Four errors, two pick-offs, catcher interference, and lots of at-em balls contribute to a frustrating series opening loss
By Carl James @jovian34 May 4th, 2024
Winning a conference title in a league like the Big Ten (B1G) with only 24 total games will likely come down to a single game. Indiana may come to regret letting a winnable game against the B1G leader get away due to mental mistakes.
Indiana Hoosiers 4, Purdue Boilermakers 7:
Box Score
Defense has been a topic of conversation all season for Indiana. The Hoosiers made some fantastic plays Friday, including a outfield assist by Carter Mathison cutting off a run, a caught stealing throw by Jake Stadler, and a hit robbing diving catch by Tyler Cerny to name a few. But Jasen Oliver was late covering second which prevented a critical double play. Brandon Burkel lobbed a routine toss to second into left field opening up a big inning. Stadler let his catcher’s mitt get hit and awarded a free base in the most damaging inning.
Base running also played a part. Cerny and Brock Tibbitts both got picked off in stolen base attempts before the pitcher went into his motion that ended run scoring innings. You take out the mistakes and there is a really good chance Indiana wins Friday. Instead, the Hoosiers are in a must-win scenario the rest of the weekend to both stay in the B1G Title race and compete for at-large consideration.
The Boilers only out-hit the Hoosiers 10-8 and Indiana had several lines drives hit right at fielders. The early game fly balls in a large park with the wind blowing in didn’t help either. Devin Taylor, Josh Pyne, and Cerny each had a pair of hits on the day. One of Taylor’s was a home run.
On the mound, Drew Buhr was special yet again. 4.2 innings, striking out three with no walks, and scattering 5 hits. He came in after struggled with a 1-out open in which he allowed 2 runs. Only one was earned, but the error that allowed the base runner was on a Keyster throw to first. Brayden Risedorph was much better than his pitching line shows. The errors and the non-error mistakes should have resulted in clean innings for the sophomore who was doing a good job mixing up pitches and locating his off-speed stuff.
The loss dropped Indiana to 2 games back of the B1G title race behind Purdue who took sole possession of first, Nebraska and Illinois are tied for second with one game back and Michigan is still tied with Indiana in fourth after losing in East Lansing Friday.