Career day for Brayton Thomas is spoiled by uncompetitive relief pitching in the 9th
By Carl James @jovian34 May 9th, 2026
Indiana Hoosiers 4, Purdue Boilermakers 5
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
I could almost copy/paste the recap from Friday. Indiana starting pitching again not only bested, but dominated a quality Purdue team on Saturday. Brayton Thomas pitched 5.1 shutout innings and handed the ball to Reagan Rivera who escaped a jam caused by a pair of free passes. Rivera wasn’t so lucky. His own untimely free pass in the 9th inning would score a critcal run in the bottom of the that inning that allowed Purdue to walk off the Hoosiers and take the series in stunning fashion.
Anthony Gubitosi wanted the ball, but when Purdue Coach Greg Goff pinch hit a sub-.200 hitter for their regular lead-off man to get a left on right match-up, Gubitosi threw four uncompetitive balls to load the bases for Purdue’s best hitter. A bases clearing double down the right field line ended the game.
Like IU Radio’s Austin Render said on the broadcast today, there’s an argument to made that being in these games is better than getting blown out day after day, but the utter repetition of late meltdowns by this Hoosier squad has gone well into being the identity of this team, not a random fluke. Whatever the reason, this team finds ways to lose baseball games. Now, to be fair, the tables were turned two years ago in this same facility when freshman pitcher Jacob Vogel held on for dear life as the offense stormed back. Vogel has noticeably not been used yet this weekend, though with the wind blowing out, they are probably holding the fly ball heavy junior righty for tomorrow’s series finale, but all Hoosier fans will remember is that this team just can’t finish the baseball games they lead and should win.
The Hoosier bats were solid, though they did strand a lot of runners. Cole Decker paced the Hoosiers with a three-hit day. The loss all but mathematically eliminates Indiana from qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament. Indiana’s season will end next Saturday in Bloomington with a season finale against Illinois. Indiana will have its second losing season under head coach Jeff Mercer. The first was in 2022 but felt so much better because that team won 5 of its last B1G series. This team has been a disaster in conference play.
Before that comes, Indiana has one more with Purdue, a 1pm Sunday tilt. Expect lefty Conner Linn to start for Indiana. Vogel will likely be the long option out of the bullpen. Michael Sarhatt, Kaden Jacobi, Kellen English, and Evan O’Neill are other options. Purdue is still fighting hard for a sweep to improve their RPI to get into the NCAA Tournament. At this point even one home loss to Indiana would be hurtful. Indiana is just trying to erase the memory of the past 24 hours.