IU Baseball vs Northwestern - 4/1 - 4/3/22

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

Big Ten play has arrived, and the Indiana baseball program will open on its home turf against Northwestern in a three-game series on Bart Kaufman Field starting on Friday (April 1).
 
Indiana (10-13, 0-0 B1G) is coming off of a series win over Evansville last weekend, while Northwestern (9-11, 0-0 B1G) has won seven of its last eight games entering the weekend. The Hoosiers feature one of the most potent offenses in the Big Ten with the second most home runs and fourth most runs scored, and the Wildcats pitching has allowed the fifth fewest run and walk the fewest batter in the conference.
 
Gameday Info
 
Friday, April 1 (5 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: Jack Perkins, RHP, R-Jr.
NU: Sean Sullivan, LHP, Fr.
 
Live Video: bit.ly/3tX0Enl
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast
 
Saturday, April 2 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: Bradley Brehmer, RHP, Sr.
NU: Michael Farinelli, RHP, Gr.
 
Live Video: bit.ly/3JVXp51
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast
 
Sunday, April 3 (1 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: TBA
NU: TBA
 
TV: Big Ten Network
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast
 
Quick Hitters

• A handful of Hoosiers find themselves among the national leaders and are leading the Big Ten in various categories entering the seventh weekend of the season.
  MORE ON PAGE 6 & 7
• Redshirt-junior Matt Ellis has been seeing the ball well and leads the Big Ten lead in home runs. The left-handed hitter has also hit some mammoth home runs so far in 2022.
  MORE ON PAGE 3 & 8
• Redshirt-junior Jack Perkins is off to a solid start to the 2022 season on the mound in his first season in the cream and crimson.
  MORE ON PAGE 7
• Head coach Jeff Mercer owns 82 victories as the Indiana frontman and is poised to become the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson.
  FULL BIO ON PAGE 4
• Freshman Brock Tibbitts took a pair of pitches out of the park in the IU's season opener versus Miami (Ohio), but you don't have to look far in the record books for the last rookie to hit multiple home runs in a game.
  MORE ON PAGE 3 & 7
• Graduate student Tyler Doanes has been a table setter for IU and ranks among the national leaders in walks through seven weeks of the season.
  MORE ON PAGE 7
• Indiana matched a school standard with four student-athletes selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2021.
  MORE ON PAGE 7

 
Scouting the Opponent

• Northwestern enters with a 9-11 record overall and had won seven straight games before a series-ending loss to Butler last weekend.
• Four the Wildcats' everyday hitters own a batting average of .300 or better, led by Jay Beshears' .379 average and Andrew Pinkston's .351 clip.
• Anthony Calarco owns a team-best 24 RBIs and six home runs. Ethan O'Donnell has 17 RBIs and a team-best 18 extra base hits.
• Freshman left-handed pitcher Sean Sullivan is 4-0 on the season with a 2.61 ERA over 31 innings of work in six starts. He has allowed nine runs, walked eight and struck out 43.
• As a staff, the Wildcats have walked just 79 batters in 160 innings of work to go along with 151 strikeouts and a .288 batting average.

 
Series Notes

• Indiana and Northwestern have met 191 times in baseball entering the Big Ten opening series at Bart Kaufman Field.
• Indiana owns 114-74-3 edge in the all-time series and has won 25 of the last 30 meetings in the series.
• The Hoosiers own the three longest unbeaten streaks in the series, including a series-best 11-game streak from 2013-21. IU also has a 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1; 1928-44) and a 10-game winning streak (1995-2000).
• Northwestern's longest streak of success came in the form of an eight-game winning streak from 1950-58.
• Three of Indiana's highest-scoring Big Ten games have come against Northwestern. Of the 15 conference games with 19-plus runs scored, IU has games of 22, 20 and 19 versus the Wildcats.
• In the series, 71 of the games have been decided by one run (or tied). IU is 41-27-3 in those contests, including a 5-4 win in the series opener in 2021.

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,953]

Get the sweep and give our program some hope and big MO.


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[Aaron 4,169]

Two teams who are clones of each other with powerful hitting and really bad pitching. Expect three 12-10 type games but no idea who wins.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

Final:  IU 5    NU 4

Through 4 innings, NU only had 3 hits off Jack Perkins but he opened the 5th hitting the first 2 batters he faced and then a single loaded the bases with no outs.  With 1 out, Perkins walked in the first run of the game and a sac fly made it 2-0 but a ground out ended the NU threat.  Perkins stayed on the mound for the 6th and Holderfield took over in the 7th.  Perkins gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, 2 BB and 2 costly hit batters.  He threw 95 pitches in his 6 innings.

In the Hoosier 7th, a Glasser 2-run double tied the game and Whalen and Pyne RBI singles made it 4-2 IU.  We got the bases loaded with 2 outs for Jessee who reached on an error to make it 5-2 and that's how the 7th ended.

Holderfield stayed on the mound for the 8th but 2 singles and an IU error loaded the bases for NU with no outs and that was it for Holderfield who was replaced by Tucker.  He walked the first batter he faced to make it 5-3.  A sac fly cut our lead to 5-4 with runners on the corners and only 1 out but no more NU runs scored.

NU led off the 9th with a double off Tucker and that was followed by a BB.  Tucker got a strikeout, a line out and a fly ball to end the ball game and preserve a 5-4 win.

[Aaron 4,169]

Great game.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

SCHEDULE CHANGE.  Today's game will start at 1:00

 

Saturday, April 2 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: Bradley Brehmer, RHP, Sr.
NU: Michael Farinelli, RHP, Gr.
 
Live Video: bit.ly/3JVXp51
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

[Aaron 4,169]

Suddenly the teams hitting is in the toilet the last three to four games after a hot start even though pitching has been slightly better. Down 6-0 in the 8th and unable to hit a pitcher who has been incredibly mediocre all season.

Hopefully the hitting comes back fast or this team has way more issues that I thought.

[Hardwood83 4,517]

1 hour ago, Aaron said:

Suddenly the teams hitting is in the toilet the last three to four games after a hot start even though pitching has been slightly better. Down 6-0 in the 8th and unable to hit a pitcher who has been incredibly mediocre all season.

Hopefully the hitting comes back fast or this team has way more issues that I thought.

That can't be good considering they have a losing record! 

I was thinking about how a just a couple short years ago IU football, basketball and baseball all seemed to be trending way up. Reality is harsh. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

IU rallied for 6 runs in the bottom of  the 9th but it was too little too late and lost 7-6.  Our pitching gave up 13 NU hits and 7 runs.  Brehmer started and pitched into the 6th allowing 3 runs on 7 hits.  He didn't walk any batters but hit 4 and threw a WP.  Sharp relieved and gave up 3 more runs on 3 hits (2 were doubles) in 2/3 of an inning.  Bothwell, Hayden & Gaffney also were on the mound. Try again tomorrow.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

5-2 NU leads after 4 complete.

Nathan Stahl started but was pulled in the 2nd inning after facing just 7 batters but walked 3 of them and loaded the bases.  He was replaced by Kraft who then gave up a grand slam.  We got a run back in our half of the inning on a Tibbitts RBI double and it was 4-1 NU after 2 innings.  An Ellis solo HR made it 4-2 after 3 innings.  That was Ellis' 12th HR on the season.

In the 4th, Kraft hit 2 batters and walked another to load the bases with 2 outs.  GOOD GRIEF, he hit his 3rd batter of the inning to score another NU run to make it 5-2 and Tucker came on in relief with the bases still loaded.   Tucker got a badly needed strikeout to end the NU threat.  In the bottom of the 4th, we loaded the bases with 2 outs for Whalen but he flied out to end the inning with NU leading 5-2.

 

[Aaron 4,169]

Hoosiers continue to show they have zero idea how to play fundamental baseball despite having talent. Pitchers can't find the zone which has led to HPB and walks which in turn caused a grand slam and a bases loaded forced run. Also, gave up two runs on ball that was popped up.

On offense IU is getting hits but unable to drive in the runs. The biggest sin was Whalen swinging at a 3-1 pitch with bases loaded last inning and popping out as the teams best hitter.

As I will continue to say IU needs to take a long hard look at Glant after season and whether he is the right guy. Yes IU lost two-thirds of its pitchers  but the one-third that have come back are much worse and struggling with control which was a minimal issue last yr. Also the inability to develop a third starter will stop you from winning many if any series in Big Ten. Parker did this each year at IU after losing guys and Glant seems incapable of making pitchers better and the returning guys have gotten worse.

Ultimately this team just needs to finish in top 8 this season in conference and get to Big Ten Tourney in Omaha but losing two of three at home to the Wildcats would be a terrible start as most teams pitching is better than this and hitting just as good.

If this heads south as is looking like could happen certainly a long hard look at Glant and change with pitching coach will be needed if not more.

[Aaron 4,169]

9-2 now. This offense definitely needs to take some blame for not having great weekend at plate against bad NW staff but this season as a whole comes down to awful pitching. Offense outside of this weekend  has done plenty to win games all season.

[TheWatShot 13,346]

Probably time to pull the plug on this season. Just not our year. Maybe we can bounce back in '23. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,284]

13-6 NU wins and takes the series 2-1.

We picked up 2 runs in the 6th to cut the NU lead to 9-4 but NU came right back with 2 in its half of the 7th to make it 11-4.  We got one back with a 2-out RBI single from Jessee to make it 11-5 after 7 complete.  NU adds 2 more in the 9th; we get 1 and that's it.  We scored 6 runs on 9 hits and left 11 men on base.

Next Tuesday evening at 7:00 we have a single game at Evansville.  Next weekend a 3-game series vs. PUke in West Laffy.

With 4 HBP today, our season total for hit batters is now 49.  We have an optometry school maybe we should check it out.

 

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,953]

Woof. Things going in wrong direction for Mercer.


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