Ryan Kraft pitches 7 scoreless with only 5 hits as the Hoosiers get closer to clinching a B1G Tournament berth
By Carl James @jovian34 May 10th, 2025
“Hell of way to have your last outing at Indiana on this field”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer about senior lefty Ryan Kraft
Indiana Hoosiers 8, Purdue Boilermakers 0
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score | Postgame with Mercer, Kraft, and Malamazian
They call him “the Sheriff” and it was definitely his town on Friday, as the senior left-handed pitcher led his team to a feat that hadn’t accomplished in over two years: shutting out an opponent. It was just icing on the cake that it happened in Kraft’s final start at Bart Kaufman Field, plus against the team’s rival Purdue. After the game Kraft reflected, “I didn’t think about it too much until after I was done pitching.”
Kraft relied heavily in this outing on his big looping curveball. “Early on in the game I was able to throw it for strikes, I was able to spike it for strikes. Later on in the game I was able to throw it ahead in the count.” Coach Mercer was particularly pleased with Kraft’s ability to go deep in the game, “not just to have him for that four or five inning start.”
Mercer went on to describe Kraft’s college career arc. “What a career transformation that he’s had. His freshman year he pitched a bunch but got hit really hard. He was always in the fight. We just kept running him out there. Then his sophomore year he’s magical with primarily an elevated sinker and cutter.” That pitch mix didn’t work well for Kraft in a junior campaign that saw him struggle. “He goes out to summer ball in the Northwoods and re-invents himself as a five-pitch guy. Brings back that really big slow curveball and we worked on a change-up with him as well.”
Kraft dealt with a single baserunner in each of his first five innings of work. He got his first 1-2-3 inning in the sixth frame. In total, Kraft allowed 7 total baserunners (5 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit-by-pitch) in 7 complete innings of scoreless work.
Indiana’s offense did all of its damage in three innings: the second, third, and eighth. Hogan Denny got on base with a single in the second and Cooper Malamazian drove in Denny with a double to the left field corner. Malamazian drove in two more with a single in the third inning. Indiana managed to run Purdue starter Carter Doorn after just 2.1 innings having drawn 4 walks and getting five hits against the righty.
Lefty Isaac Milburn then took the bump for Purdue and really settled things down for the Boilermakers. “[Milburn] spun it really well. He spun it so well that we were off fastball timing.” While Milburn’s final line did not look great, all the damage came in Milburn’s fifth full inning of middle relief as Purdue was trying to save bullpen arms for the rest of the series. The Hoosier bats finally got timed up properly and extended the lead to 8 runs heading into the final frame.
“Sometimes we still do silly stuff offensively. We still have at-bats that are not tremendous.” Indiana partially responded by laying down a lot of bunts on the day. Some successful, some not, but they kept the Purdue defense on their toes and forced the infield to respect the bunt enough to open some holes in the infield that allowed for hits.
Behind the Hoosier pitching was some tremendous defensive play. Tyler Cerny and Cooper Malamazian each had grounders they fielded while sliding and managed to throw the batters out at first. With Purdue’s reliance on small ball, the pitchers and first baseman Jake Hanley had to be in tune and managed to play some touch balls to the right side of the field well. The lone error of the game was a ball that Will Moore charged at first base very aggressively and lifted his glove too soon to field.
Devin Taylor made a spectacular read on a single to left on a hit-and-run play. Taylor was able to see that the runner had committed to running to third, then changed his mind just as Taylor was about to throw to Malamazian in a cut-off position. Mercer described the play after the game, “[Taylor] was able to get his eyes up and execute that ball back to second base.” Mercer stressed that “we practice outfield throwing to second base probably more than any team in the country.”
Cole Gilley was only needed for one inning of relief before the bats finally got to Milburn. With that pitching coach Dustin Glant handed the ball to Pete Haas to close the game in the ninth. Both relievers allowed only a single baserunner and struck out one batter as the Hoosiers cruised to a victory in the series opener.
The win takes Indiana to 13-12 in conference play and has the Hoosiers now sitting alone in 7th place. The top 12 teams in the standings make the conference tournament which is now only 10 days away. While Indiana has only a 2-game lead on the 13th place team, the fact that 5 teams separate them are giving the Hoosiers some breathing room. That being said, a series win will make that all of the more comfortable as the need to setup pitching for a must win Tuesday or Wednesday game in Omaha in a week and a half.
Indiana and Purdue continue the series with a 2pm first pitch. The Hoosiers will honor several seniors in a ceremony before the game.