Indiana and Penn State split a pair of blowouts in a Friday doubleheader, then the Hoosiers let numerous mistakes lead to a costly rubber match defeat
By Carl James @jovian34 March 9th, 2025
Friday Game 1: Indiana Hoosiers 9, Penn State Nittany Lions 15 | Box Score
After the loss to Northern Kentucky, head coach Jeff Mercer talked about how “you can’t get a grenade on the mound”, and in the very next game there were two “grenades” is successive innings: a 6-run third inning, followed up a 7-run 4th inning. Friday starter Gavin Seebold was charged with 9 earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. Seebold allowed 9 hits and three walks, including a grand slam.
Indiana’s offense tacked on six runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the hole caused by 13 Penn State runs in just two innings was too much to overcome. Andrew Wiggins, Devin Taylor, and TJ Schuyler all had muti-hit games.
Friday Game 2: Indiana Hoosiers 17, Penn State Nittany Lions 6
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
The second game was Hoosier domination. Ben Grable has now emerged as Indiana’s top starter, tossing 5 full innings of 3-hit, 1-walk baseball while striking out 4. The Hoosier offense put up crooked numbers in four of the first five frames on the way to an 8-inning, run rule victory.
Freshman Cooper Malamazian broke a program record, recording 4 doubles in one game. Devin Taylor and Jake Hanley recorded three hit days. Korbyn Dickerson extended his team lead in home runs by belting his 8th bomb of the season.
Sunday Rubber Match: Indiana Hoosiers 6, Penn State Nittany Lions 10
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
The series came down to a Sunday rubber match that Indiana lead for four innings as starter Cole Gilley was unhittable for most of his 4.1 inning outing. The entire game featured mistakes by Indiana that piled up to lead to very disappointing loss.
Indiana scored one run in the first inning, but Devin Taylor was thrown out a home from second base on an infield single that had gotten away from the fielder. From the video feed it wasn’t clear if Taylor went on his own or if third base coach Blake Allen sent him. Either way, it removed a bases-loaded opportunity for Cooper Malamazian and perhaps more importantly added a free out for Penn State.
Cole Gilley made a minor throwing error on a swining bunt in the bottom of the inning, but at least the play was backed up and Gilley pitched himself out of the jam. Tyler Cerny was thrown out trying to steal in the second inning and appeared to get under the tag, but the coaches elected not to review the play and take the out.
The Hoosiers have a two run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out, when Penn State records their first hit against Gilley. The next batter rips a single to center which Dickerson appears to slightly over run and when he tries to stop he slips which allows the run to score and advances the lead runner. At this point the Nittany Lions have figured out Gilley and cash in with the third straight hit. The official scorer did not charge Gilley with an earned run, but three hits alone would have scored one. Gilley should be leaving with a lead, instead its a tie game.
Drew Buhr was the first out of the bullpen and he did not have his typical command of the strike zone. He battled with 67 pitches, but walked four batters in 2.2 innings of work. He allowed 4 runs, three earned and one unearned thanks to a fly ball to shallow left field that Devin Taylor tried to make a diving play on. As it hit his glove, Taylor was charged with the error, but the play looked like it should have been Cerny’s, who seemed to lose the ball, or Dickerson who seemingly had a better angle on it. What it turned into was another baserunner and another out a struggling Hoosier bullpen was forced to get.
Indiana went down quickly in the 8th and then Anthony Gubitosi also struggled with command, walking three in the bottom of the inning leading to Penn State extending the lead to 7 runs before the ninth. Joey Brenczewski ripped an 3-RBI double in the 9th, but that was too late to matter.
Indiana is now 7-9 overall, and 1-2 in a B1G that only saw Oregon sweep a series over the weekend. So the Hoosiers aren’t in awful shape in the league, but the losing record is very troublesome for their NCAA at-large prospects. Essentially Indiana has only 11 more losses to give up to be in likely at-large condition. This probably means they are going to have to sweep a few weeks, and the inconsistenty on the mound plus the mistakes in the field and on the base paths have people wondering how possible that is. All of their issues are not confined to this week, they have happened in almost every weekend.
Next up is a Tuesday afternoon trip to Terre Haute to face in-state rival Indiana State at 4pm.