Aaron

Denner looking good and throws good off speed lefty junk which is our worst nightmare. Key is going to be to let him wear himself out as he never goes long but when in there is good. Been case all season. Already at 36 pitches through 2 innings.

Bierman in complete command despite a very patient approach from Michigan. He also threw about 20 pitches though so we may need our bullpen for some of game depending on what happens. Everyone out of pen should be available outside of Mudungo and Litwicki which after how they pitched yesterday not sure I want to see them. Since we have not seen Bothwell assuming he goes Tues. Also Manous finally returned and made a brief appearence yesterday after injury.

Nothing doing in top 1 besides a one out single. Good news is we forced Denner to throw 20 pitches which is great for a guy who already has not the best stamina. Has terrific off speed stuff and his numbers would indicate he is good when in there. Problem for him is that is never a long time. Bierman to mound.

Underway!

Remember ESPN2 today finally with TV. Also all 4 games next weekend are on TV. As I said the UM starter is a lefty, but he has struggled with stamina. He has not been terrible when in there, but he has not gone over 5 innings and often less, so should see a lot of their beat up bullpen from yesterday which is where we need to take advantage. We have Bierman going of course so if he can give you 7 or 8 strong innings from him major advantage us. First pitch is in 20 min. Another must win on Sunday. We delivered in the last two weekends when in this situation and really need to make it 3 for 3.

Glad we won and our offense and approach at plate could not be better. The worry to me is that our bullpen which has been elite, is falling apart. For good reason, it appears Litwicki has lost his closer role and has been very bad lately. Mudungo I am less worried about as he has been fine until today. To not have a reliable Litwicki to close though is a huge problem and it's clear Mercer is not trusting him for good reason. He now has highest ERA on team of regular bullpen guys after having it at basically zero all year. Maybe using Tucker over him against Rutgers to close was a good thing as something has to change here. The positive is Brown is back to himself for second start in a row and in a good way which is huge. Now tomorrow for third straight week we have a must win game on Sunday. Bierman has been great and Michigan's third starter has been average at best and struggled to go deep into games and both teams have already dug deep into their bullpen. Will be nice to have tomorrow on ESPN2. A win puts Michigan away and Neb-NW not playing tomorrow due to Covid (Sounds like a quit job by the Wildcats and excuse. Very weird they would play two games this weekend and get blown out and suddenly have 'covid' again but whatever). Either way it means a win tomorrow puts away Michigan at 2 back and we catch Neb. with Illinois game making it 1/2 game in either direction, heading to next weekend. A win tomorrow and it's basically down to us and Huskers. Iowa took themselves out today for sure and Michigan can all but be eliminated if we beat them tomorrow or its a three team race if we lose. Maryland is also lurking fairly close but probably to far back. Time to win another Sunday game we have to have with Bierman.

Flyout game over! IU wins 13-8.

Flyout to LF and Michigan down to final out.

Richardson with an amazing diving catch moving fast in CF going to his right for a huge first out.

Tucker in to try to finish it.

To bottom 9. Hope five run lead is enough but with way bullpen is going who knows.

They are just not good. Focus on Michigan. Get the next three including today and it's you and Nebraska head to head for Big Ten title in Btown next week more or less. Remember Wildcats are coming off 3 week COVID pause.

Geesh. Another single makes it 13-8. Justin Parker our pitching coach better be all over Mudungo and Litwicki. It probably will not matter today as we got out of the inning, but cannot have this going forward or we have a huge issue. 13-8 to ninth.

Another single makes it 13-7. This is just not OK from our two best relivers.

And now it's 13-6 after a double down line. Would of been 13-7 except runner fell down rounding third and had to go back.

Another K for Litwicki makes it 2 outs.

Litwicki with the K for first out but then another single makes it first and third one out. Much like Iowa, Michigan really getting to our best pitchers not named McCade Brown (Sommer, Mudungo and now Litwicki). All need to be better if we want to get where we are capable.

These announcers are way to obsessed with balls hitting cars.

Another leadoff double for UM in bottom 8. Got an even larger lead now than before but please lets not make this hard again.

13-5 to bottom 8. We got everything back we gave up and one more. A lot of help from Michigan but great response to the adversity in bottom 7.

A two out single makes it 13-5 IU.

This time it's a hit! Cole Barr with a solid single through SS to make it 11-5 where everyone goes station to station and UM makes another pitching change.

Now they walk Richardson in. 10-5. This all Michigan walks and wildness. We have one hit all inning.

Toetz got hit and Michigan doing everything they can to gift us all the runs back we just gave up. 9-5 and bases still loaded 1 out.

What an bat by Ashley to draw a bases loaded walk and its 8-5! Bases still loaded one out as UM makes a pitching change.