Sycamores utilize small ball, slap ten singles, and take advantage of ten free passes issued by Indiana pitching staff to grab 7-5 final
By Zach Horwitz @HorwitzZach April 15th, 2025
“They didn’t give us freebies but we gave them some. They were then able to find some holes and execute… they did a good job with it.”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer
Indiana Hoosiers 5, Indiana State Sycamores 7
Box Score
Bart Kaufman Field played host to the final home midweek matchup in Bloomington for the 2025 campaign. Indiana State came out for revenge following the meeting in Terre Haute on March 11th, where Indiana capitalized on multiple Sycamore defensive breakdowns to take a 9-4 final score. This time around, the script was flipped.
Head Coach Jeff Mercer alluded to the main issue of the night, as free bases were given up by the slew of arms out of the left field bullpen. Mercer continued in blaming the walks in opening an avenue for the Indiana State lineup to play some small ball. The Sycamores laid down multiple bunts, stole bases, and found holes around the infield shifts.
“They didn’t give us freebies but we gave them some. They were then able to find some holes and execute… they did a good job with it.”
Mercer’s pitching plan opened with Jackson Yarberry who continues to grind back from his injury. The right-hander did not allow a baserunner, striking out two of the six he faced. From there, the pitching staff dwindled with a lead.
Deron Swanson was first out of the bullpen, where he walked two batters but found his way out of some traffic. The rest of the staff put themselves in that similar situation but never came out unscathed.
Ryan Rushing was credited with the loss, allowing four runs in the fifth inning behind five hits and two walks.
“Rushing did a good job, just kind of some tough luck. They’re not hitting the ball hard, you just look up and there’s a four-spot,” Mercer said.
The Sycamores plated two of their four runs in the infield, one of those being a suicide squeeze and the other a weak single to the shortstop.
With the lead, the visitors continued chipping at the scoreboard, plating runs against Indiana’s freshman duo of Henry Brummel and Brayton Thomas. Despite allowing seven runs, the back-half of the ballgame remained tight thanks to Indiana State leaving ten runners on base.
On the offensive end, Tyler Cerny’s pulled a solo home run to lead off the ninth inning, along with Tyler DeMartino tallying a double which plated two runs in the bottom half for Indiana. Unfortunately, the offense was stagnant prior to the ninth, leaving Indiana little room to work with.
In the second inning, Jasen Oliver gave Indiana a 2-0 lead in his first start since March 23rd. Last year’s breakout star has found himself a new way of getting in the lineup.
“With Tyler (Cerny) at second and Cooper (Malamazian) at shortstop, his avenue has become third base. He wasn’t comfortable there earlier in the year, but we’ve worked on it a lot in practice and behind the scenes.”
Outside of Oliver, Devin Taylor did the other half of the offensive production as he guided the baseball to the opposite field for a two-run homer. The projected top round pick cements himself in the history books as he has now tied the all-time program record with 47 career home runs. Taylor joins the company of Alex Dickerson, Mike Smith, and Mike Sabo with the number.
The Hoosiers did not have a single player with a multi-hit outing while also only drawing three walks through the entirety of the contest.
Indiana will look to leave this one in the history books and look forward to an all-important weekend series against the Maryland Terrapins. First pitch is slated for 6:00 pm at Bart Kaufman Field.