The Hoosiers committed three errors in the fifth, but freshman starter Kyle Hart said that was not the reason the Hawkeyes defeated IU 4-0 today at Sembower Field.
Iowa starter Matt Dermody shut out the Hoosiers for seven innings, allowing only four hits.
Freshman first baseman Sam Travis said Dermody was locating his pitches really well, hitting the outside corner with all of them.
"We just got to tip our hat to their pitcher," said. "Their pitcher was on today. We didn't get timely hits. The pitcher did his job. Things didn't go our way today."
Head coach Tracy Smith said he was frustrated that Dermody beat his team with fastballs.
"I don't care if the fastball is 83, 93, or 103, you still got to be able to hit fastballs," Smith said. "That's the part that concerns me the most is that we were getting beat by fastballs."
The Hawkeyes took a 1-0 lead in the second on a bunt single. It proved to be the difference.
"Defense got us again today," junior shortstop Michael Basil said. "Aside from that one inning, we still have to score a run to win. A lot of thing didn't go right for us today."
Hart, meanwhile, threw 100 pitches in his six innings of work.
In the fifth, the Hawkeyes put the game out of the Hoosiers' reach. Leadoff hitter Andrew Host reached on a fielding error by third baseman Chad Clark. Center fielder Kris Goodman sacrificed him to second. Freshman first baseman Sam Travis made a great play on a ground ball by Mike McQuillan, as he threw to Hart covering. Hart beat the head-first slide of McQuillan to the bag.
The Hoosiers were an out away from escaping the inning unscathed. The next batter, Jacob Yacinich, reached on a throwing error by Basil, allowing Host to score, unearned. Chett Ziese followed with an RBI single to center, and he took second on the throw.
The Hawkeyes now led 3-0. Phil Keppler hit a screamer up the middle that ricocheted off Hart's foot. In his haste, he hurried the underhand toss, and it sailed over Travis' outstretched glove. Iowa's fourth run scored.
"I didn't know where the ball was, so I kind of panicked once I realized where it was," Hart said. "I had all my momentum going toward the bag. I flipped it over his head. That's something I had to get over quickly because I had to get back on the mound."
Hart said he had no problem with the first two errors. He was a little frustrated after his error.
"All three of those errors in that one inning were plays that seemed a little bit rushed when there really wasn't that much of a need to rush," Basil said. "We gotta slow it down and be confident in our abilities."
The four runs were more than Dermody needed.
"You can usually overcome a mistake," Smith said. "But when you put them all three together, particularly in a tight baseball game like that, against a good pitcher, not a real good recipe for success.
"We talked about that before the game. It's going to be the team that executes defensively because we knew base runners were going to be at a premium. There weren't going to be a lot of runs today. It got us."
Smith added that the miscues were a result of rushed plays, and that he sees improvement.
Iowa head coach Jack Dahm picked up his 200th win.
The Hoosiers will look to win the series tomorrow at 1:05. Senior Drew Leininger will start for the Hoosiers.
"Honestly, the errors don't matter," Hart said. "We have zero errors today, we lose 1-0. You can't blame the errors."
Worth noting
Travis extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
Hart surrendered only one earned run.
The Hoosiers three errors pushed their season total to 60.
Hart said his foot got a lot worse once he sat down for awhile. "Hopefully ice will take the swelling down over the next couple days"
