Live Blog: Hoosiers at Auburn on Sunday

Live Blog of the series finale

By Carl James @jovian34 February 19th, 2023; Tweets and pictures by Chris Feeny @iubase17

Bottom 9th (FINAL): Indiana 11, Auburn 2

Seti Manase, a juco transfer that impressed in the fall takes the bump to finish the game for Indiana. Manase induces a groundout for the first out. He finishes off the Tigers with a strikeout and a flyout. Hoosiers Win!

Top 9th: Indiana 11, Auburn 2

Glasser lines out to start the inning. Jessee grounds out to first base. Pyne extends IU’s offense with a single to right field, his third of the day. Vecrumba grounded out to end the inning.

Bottom 8th (two outs): Indiana 11, Auburn 2

Justin Kirby leads the inning off with a solo home run to trim the lead back to single digits. Kraft responded by inducing a fly-out and a pop-up and ending the inning with a strikeout.

Top 8th: Indiana 11, Auburn 1

Ellis walked and Vecrumba pinch runs for him and steals second. Tibbitts walked and Mathison flew out. A Whalen single loads the bases and prompts the sixth Auburn pitching change of the day. Vecrumba scores on a wild pitch, but Auburn limits the damage with a ground out and fly out.

Bottom 7th: Indiana 10, Auburn 1

Auburn leads off with a single. Fielder’s choice gets Kraft his first out of the inning. He followed that up with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning with no damage.

Top 7th: Indiana 10, Auburn 1

Serruto and Goforth single with one out to prompt another Auburn pitching change. Glasser flied out. Jessee then hits a two-RBI double off the wall. Pyne lined out to the end the inning.

Bottom 6th: Indiana 8, Auburn 1

Ryan Kraft takes over the pitching duties for Indiana. A one-out, four pitch walk prompts an infield meeting and Kraft responds with a strikeout. An infield single extends the inning, but Kraft ends the threat with a groundout.

Top 6th: Indiana 8, Auburn 1

Hunter Jessee leads off the inning with a single. Pyne struck out. Ellis had a loud flyout. Jessee caught the Auburn defense sleeping and tagged into scoring position. Tibbitts worked the count full and drew a walk, prompting an Auburn mound visit. Mathison gorunds out to end the inning.

Bottom 5th: Indiana 8, Auburn 1

Luke Sinnard walked his first batter of the day with two outs in the fifth. A ground out to Glasser ended the inning with no damage.

Top 5th: Indiana 8, Auburn 1

Auburn’s Zach Crotchfelt has stopped the bleeding for the Tigers with another 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom 4th: Indiana 8, Auburn 1

Sinnard has to deal with a baserunner with less than two outs for the first time today giving up a lead-off single. A shallow pop-up makes the first out. Cooper McMurray struck out. Auburn’s Bryson Ware gets an RBI single to get Auburn on the board. After a mound visit Sinnard ends the inning with a groundout.

Top 4th: Indiana 8, Auburn 0

Tibbitts and Mathison strike out to start the inning. Whalen ground out to end it.

Bottom 3rd: Indiana 8, Auburn 0

The Hoosiers get from Luke Sinnard something they often struggled with in 2022: a shutdown inning. Sinnard makes short work of Auburn with three soft contact outs.

Top 3rd: Indiana 8, Auburn 0

Talk of a Carter Mathison early season slump was greatly exaggerated. He follows up the grand slam with a double to lead of the third. Bobby Whalen moves Mathison to third with no outs with a single. This prompted another Tiger pitching change. Evan Goforth struck out and Pete Serruto’s squeeze bunt attempt ended with Mathison tagged out at home. Glasser stays hot by driving in Whalen with a single. Jessee follows that up with a single that drives in Serruto. Josh Pyne then drives in Glasser with a double prompting yet another Auburn pitching change. Ellis stikes out to end the inning.

Bottom 2nd: Indiana 5, Auburn 0

Sinnard gets two quick outs and then gives up another two-out double. Sinnard struck out Nate Larue to end the inning with no damage.

Top 2nd: Indiana 5, Auburn 0

Phillip Glasser walks to lead of the inning. Hunter Jessee hit a ball to the gap and attempted to leg out a double. The ball beat him, but Jessee avoided the tag for the double. Josh Pyne got into a 1-2 hole but fouled off a couple of pitches an drove in Glasser with deep sacrifice fly. Ellis hit the ball well to left center that was caught by Bobby Pierce. Brock Tibbitts struck out to end the inning.

Bottom 1st: Indiana 4, Auburn 0

Luke Sinnard struck out the first Auburn batter. He got the second out with a liner to first. Ike Irish hit a two-out double off of the green monster. Justin Kirby flied out to end the inning.

Top 1st: Indiana 4, Auburn 0

Glasser lead off with a groundout to second base. Hunter Jessee worked a full count into a walk. Josh Pyne sliced a single to right field to get Jessee into scoring position. Matthew Ellis took an 0-2 pitch on the elbow to load the bases. Brock Tibbitts popped-up in the infield for out two. Carter Mathison crushed his first hit of the season into the Hoosier bullpen for a grand slam. Nelson was rattled by the rough start and walked Bobby Whalen and Evan Goforth. Nelson got the hook. Serruto struck out to end the inning.

Starting Lineup for the Hoosiers

Right hander Luke Sinnard (transfer from Western Kentucky) will get the start for Indiana. Auburn will start lefty Drew Nelson. Per the Auburn Daily, Nelson throws in the upper eighties from a three-quarter slot. The Hoosiers will be looking to get the heart of the order active today, as that group has been fairly quiet this weekend so far-