Game 3 at Missouri State

Hoosiers take Series at Missouri State on Sunday

Hoosiers strike early on Sunday and never look back, winning 10-4

by Cassady Palmer • @crpalmer0627 • March 6th, 2022

MISSOURI – 

In similar fashion to Saturday, the Hoosier offense went bonkers in the 1st inning and the defense and pitching shut the door on the way to the series finale victory.

The first 4 Indiana batters reached base in the 1st, capped by a Matthew Ellis double to push the score to 2-0 after Tyler Doanes scored on a wild pitch. Brock Tibbitts added a 2-RBI single, scoring Bobby Whalen and Ellis, and Carter Mathison got in on the fun with a 2-out, 2-RBI home run to bring the score to 6-0 before the Bears even had a chance to come to the plate. The Hoosiers scored another pair of runs in the 2nd on a sequence of a Doanes single, Whalen single + 2-base error by the left fielder, and an RBI groundout by Ellis. Mathison came close to another home run in the 3rd inning, this of the inside-the-park variety, but it was in fact a triple with a throwing error allowing him to score. The final run of the day came in the 6th inning, where a trio of 2-out singles by Phillip Glasser, Whalen, and Ellis pushed across a run.

After the game, Head coach Jeff Mercer talked about the development of Mathison, noting that “The best teacher is game experience, and you can see him beginning to get confident.”

On the day, 7 IU starters recorded at least one hit, and 5 Hoosiers (Doanes, Glasser, Whalen, Ellis, and Mathison) tallied multi-hit games. And while Indiana had 17 base runners in the game, only 5 were left on base. Over the course of the weekend, Ellis and Tibbitts had 6 hits each, and Ellis recorded a ridiculous 10 RBI.

On the mound Bradley Brehmer got the start, and as with Jack Perkins on Saturday, he went 6 full innings, giving up just 3 runs. He had a 6-pitch inning in the 3rd, and then rebounded off of a tough 2-run 4th inning with a 1-2-3 5th inning on just 9 pitches. Brehmer struck out 4 batters while walking just 3. Postgame, Brehmer indicated that taking the mound with the big lead was “a big boost of confidence” and that it allowed him to attack the hitters.

Coach Mercer praised Brehmer, stating that “when he pitches like that he’s very, very good.” He also stressed how important it was to get two solid starts in a row from Perkins and Brehmer.

Ryan Kraft took the mound for the second time on the weekend, giving up a single run on 1 hit in the 7th. Braydon Tucker closed out the game with a pair of scoreless innings giving up an infield single and a walk.

On the weekend, the Hoosier starters accounted for 16.2 innings of the 26 innings pitched, while the bullpen locked down for 5 runs over the remaining 9.1 innings. The Indiana staff left 24 Bears runners stranded on the bases, while another 4 were erased on double plays or were caught stealing, accounting for a total of 62% of Missouri State’s total runners.

Indiana will next face Cincinnati at the Bart on Tuesday at 4pm ET, and will then face Purdue Fort Wayne at home on Wednesday at 4pm ET. Both contests can be seen on B1G+.