Three keys behind the 14-4 win in Indianapolis
By Zach Horwitz @HorwitzZach April 23rd, 2025
photos by Carl James
“We almost hit around before we got an out which is really incredible, especially when you’re playing in a big ballpark… but we went station to station and allowed them to give us some,”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer
Indiana Hoosiers 14, Ball State Cardinals 4
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – A picturesque evening in the Circle City turned successful for the Indiana Hoosiers as it grabbed the ninth run-rule victory of the 2025 season. It was the second time in fifteen days that Indiana and Ball State met on the diamond. In all aspects of the game, the Hoosiers outmatched its opponent.
Offense flourishes in the 5th inning
With a 5-2 lead entering the midway mark of the ballgame, Indiana’s offense took off, plating nine runs on six hits in an inning where seven different Hoosiers tallied an RBI.
“We almost hit around before we got an out which is really incredible, especially when you’re playing in a big ballpark… but we went station to station and allowed them to give us some,” said head coach Jeff Mercer.
The Hoosiers, playing in a usual jetstream, and a relatively smaller dimensional ballpark at Bart Kaufman Field, utilized the gaps to string together extra-base hits.
The Cardinals handed out three free passes before allowing the bottom-third of Indiana’s order to record base knocks and deliver some runs. Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week Will Moore got on base before they were cleared by the big bats of Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson. The two finished a combined 4-for-10 with four RBIs on the outing.
Tyler Cerny doubled, bringing home the ninth run of the inning against the Cardinals’ fifth pitcher of the frame.
Jeff Mercer classified the outburst as “probably the best of the year”.
Pitching staff with young arms compiles a three-hit effort
A night where Mercer presented eight hurlers, the group did their job to limit long innings. While a single pitcher did not throw over 25 total pitches, the job was split evenly with young arms showing their stuff in the middle innings.
“Seth Benes, with Tommy John surgery as a senior in high school and essentially misses his freshman year as far as development is concerned, now he’s doing what he would have done a year ago had he been healthy.”
Benes turned in a scoreless inning, punching out two of the four batters he faced. It was the sophomore’s tenth appearance of the year, but now showing off the recent development of a cutter. “He’s now a four pitch guy in the mid-90s. It’s a little reminiscent of Jack Perkins.”
Perkins was Indiana’s 2022 Friday night starter who rose the ranks in becoming one of the top-10 pitchers with 90 strikeouts in a season.
In addition to Benes, former top player out of the state of Indiana, Brayton Thomas, took the mound with conviction for his ninth appearance of his young career. The southpaw did not allow a baserunner in his lone inning of work, thanks to his defensive counterparts behind him. “You can just see the calmness and great body language, with an attitude in the way he pitched,” Mercer mentioned.
Pete Haas, Ryan Kraft, Aydan Decker-Petty, and Jacob Vogel also tossed scoreless innings when toeing the rubber.
Defensive gems stand behind pitching performance
Only allowing three hits and striking out six of the 21 outs recorded in the contest, the defense shined, most notably in SportsCenter-esque plays by Caleb Koskie and Cooper Malamazian.
In the third inning, the right fielder, Koskie, got a good jump on a ball hit on a line into the gap. In a Minor League Baseball stadium that runs deep into right-centerfield, he saved extra bases and what could have started a production of runs for the Cardinals.
Nothing could compare to the play made by the freshman phenom on the left side of the infield for the Indiana Hoosiers. Shortstop Cooper Malamazian ranged to his right, deep in the hole behind the the third baseman’s usual position, backhanding a grounder and firing across his body to nab the runner at first base.
“That’s a play that kind of just happens. I’ve done it so many times, it just comes natural,” said Malamazian. His head coach used the word “astonishing” to describe the putout.
Indiana combined a ferocious offensive approach in the fifth inning, a complete pitching performance, and spectacular defensive plays to put up a 14-4 run rule victory on the board. The Hoosiers sweep the season series over the MAC-leading Ball State Cardinals before a massive weekend series at the helm. IU travels to Iowa City, Iowa for a meeting with the top-seeded Hawkeyes in the Big Ten. The three-game set begins Friday night at 7:00 pm.