Hoosier baseball continues to look better, but still looking for that first win
by Carl James •@jovian34 • February 25th, 2022
It was a cold afternoon in Texas with the wind blowing in. With the defenses having the advantage, two pitching staffs pounded the strike zone. Once all was said and done the #2 Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 5-2. Indiana is now 0-4 on the young season.
The Hoosiers were limited to 6 hits, scoring two runs while striking out 16 times. The middle of the Indiana batting order combined for nine of the those 16 strikeouts. Of the two runs, one was produced by the top of the order with hits by Phillip Glasser and and RBI hit by Bobby Whalen, while the other run came from the bottom of the order produced by hits via Morgan Colopy (an opposite field triple) and an RBI by freshman Josh Pyne. The offensive production came mostly from new faces to the program or
Indiana righty John-Biagio Modugno extended himself to 5 innings in the start today. He gave up 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Modugno seemed to settle in well as the game progressed. Lefty Grant Holderfeld impressed again, giving up no earned runs in two innings of relief work.
In what might be the best news of the day for pitching coach Dustin Glant, righty Bradley Brehmer pitched two strong innings to finish the game for the Hoosiers. Brehmer struckout two and gave up zero free passes, after issuing three walks and hitting three batters while only getting three outs last week against Clemson. Brehmer, a transfer from Wright State and an expected starter in the fall, looked the part of an intimidating, tall righty, and faced down one of the best offenses in the country.
Arkansas seemed in control most of the game. Indiana threatened a few times, but never seemed to quite break through. The Hoosiers stranded seven base runners. Hoosier pitching hit the strike zone much more consistently and got a lot more outs via balls in play. Only six Razorbacks struck out compared to only four walks and one hit batsmen.
Indiana will send Jack Perkins out on the bump to face Louisiana at 12noon ET Saturday as the Round Rock Classic continues. Then the Hoosiers will wrap up the weekend on Sunday with #6 Standford.