IU Baseball vs Penn St - 3/12 - 3/14/21

[Aaron 4,294]

Bierman was complete Jekyll and Hyde that inning with 3 K's on terrific unhittable pitches. However, 2 walks and an error in between loaded bases but IU wiggles out of it. Good Gabe Bierman is the second best pitcher on staff in terms of stuff besides Brown, but got to have command as Brown can attest to prior to this year. 

To bottom 2 we go.

[Aaron 4,294]

IU not taking advantage of a horrific pitcher. His stuff like Bothwell in first game looks very hittable. IU just not doing it. 

0-0 to third. 

[Aaron 4,294]

Important note: Barr was banged up on his bad decision to go to third on the single and is out of game. Decision may have been more costly than the baserunning.

[Aaron 4,294]

Bierman much better that inning going 1-2-3. Ironically no strikeouts but got ahead of hitters which produced three easy groundouts. To Bottom 3 at 0-0.

[Aaron 4,294]

IU puts themselves in position for some PSU charity. Ashley got a clean single, Richardson got an HPB, Barr's replacement got a looping singe to RF to load bases. Than an easy DP ball to 2nd with 1 out was bobbled by second baseman who could only get one so IU got a free run before a flyout ended it.

1-0 IU to 4th inning. 

[Aaron 4,294]

Bierman again with better command with two groundouts and a strikeout for a clean 1-2-3 top 4. To bottom half we go still at 1-0.

[Aaron 4,294]

PSU ties it up on a double into the LF corner. Than two perfect groundouts plate the run. We are tied at 1 to bottom 5. Bierman has not been perfect but more than good enough and the fact we cannot hit their no. 4 starter who has been horrific all career and gave up 7 runs in 3 innings to an awful NW team is a huge problem. 

Time to get the offense going.

[Aaron 4,294]

Still cannot solve this horrid pitcher 1-1 which is unbelievable. To 6th at 1-1 still.

[TheWatShot 14,176]

4 game sweeps are really tough to pull off in baseball. I wouldn't be surprised to see us drop this one. Stupid Covid rules didn't make it any easier with back to back double-headers. 

[Aaron 4,294]

Houston cannot play anymore. Its that simple its need to be Macciochi full time. For the second time this game IU got around a horrific throw by him on an error to get out unscathed to Bottom 6. 

Fortunately Houston has not cost them either time this game but it will in future. This is guy known for defense and cannot bad at all so if he is  going to be shaky on D he cannot play. Macciochi already has a better bat. Not a breat bat but as serviceable one which is more than I can say for Houston. 

[Aaron 4,294]

3 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

4 game sweeps are really tough to pull off in baseball. I wouldn't be surprised to see us drop this one. Stupid Covid rules didn't make it any easier with back to back double-headers. 

They should be very easy to pull off when you face a horrible pitcher on a bad team. Back to back doubleheaders suck but no reason to make it this hard on ourselves. Losing last game would of been understandable with them using their best pitcher and us our worst, but this game zero excuse. 

[Aaron 4,294]

Still flailing at this guys pitches. We look like Minnesota against Bothwell just embarrassing ourselves against mediocre pitches. 

New pitcher for IU. Bierman was more than good enough in 6 innings. A little wild early, but gave plenty. Bierman would of been borderline OK for a Friday night game, but for a Sunday that should easily be enough.

[Aaron 4,294]

IU got around a horrific decision by Barr's replacement on a chopper down the third base line that was rolling foul and he grabbed to early for a fair ball. 1-1 to bottom 7.

[Aaron 4,294]

Sorry was on a phonecall so was only half paying attention.

IU got lead in 7th on a throwing error, a groundball single through right side and a suicide squeeze for lead. PSU loaded bases in Top 8th but IU wiggled out with Litwicki K. Nothing in Bottom 8th and Litwicki will try to close out ninth for sweep.

[Aaron 4,294]

IU made it much harder than they needed but Litwicki easily locks down the 9th. IU wins 2-1 for sweep! 

[Hoosier Guy 7,529]

7-1 to start the season. I’ll take that. Purdue comes to town next weekend

[Aaron 4,294]

Well that was certainly more exciting than it needed to be today but we got the sweep!

First game we were lucky to win, but kind of what I expected given it was our worst pitcher against their best. The second game though was absolutely atrocious offensively and count our lucky stars we won. The fact we could only manufacture two runs against their horrible 4th starter who gave up a ton last week to an awful team is a red flag. 

To me the pitching rotation is clear now with Brown the Friday guy, Sommer on Saturday and Bierman the Sunday guy which gives you one of deepest staffs in conference. This allows you to only use Bothwell when you have to and most weekends he is much more suited for short relief. Also shoutout to Litwicki who has been lights out this year and saved us in game 2 with a four out save. Funny how our closer has gone from one Matt to another with Lloyd to Litwicki. Both are similar short relief gas guys, but Litwicki obviously does not hit regularly like Lloyd which made him an extra threat most teams do not have. 

Offense needs some practice though. Thought we fixed that yesterday but today's offensive performance particularly in second game shows we have more work to do.
 

Still right at top of Big Ten taking care of business so no complaints!

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 85,241]

B1G Pitcher of the Week
McCade Brown, Indiana
P – So. – Normal, Ill. – Normal West
 

• Tossed seven shutout innings in Saturday’s 8-0 victory over Penn State
• Matched the Indiana school record with a career-high 16 strikeouts
• Struck out every Penn State starter at least once in the victory, sitting 15-straight Nittany Lions and posting 13 strikeouts and two groundouts in the stretch
• Wins his first career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award
• Last Indiana Big Ten Pitcher of the Week: Tommy Sommer (March 10, 2021)

[Class of '66 Old Fart 85,241]

More honors for Brown.

D1Baseball/AstroTurf Player of the Week: Indiana’s McCade Brown

After an outstanding 12 strikeout debut against Rutgers last week, it was difficult to envision McCade Brown toping that performance in his encore against Penn State over the weekend, but the fourth-year junior did just that.

Toeing the rubber against the Nittany Lions on Saturday, Brown’s evening got off to an inauspicious start as he missed his spots early and walked a pair of hitters in the opening frame. 

As pitching coach Justin Parker ventured out for a mound visit, he brought with him a rosin bag to see if he could help Brown improve his grip on the dry brisk night. He also offered coaching insights to help with the righthander’s rhythm.  

“I just talked to him about his tempo,” said Parker. “When he gets into a better tempo and a little more upbeat with his timing, everything falls into place. I thought he was a little bit stagnant early trying to find it, and as he got off to a little bit of a rocky start, he slowed down even a little bit more.”

Brown substantiated the conversation. 

“My timing was kind of off,” said Brown of Parker’s visit. “So, he was just talking to me about some of my different queues. Getting my glove tap back into my mechanics and a little bit with grip as well.”

The meeting on the mound worked, and after the visit Brown proceeded to punchout 10 of the next 11 hitters. 

Leaning on a steady diet of fastballs and curveballs, the 6-foot-6, 225-pound hurler tossed seven innings of no-hit baseball and tied a program record with 16 punchouts. Outside of the two walks in the first, just one additional Nittany Lion reached base during the contest. Penn State second basemen Gavin Homer was hit by a pitch in the sixth, but he was promptly picked off by Brown after straying too far off the bag. 

Brown generates some of the easiest velocity you’ll see among the college ranks, and the heater averaged 93.5 mph on Saturday, topping out at 96 mph. 

Coming in at 79-83 mph with 12-to-6 movement, Brown’s spike curveball was unhittable on Saturday, as the pitch elicited 15 empty swings on the day. He missed bats with his fastball and slider as well, but the newly developed curveball was the outpitch of choice. 

“I really do trust the curveball now, even though it is kind of a newer pitch in the past year,” said Brown. “I tried to use the slider more in early in counts and then definitely go to curveball for the put-away. But I trust both and it just depends on what’s working that day.” 

Well known in scouting circles for several years, evaluators were just waiting for Brown to show more consistent results in games that matter after entering the season with a disproportionally high 14.85 ERA and 13 free passes in just 6.2 collegiate innings. In stark contrast, through two starts this season, he’s now struck out 28 hitters in 14 innings compared to just two walks. 

“I think maybe it appears to everyone outside of here that it’s an overnight thing more than it does to us, said Parker. “We were expecting more of this in game production to happen last spring, and then COVID hit. So, I think he appears to be more of a hidden commodity to others than he’s been in our building. A lot of it is physical development, core control and just continuing to grow and add strength. He’s young for his grade, his stuff has been loud, but he’s gotten more and more comfortable.” 

Brown produced video game numbers last summer, giving us a glimpse of things to come. Pitching in the Kernels Collegiate League, the hometown product allowed just two hits in 19 innings, striking out a remarkable 44 hitters during that span. He credited at least a portion of his success to being able play in his hometown and with fellow Hoosiers Gabe Bierman and David Platt, commenting that he and his teammates supported one another as they worked on refine their respective arsenals.

Brown and the Hoosiers will look to stay hot against in state rival Purdue this weekend in Bloomington.