CHICAGO — Indiana baseball entered Friday’s contest tied for No. 14 in the Big Ten standings. The Hoosiers were 2.5 games behind Michigan State, who held the No. 12 spot in conference play, which is the cut-off line for the Big Ten Tournament.
Meanwhile, Northwestern came in with a 5-16 record in conference play, tied for last with Penn State.
Indiana defeated the Wildcats 9-2 at Wrigley Field to take the opening game of the series. The Cream and Crimson improved to 21-25 and extended their win streak to two games.
Graduate student right-handed pitcher Tony Neubeck made his 12th start of the season. The southpaw pitched six scoreless innings and surrendered four hits with seven strikeouts. He improved to 6-4 on the year after securing the win.
Sophomore catcher/outfielder Hogan Denny set the tone early with a leadoff double. Two batters later, he scored the first run of the contest on a sacrifice fly by freshman catcher Owen ten Oever.
Northwestern starting pitcher graduate student left-hander Ryan Weaver struggled in the third inning, throwing three wild pitches. The Hoosiers took advantage by plating four runs in the frame with three singles and one double.
Weaver pitched five innings and allowed six hits and four earned runs. He threw 100 pitches and 57 strikes in his 11th start of the season.
In the sixth inning, Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer was ejected from the contest after freshman outfielder Cal Gates was hit by a pitch. After a review, it was ruled that he leaned into it and was out. It was the first time Mercer's been ejected during his eight-year tenure in Bloomington.
Northwestern’s bats broke through in the seventh inning after Neubeck exited the contest.
Senior infielder Owen McElfatrick hit a single before junior infielder Ryan Kucherak hit a double to left field. Then graduate student infielder Noah Ruiz drove McElfatrick and Kucherak in with a two-run RBI single.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Vogel got the first two outs of the seventh inning but allowed two earned runs. Graduate student right-handed pitcher Reagan Rivera stranded Ruiz at first with an inning-ending strikeout.
For the second time in the game, Indiana added four runs in a frame, this time in the eighth inning.
The Hoosiers were aided by a ten Oever hit-by-pitch, tallying his third RBI of the night, and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Cooper Malamazian. Then, with two outs, sophomore outfielder Cole Decker hit a two-run triple into the right-center field gap.
After allowing one earned run and two hits in one inning in his last appearance against the University of Louisville on April 28, Rivera snagged the final seven outs Friday. The graduate student collected six strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit.
The Hoosiers recorded 11 hits compared to Northwestern’s seven. Indiana went 9 for 26 at the plate with runners on base.
Indiana heads to Evanston, Illinois, to continue its weekend series against the Wildcats. The Hoosiers will look to win their third consecutive game at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday.
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.
