Indiana drops a roller coaster game against the 13th-ranked Rebels 5-9.
After winning games against East Carolina and High Point on Friday and Saturday, the Hoosiers went into the Sunday morning game looking to sweep a weekend that included a pair of ranked opponents. A trio of home runs by the Rebels, however, prevented Indiana from doing so.
Ole Miss jumped out to an early lead, scoring a pair of runs in the 1st on a home run, and another run in the 3rd on a wild pitch. The 3rd inning could have been worse for the Hoosiers had it not been for the arm of Hunter Jessee in right field. With one out and runners on the corners, the Rebels decided to test the freshman’s arm, and he threw a rocket to Collin Hopkins behind the plate for the double play. Braydon Tucker was able to get the final out of the inning with no further damage.
Indiana cut the deficit to a single run in the top of the 4th on home runs by Grant Richardson, his fourth, and Jordan Fucci, his first. The Rebels responded with a two-run home run of their own in the bottom of the 4th to take the 5-2 lead.
Momentum swung back toward the Hoosiers in the 6th inning. Richardson led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a single by Elijah Dunham. The Rebels opted to bring in a new pitcher with two outs. He threw just five pitches, none of them for strikes, and plunked Hopkins to load the bases before issuing an RBI walk to Jessee. After another pitching change, Cooper Trinkle stepped up in the most important at-bat of his season so far and drilled a double down the left field line to tie the game at 5.
With the game tied, David Platt returned to the mound for his second inning of work and continued the Hoosier momentum by going 1-2-3 on just nine pitches with a pair of strikeouts. The momentum, however, returned to the Rebels in the bottom of the 7th when they scored four runs on a walk, two singles, and a home run. Indiana was unable to string together enough hits over the remaining two innings to bring the score any closer.
After a slow start, the Hoosiers put together a decent day at the plate. Every batter for Indiana reached base at least once, while seven Hoosiers had at least one hit. Richardson and Dunham each had a pair of hits. In fact, both Richardson and Dunham hit .500 on the weekend, while Fucci was right behind them at .462. That trio of Hoosiers hit .487 on the weekend with two home runs, four doubles, and 11 RBI.
While it was a rough day for both Tucker and McCade Brown on the mound, the duo of Platt and Matt Litwicki combined for three scoreless innings with one walk, one hit, and four strikeouts.
The Hoosiers will next be opening up the Bart by hosting the Purdue Boilermakers in a non-conference midweek matchup at 3:05pm ET on Wednesday, March 4th. With a current forecasted high in the upper 50s for Bloomington, this game has a very good chance of actually being played. The Boilers are 6-4 on the season, dropping all three games against ranked opponents at the Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis this past weekend. This will be the first midweek game for both teams this season, and it begins a string of 19 straight games the Hoosiers will play in the state of Indiana, with 17 of those being in Bloomington. It is also the start of a stretch of five games in five days for the Hoosiers, who will be hosting San Diego for a four-game series next weekend.