Hey folks,
Below is likely the last baseball wrap I'll write for y'all. I'm leaving for an internship in D.C. tomorrow (Get to cover the Washington Nationals all summer for MLB.com, so it shouldn't be too much of a change), so Ryan will take you the rest of the way home.
It's been a fun season, hope you stick with Inside Pitch throughout the tournament and beyond for any IU baseball news, and remember to come back again regularly next January, because remember, there's always next year.
It's been fun. Enjoy.
Sh: Hoosiers win wild, extra-inning thriller
Ssubh: IU downs Buckeyes 10-8, awaits next opponent tomorrow
By Zachary Osterman
Essentially, the IU baseball team is now playing with house money. They've been to the brink and back, and to hear them tell it, they're playing with nothing to lose.
An end to the Hoosiers' season stood just 90 feet away with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning of their second-round Big Ten Tournament match-up with No. 5-seed Ohio State. Enter Matt Carr - a redshirt freshman who put the Hoosiers on his back for the second time in a week, tossing 7 2/3 innings of relief work - to induce a 4-6-3 double play out of Buckeye pinch hitter Ryan Dew and extend the game an extra inning, all the Hoosiers would need. Eric Arnett - pinch-running for Michael Earley - and Andrew Means both scored in the top of the 10th, and Carr set the Buckeyes down in order in the bottom half.
After the game, IU coach Tracy Smith heaped praise on Carr's performance.
"Matt Carr is doing the Matt Carr thing again," Smith said. "That was huge for him to come in there and shut (the game) down again like that."
Carr said after the game he tried not to complicate things on the mound, something he's tried to do all season.
"Just locating my fastball and getting ahead of hitters," Carr said, "that's really all I've been trying to do."
Carr came on for All-Big Ten left-hander Matt Bashore, who struggled through 2 1/3 innings to begin the game. Bashore, the Hoosiers' staff ace all season, fought with his command in the short time he was on the mound, walking six and giving up six runs, five earned.
"We've asked a lot of Matt Bashore over the course of the season," IU coach Tracy Smith said of his struggling southpaw after the game. "He just didn't have it today."
On the flip side, the Hoosier offense came back to life one day after mustering just one run in a 6-1 loss to
The Hoosiers got off to a flyer, scoring five runs in the first two innings and three more in the fourth. But they were shut down the rest of the way until the 10th, as
Junior left fielder Chris Hervey, who drove in the final run on a two-out hit, said the Hoosier batters weren't going to get shut down today like they did yesterday against
"All the hitters, we take pride in our hitting and doing well," Hervey said. "We were more aggressive (today)."
Smith admitted after the game that he's been disappointed with his team to this point in the Big Ten Tournament. He said the Hoosiers have "played like a young team that looks like a six-seed" instead of continuing to do what got them into the tournament.
Smith acknowledged that perhaps his team didn't deserve the win after all their walks and mistakes, but he added that it's a good sign that they were able to make so many mistakes and still reel in a victory and keep their season alive.
"That's the positive we take from it," Smith said. "We said, 'You know what, lets show OSU how good we are that we can make five errors and walk a gazillion guys and still beat them.'"
Smith said junior right-hander Tyler Tufts will take the mound tomorrow for the Hoosiers, and he said he doubts Bashore will have enough time to recover and pitch again in the tournament. However, he said the Tipp City, Ohio, native might be brought in situationally if needed.
After losing their first tournament game, the Hoosiers stand on the brink of elimination in any future contest. A loss means an exit from the tournament, an exit from the tournament the end of the season. However, at this point, the Hoosiers are thinking solely about themselves, and not worrying about potential opponents until they become clear.
"I don't care who we play, doesn't matter to me," Hervey said. Smith, who said he's taking the rest of the season one game at a time, put it plainly:
"Bring it on."
