No. 16 Crimson Tide run-rule no. 20 Hoosiers 12-0 on big stage Friday

Pyne’s single is the only Hoosier hit as nothing goes well for no. 20 Indiana

By Carl James @jovian34 March 1st, 2024

In a game that dealt with a 5-minute rabbit delay, the one of the few good things for the 20th ranked Hoosiers was that it was over in less than 2 and a half hours. Indiana’s offense didn’t seem competitive at all against Alabama righty Ben Hess who was touching 98 MPH and mixing up pitches well. The Hoosiers went 1 for 23 on the day, striking out 13 times in only 7 innings. Hoosier pitching and defense gave up crooked number in two big innings and the game was called as a run rule after 7 innings by a score of 12-0.

Alabama Crimson Tide 12, Indiana Hoosiers 0:

Inning by inning breakdown in the Live Game Blog | Box Score

After the game, coach Jeff Mercer said about Hess, “he was on tonight and was really good. The velo was up. We knew he was going to be predominantly glove side. Once he started landing the curveball and the slider it was going to be a tough night with a guy that talented. He did a really good job and we didn’t adjust.”

The last time the Hoosiers seemed this outclassed was the last time Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn faced off against Indiana 10 months ago when a Vaughn-led Maryland team came to Bloomington and swept a series at Bart Kaufman Field in dominate fashion. Now coaching in the SEC, Vaughn still seems to have a formula to keep the Hoosiers at bay. Vaughn is undefeated so far in his first season as the Crimson Tide skipper.

Alabama hit Brayden Risedorph well in the first inning, but were also aided by costly mistakes. One of the five Crimson Tide hits was a normally routine high fly ball to left field that Devin Taylor couldn’t reach because he was positioned very shallow despite the wind blowing out. After the game Mercer described that as the type of play that should have been made. The inning started with an error on a ground ball to the right side that was misplayed by Brock Tibbitts. After a bloop single to no man’s land in the shallow part of the outfield plated a run, the bottom of Alabama’s batting order seemed to have little trouble hitting Risedorph.

Now Risedorph did manage to finish the first inning retiring the lead-off hitter Gage Miller with a full-count strikeout, but only after facing 10 batters and giving up five runs, four of them earned. He would not return for the second, Mercer reflected, “You plan for contingencies, but you don’t really plan for your starter to go one inning. With two really good teams and a midweek, you’re kind of behind the eight ball really quick.”

At this point pitching coach Dustin Glant went to Ryan Kraft. Kraft saw his first action of the season two weeks ago with a rough outing against Duke. Despite two shutout innings with a low pitch count of 21 here, Kraft did not come back out for the fourth. It is possible having shown improvement, they want the option to use Kraft again later in the weekend.

Encouraged by his game settling performance on Tuesday after Purdue Ft Wayne jumped up 8 runs on Indiana, Glant and Mercer may have wanted to see if Seti Manase’s stuff would play against an SEC offense. It did not. Manase hit three Alabama players with pitches and his pitches over the plate were hit hard including a monster home run off the bat of Evan Sleight. Manase gave up 6 runs in total while only collecting one out in the fourth inning.

With the game out of hand and a run rule in place, Indiana got a few more pitchers a chance against an SEC offense. “We have to add pieces to our bullpen and so a bright spot was getting guys like [Brandon] Keyster and Drew [Buhr] and [Jacob] Vogel in the game,” was how Mercer described the opportunity. The lefty Keyster in particular has gotten progressively better in his outings as the season has progressed.

The potential additional bullpen pieces are encouraging, but the Hoosiers were hoping to back up the statement made two weeks ago at the Beach and this was not that. The Hoosiers are now on a two game skid and the record sits at 6-3.

Hope is not lost. Connor Foley waits in the wings to face number 25 Dallas Baptist this afternoon at 1pm ET. Indiana’s best bullpen options so far, Ty Bothwell and Julian Tonghini are both fully available with a week’s worth of rest. The mistakes and plate approaches need to improve though after two very deflating games in a row.