Live Blog: Hoosiers at Auburn on Friday

Live Blog of opening day

By Carl James @jovian34 February 17th, 2023; Tweets and pictures by Chris Feeny @iubase17

Top 9th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8 – FINAL

Josh Pyne fought off a pitch for a bloop single that put runners on the corners, but Mathison goes down on strikes to end the game.

Bottom 8th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Vega gets in trouble with a pair of walks, but after a Dustin Glant mound visit, Vega gets right back into the zone and forces a pop-up with two strikes.

Top 8th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Armstrong works around a walk. Hoosiers down to just three outs, down four runs.

Bottom 7th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Vega looking sharp as he has now retired six straight Tigers.

Top 7th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Auburn’s Armstrong has retired six straight Hoosiers, getting Mathison looking to send the game to the stretch.

Bottom 6th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Adrian Vega, sophomore transfer (Butler) righty came in throwing strikes, induces a pop-fly and a pair of ground outs for the first clean bottom inning of the night.

Top 6th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Three quick groundouts for the Hoosiers in the sixth.

Bottom 5th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 8

Infield defense continues to be a problem for Indiana. Josh Pyne takes Evan Goforth off of the second base bag with an errant throw to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. Levy still pounds the zone to get a strikeout. Auburn capitalizes with a opposite field double down the third base line and a sacrifice fly.

Top 5th Inning: Indiana 4, Auburn 6

The Hoosiers battle back. Phillip Glasser is seeing the ball well. This time he pulls the ball to right field to get the inning started. Hunter Jessee took a pitch on the elbow to make it two on with no outs. Josh Pyne has a productive out pulling it softly to advance both runners with only one out. Mathison drives in run on a pulled ground out. The infield problems now shift to Auburn as an error on Tibbitts ground ball scores another run. Ellis gets on for the third time, this time with a walk which also prompts Auburn to make their second call to the bullpen. Whalen strikes out on a funky slider which ends the Hoosier threat.

Bottom 4th Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 6

Levy gives up a single and then a two-run shot over Auburn’s green monster off the bat of another mid-major transfer. Levy gives up a double before ending the inning on strikeout.

Top 4th Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 4

Ellis gets plunked on the helmet. A couple of infield pop-ups (one technically a fielder’s choice) and a strikeout bring a quick end to the Hoosier 4th.

Bottom 3rd Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 4

Seiler gets into another bases loaded jam with one out and his day is done. Gabe Levy takes over and then the wheels come off. A single scores one run, then second baseman Evan Goforth makes an apparent mistake in attempting a double play by throwing the the ball to third, where there was no longer a force play, which allows another run to score. A flyout to centerfield ends the inning.

Top 3rd Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 1

Indiana failed to get any hits or base runners. Josh Pyne then grounded out to third base off of new Auburn pitcher Bauman. Two strikeouts ended the inning. The score remained Indiana 2, Auburn 1 at the end of the top of the third.

Bottom 2nd Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 1

In the bottom of the second inning, Auburn was not able to score any runs despite loading the bases with three walks. Ben Seiler managed to strike out two batters and induced a groundout to limit the damage. Auburn’s only hit of the inning was a single by Ware, but they left three runners on base. The score remained 2-1 in favor of Indiana at the end of the inning.

Top 2nd Inning: Indiana 2, Auburn 1

Brock Tibbitts gets Indiana’s first hit of the year. Taking no time, Matthew Ellis gets the Hoosier’s first home run of the year with an opposite field bomb high to left field.

Bobby Whalen struck out swinging, Morgan Colopy walked. Evan Goforth struck out swinging, and Phillip Glasser singled to left field, advancing Morgan Colopy to second before Jessee flied out to left field to end the inning.

Bottom 1st Inning: Indiana 0, Auburn 1

Despite not allowing a ball batted out of the infield, Auburn scores an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead.

The first batter struck out looking. The second batter reached on a fielder’s choice, and a runner advanced to second on an error. The runner on second scored on the play, which was an unearned run for Auburn. The third batter walked, and the runner on second advanced on a wild pitch. The fourth batter singled, and the runner on second advanced to third. The fifth batter struck out swinging. The sixth batter grounded out to shortstop. At the end of the inning, Auburn had one run, one hit, one error, and two runners left on base.

Top 1st Inning

In the top of the 1st inning, Indiana did not score any runs. One runner was left on base.

The lead of hitter, Phillip Glasser, struck out swinging. Hunter Jessee worked a walk. The third batter, Josh Pyne, struck out swinging. The fourth batter, Carter Mathison hit a fastball hard on line, but flied out to left field. At the end of the inning, Indiana had no runs, no hits, and one runner left on base. The Hoosiers were patient and forced Auburn pitcher Allsup to throw 19 pitches.

Pregame

Graduate Student Transfer Ben “Bigs” Seiler, left hander, will be on the bump for the Hoosiers. He is the only new face in the lineup. Morgan Colopy returns to the lineup in right field after missing most of 2022 with injury.