On the first pitch, IU freshman first baseman Sam Travis clubbed a two-run home run to center to give the Hoosiers a lead they would never relinquish in a 7-2 victory against the Georgia Southern Eagles Friday afternoon at Sembower Field.
Travis's home run ended his 0-16 skid. Freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber, who had singled on the first pitch the batter before, scored his team-leading 29th run.
Indiana tacked on a run in the third and fifth to expand their lead to 4-0 against the No. 8 overall prospect in the 2012 MLB Draft, Eagles' starter Chris Beck.
"The scouting report was that he was going to come out and try to blow by us," Travis said. "I was sitting on a first pitch fastball, he threw it for a strike and I just put some good wood on it. I knew right away it was gone. Luckily, I hit in the first inning. The wind kind of changed a little bit."
Travis added that he's more zoned in when there's a good pitcher on the mound.
"I'm always zoned in, but it makes me want to do even better (when there's a good pitcher on the mound). It's always been like that, pretty much my whole life."
Added sophomore designated hitter Dillon Dooney: "It's a little spark now that we got going again because we were in a little slump."
It was all Joey DeNato needed. The sophomore starter from San Diego allowed two runs on six hits, while striking out eight. He walked only one, and picked him off shortly after.
"I thought he was particularly sharp today, particularly innings one through five," said IU Coach Tracy Smith. "He was down in the zone the whole time. Quite honestly, he hasn't been like that all season. He's still been very good, and good enough to win, but I thought he was really sharp today."
Added DeNato: "I love pitching in those kind of games because we're the underdogs and we don't really have anything to lose. So you just go out there with no fear. Our team did that, and it hit well. I pitched well. It worked out for us.
"Locating all my pitches. That was key because I got ahead in the count a lot. (I) pitched a lot with two strikes. I used that to my advantage. It worked out."
In the seventh, the Eagles got to him a bit. The Hoosiers' ace allowed a lead-off single to catcher Chase Griffin. First baseman T.D. Davis doubled, advancing Griffin to third. Right fielder Stryker Brown flew out to right.
Before second baseman Tyler Avera had his third at-bat, Smith made a move to the bullpen, taking the ball from DeNato with his shutout still intact.
Sophomore reliever Ryan Halstead's throwing error allowed two Eagles' base runners to score, cutting their deficit in half. Those runs were charged to DeNato.
In the eighth, junior reliever Jonny Hoffman relieved Halstead with a man out and a man on first. Hoffman walked Davis. Brown hit a single back up the middle. Junior center fielder Justin Cureton fielded the ball, and threw a strike to Schwarber, who applied the tag on his counterpart Griffin.
It was Cureton's second assist of the season.
Freshman right fielder Chris Sujka padded the Hoosier's lead with a wind-aided two-run double to right field. The ball hooked towards the foul line as it flew, and Brown was not able to make the catch. Junior shortstop Michael Basil, who hit an RBI single earlier in the frame, and redshirt freshman left fielder Will Nolden scored.
Hoffman worked a 1-2-3 ninth to give the Hoosiers a quality win.
"That's a good opponent," Smith said. "I don't think our regular fans realize what a big win that is. That's a very, very established, good baseball program. That was a big one today."
Worth noting:
For GSU, Beck picked up his third complete game of the season.
The victory was the Hoosiers' fifth consecutive win in Friday games.
DeNato picked up his sixth win. His ERA fell to 2.43.
Dooney hit his first career triple in the fifth. Coach Smith said "a lot had to happen. He was laughing. 'These little legs just don't move.'"
When asked about his triple after the game, Dooney was all smiles. "When I was running, (my) legs kind of gave out a little. Once I got there, it felt good." He added it's been a couple years since his last one. "I'm not used to running that far," he said, laughing.
