Devin Taylor joins the Hoosier 200-hit club, but only 5 hits doomed Indiana in the road series opener
By Carl James @jovian34 April 11th, 2025
“You [the hitter] expand the zone, in-between timing, get beat by fastballs. and we’re just far enough in the year and we’ve done a good enough job to be more competitive.”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer
Indiana Hoosiers 2, Illinois Fightin Illini 4
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, IL – Coach Mercer was clearly disappointed in his offense Friday night. After such a strong, relentless showing against Michigan State and an elite arm last week, the Hoosier let Illinois righty Tyler Schmitt have his best outing of the season against them. “You [the hitter] expand the zone, in-between timing, get beat by fastballs. and we’re just far enough in the year and we’ve done a good enough job to be more competitive,” was how the coached described the situation after the game.
No Hoosier had a multi-hit game, but there were a few highlights. Devin Taylor became the 25th Hoosier member of the 200-career hit club with a double in the third inning. Taylor also very nearly tied the program’s home run record on two different occasions, but the cold Illinois air with a breeze blowing in knocked them doing for warning track outs. Catcher Jake Stadler worked deep counts and earned himself three free passes on the day and scored one of Indiana’s two runs.
A pair of freshman hitters, shortstop Cooper Malamazian and pinch hitter Hogan Denny combined for a pair of singles to right field that plated a run in the 8th inning against Illinois’ lefty closer Zach Bates.
Schmitt was the one key Illini arm that came into the series walking more than he struck out. The stuff clearly works and when he can throw strikes, he is difficult to deal with. Mercer acknowledge that Schmitt was very good, but thought his hitters should have battled better.
Hoosier pitching, limited on options due to finishing the Michigan State series in a Monday double header and without the services of injured grad student Drew Buhr, had Pete Haas open the game for two scoreless innings. “If Krafty [senior lefty Ryan Kraft] hadn’t had to come in to close [against Ball State] on Tuesday, he probably would have started the game, but we wanted to get him to a point where we knew we were going to have to cover the last three or four innings after him.” This likely means that due to the short rest, guys like Cole Gilley and Gavin Seebold were not available. Based on that Mercer felt that Haas and lefty Anthony Gubitosi were going to have to “cover those innings” and elected to throw them first in case things got out of hand and possibly save Kraft for later in the weekend.
The bulk of the Illini damage came against Gubitosi in the third inning. “It’s frustrating, because he really doesn’t get hit. But you just can’t walk the guys, fall behind, and then have to throw it right down the middle. That’s a guy a guy who is going to hit out of the Grand Canyon.” The Vytas Valincius three-run homer was the difference maker in the game.
As Indiana had scored in the top half of the inning, they were only down two runs and Gubitosi did end the inning by getting the next batter. “We were still within striking distance,” so Mercer and pitching coach Dustin Glant elected to go with Kraft and try to win the game. “Krafty was obviously really good, and I thought [Jacob] Vogel was good.”
Mercer felt Vogel in particular could have been better served by the defense behind him. “You have a ball the kicks off the heal of Cooper [Malamazian], a well hit ball. I thought [freshman right fielder Caleb] Koskie should have thrown the guy out at the plate. That was a slam dunk, he was already shifted down.” While still new to the role Mercer described Koskie as “a good enough player to be held to that standard.”
All told, the Hoosier pitching and defense only gave up 4 runs on the day, “giving the offense a chance to win the game which is all you can ask of your pitching coach and your pitching staff.” Alas, the offense couldn’t match what the Illini did.
The loss ends Indiana’s 4-game win streak and drops the Hoosiers to 9-7, 8th in the B1G standings. The series will resume at 4pm ET today, Saturday.