubeck started for the Hoosiers but struggled with command early.
After issuing four walks and five hits in 4.1 innings in a 13-3 win over Abilene Christian University on April 17, Neubeck struggled again Friday. He allowed seven earned runs on seven hits. The southpaw threw 39 pitches in Iowa’s four-run second inning and 73 pitches total.
The Hugo, Minnesota, native only completed four innings on the mound. Indiana’s bullpen covered the final 15 outs, led by redshirt junior right-hander Jacob Vogel, who went two scoreless innings.
The Hoosiers’ offense scored its only two runs in the fourth inning. Freshman catcher Owen ten Oever drove in the first run with an RBI single to third base before redshirt freshman catcher Brayden Ricketts picked up a sacrifice fly to make the deficit 7-2.
Sophomore outfielder/left-handed pitcher Caleb Koskie extended his hitting streak to 22 straight games with an infield single in the fifth inning, the longest such streak since 2005 when Stat Crew was first established. The previous record was 21 games set by Chris Hervey in 2008 and tied by Alex Dickerson in 2010. Koskie is batting over .500 in April.
Iowa starting pitcher sophomore right-hander Tyler Guerin pitched five innings and allowed only two earned runs. He gave up five hits but picked up four strikeouts in his fifth start of the season.
Redshirt sophomore catcher Max Burt added onto the Hawkeyes lead with a two-run home run in the seventh inning. It was the first long ball Burt hit this season.
With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, the lights went out in Bloomington. There was a 20-minute delay before the lights turned back on and play resumed.
Iowa’s bullpen built off Guerin’s five inning start. Redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Kyle Alivo pitched the final four frames and held Indiana scoreless. He picked up seven strikeouts in his appearance.
The Hawkeyes reached double digit runs with back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning by redshirt freshman catcher/right-handed pitcher Carter Geffre and redshirt junior utility player Kellen Strohmeyer.
The Hoosiers were outhit 15-9 by Iowa. Indiana went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Eight of the Hawkeyes’ runs came with two outs in an inning.
Indiana will look to bounce back in its next contest Saturday against Iowa again. First pitch will be at 2 p.m. with the game being streamed on Big Ten+.
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.
