Despite a strong start, errors and halted offense give Indiana a second consecutive home loss
By Zach Horwitz @HorwitzZach April 1st, 2025
photos by Carl James
“You’re just competing with conviction and finishing the game. I get that those guys are young but at some point you have to take the next step and advance in the way you play the game.”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer
Indiana Hoosiers 4, Louisville Cardinals 6
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
Indiana baseball continued its long home stand with an opportunity to improve its season-long resume, playing host to the No. 18 Louisville Cardinals. For the second consecutive game, Indiana’s offense did not plate a run after the fourth inning. Though, the story of the ballgame resides in the final column of the box score, as Indiana registered five errors in the field.
The majority of the errors came from the freshman infielders which head coach Jeff Mercer alluded to postgame. “You’re just competing with conviction and finishing the game. I get that those guys are young but at some point you have to take the next step and advance in the way you play the game.” This certainly checks the box when facing a ranked ACC opponent that can punish a group in the matter of seconds. That occurred following Cooper Malamazian’s errant throw in the eighth inning, where Eddie King Jr. put the game on ice with a two-run blast following the error. The home run gave the Cardinals a 6-4 advantage, which they held for the final six outs.
Prior to that, Indiana rolled out the gates. Ryan Kraft, Aydan Decker-Petty, and Grant Holderfield had impressive outings, as the trio did not allow a hit through five innings. They backboned an energetic Hoosier dugout that grabbed four runs in the fourth inning off of two wild pitches, a walk, and a single. Yet, that was all the scoring Indiana had in them on the evening.
“It’s hard to hit, especially when you’re seeing a bunch of different guys.” Mercer mentioned that he did not want to “micromanage” the game, and rather allow his hitters to make adjustments to their approach and attack the fresh stuff out of the bullpen.
Louisville utilized nine hurlers in the evening, with the majority given a matchup advantage against Indiana’s lefty-heavy batting order.
The most obvious was the transition to southpaw Wyatt Danilowicz, who entered the contest having not allowed a run in 10.2 innings pitched. He punched out Devin Taylor and Jake Hanley with breaking balls in the ninth as Indiana had the tying and winning runs on the basepaths.
Mercer has high praise for longtime Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell and how he runs the program. “They’ve always executed fastballs in late which makes it hard. When you’re seeing soft stuff away and hard in late, it’s just a tough deal.”
McDonnell’s club held on long enough to escape the traffic jam on the bases and head back to Louisville with the 6-4 victory.
Indiana holds a Big Ten date with Michigan State coming into town this weekend, tentatively scheduled to begin Friday, April 4th.