With IU junior Josh Phegley up to bat, IU was the perfect position for it to make a come back.
Phegley worked Kentucky pitcher Logan Darnell up to full count and hit a single to left field, sending outfielder Evan Crawford home. Phegley's hit prolonged the eighth inning but not for very long. Three strikeouts then ended the Hoosiers' ninth inning, which resulted in an 8-7 loss.
The Hoosiers doubled the Wildcats in hits with 14 but left nine batters stranded. Their inability to get timely hitting allowed Kentucky to post four unchallenged runs in the sixth inning. IU coach Tracy Smith said IU played well in just about all phases except for one glaring stat that continues to haunt them.
"If you look at the statistical sheet, it doesn't make sense," Smith said. "If you double the team's amount of hits, get 12 strikeouts and score seven runs, you'd think that'd be good enough to win. The one statistic that seems to be rearing its ugly head for us is our errors, and it cost us."
Matt Carr had one of the better pitching performances of this season. He stepped in to relieve Bashore after a big sixth inning, where Kentucky scored four runs and pulled away from the Hoosiers. Carr pitched two shutout innings in which he struck out six of the 11 batters he faced. Smith said he was very pleased with the way Carr pitched, but also felt that Bashore would have had a better shot without the fielding that went on behind him.
"He's got to eliminate the big innings," Smith said of Bashore. "But if we play some better defense behind him, he might have had a better shot at keeping it close"
