Another weekend, another dominant showing on the diamond for both the Indiana softball and baseball programs.
If you’re an IU athletics history junkie, you would’ve had to pull out the record book on several occasions this past weekend. For Shonda Stanton’s softball team, they came within three outs of winning the Big Ten Tournament title, narrowly falling to Northwestern, before earning an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2011. For Jeff Mercer’s baseball team, they pummeled Purdue for 51 runs over a three-game sweep to move back atop the Big Ten standings.
With that, lets get into another jam-packed edition of the Hoosier Whiparound.
Softball earns No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional
Indiana softball was just three outs away from claiming a Big Ten Tournament title on Saturday, but No. 1-seed Northwestern spoiled those dreams with a 7th-inning walk-off win.
With the Hoosiers leading 1-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning, starting pitcher Brianna Copeland had to get past Northwestern’s 3-4-5 hitters to finish off the game. But the Wildcats said not too fast as back-to-back singles to start the frame put the tying and winning runs on second and third base. Copeland’s wild-pitch on the subsequent batter allowed the tying run to score and the winning run to advance to third. IU pitcher Heather Johnson was called upon to try to limit the damage, but Maeve Nelson ripped a 1-2 offering into the right-centerfield gap to plate the walk-off winner.
In the immediate aftermath, it was a crushing defeat for an Indiana squad that could taste the Big Ten Tournament trophy. Up until that fatal final frame, Copeland and IU’s defense was terrific through the first six shutouts innings, limiting Northwestern to just one hit and few baserunners. And while Indiana’s usually high-powered offense supplied just one run, it was enough to put the Hoosiers on the doorstep of history as the game went deeper.
However, the sting of the walk-off loss was quickly remedied Sunday as Indiana heard its name called on Selection Sunday for the first time since 2011. As the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional, the Hoosiers broke a 12-year NCAA Tournament drought and etched their names in the history books. Indiana will play No. 4 Tennessee, Louisville and Northern Kentucky next weekend in hopes of advancing.
Rec0rd: 41-16 overall, 18-5 in Big Ten play, Big Ten Tournament runner-up
Up next: No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional (No. 4 Tennessee, Louisville, Northern Kentucky)
Baseball scores 51 runs in historic sweep of Purdue
Are you an Indiana baseball fan that likes hits, runs and plenty of action? Well, hopefully you were at Bart Kaufman Field this past weekend to see lots of that.
A record that went untouched since 1999 was shattered over the weekend as Indiana scored 51 total runs against Purdue, the most in a series by either team in history. The previous record of 45 runs scored was accomplished over four games, while the new mark took just three games and a whole bunch of hits.
In game one, the Hoosiers pounded the Boilermakers for a 26-11 domination victory. Phillip Glasser started IU’s huge weekend with a leadoff homerun, and from then on the bats never cooled off. Glasser scored six runs in the opening game with four hits and a walk, while Indiana as a team compiled 25 hits, 12 extra-base hits and eight home runs. Josh Pyne and Hunter Jessee were locked in at the plate, with Pyne going 4-for-5 with four RBI and a home run, and Jessee going 4-for-5 with six RBI, two home runs and two doubles. Starting pitcher Luke Sinnard continued his recent run of brilliance on the bump, striking out nine over six innings and allowing four runs on five hits.
In game two, Purdue’s pitching staff still had no solution to contain Indiana’s offensive firepower. The Hoosiers jumped all over Boilermakers starting pitcher Jonathan Blackwell, tagging him for eight runs over the first four innings to end his day prematurely. Purdue broke through in the 5th inning to plate three runners, but IU’s five-run onslaught in the 8th inning put the final touches on a 15-3 win. Six Hoosiers tallied multi-hit and multi-RBI games, including Brock Tibbitts’ 4-for-5 day with two RBI, a double and a home run. Braydon Risedorph and Ryan Kraft piggybacked off each other as IU’s lone two pitchers to mow down the Boilermakers.
With the series already in hand, Indiana entered Sunday looking for the emphatic sweep. And without much resistance from Purdue, the brooms came out early as IU cruised to a 10-2 victory. Once again IU’s bats were not kind to Purdue’s starting pitcher, this time tagging Kyle Iwinski for nine runs over just three innings without a strikeout. By the time Iwinski exited the game midway through the 4th inning, Indiana had already taken a 9-2 lead and was ready to cruise to the series sweep. Pyne and Bobby Whalen each finished with three hits, while Pyne polished of his monster nine-hit, 12-RBI, two-homer weekend.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more dominant offensive weekend for the Hoosiers. And more importantly, Indiana’s bats are coming alive just in time for the postseason. Obviously IU won’t score double-digit runs every game going forward, but if the lineup can remain productive — top to bottom — then this IU team should have a terrific chance to claim a Big Ten title.
Rec0rd: 38-14 overall, 15-6 in Big Ten play, T-1st in Big Ten standings (with Maryland)
Up next: vs. Evansville (Tue., May 16); at Michigan State (Thur-Sat, May 18-20)