Ty Rybarczyk “set the tone” for a string of competitive pitching performances on a staff day as bats put up runs consistently
By Carl James @jovian34 March 27th, 2024
Right-handed pitcher Ty Rybarczyk, the Illinois transfer coming off of Tommy John surgery last year, made his third appearance of the season. He was electric going one time through the batting order, facing the minimum in three innings, only needing 30 pitches to do it.
Indiana Hoosiers 12, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 5:
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
“We had a really candid conversation before the game, kind of as a club.” head coach Jeff Mercer described what a lot of Indiana pitchers have been throwing as “stock stuff” and getting hit hard. “With how old college baseball is, how much the draft is reduced, how small strike zones are comparatively speaking, and we played with the wind blowing out for three straight weeks every game, you’re just not going to throw the ball 90 miles per hour in the middle of the plate and hope and wish that somebody doesn’t hit it hard. You have to throw it as hard as you can, and you have to execute to locations.”
Drew Buhr started getting hot as Rybarczyk got his fourth inning of work started. “We really should have taken [Rybarczyk] out after the third inning, but we wanted to get him to his pitch limit.” They are getting Rybarczyk worked up to the point where he can really start games and go deep. “There’s a difference in throwing pitches in the bullpen and the taxation on your body.”
Rybarczyk ran into some trouble in the fourth inning. A lead-off single got to second when an errant back-pick got away from first baseman Joey Brenczewski. A second hit then scored the run. Two swinging bunts plated another run and Mercer then made the move to Buhr.
This was a key moment in the game. Indiana’s pitching woes over the past few weeks have usually involved multiple pitchers in a single inning giving up a huge number of runs. The guy coming into the game had to execute with runners on base. Buhr broke this trend with a three-pitch strikeout and getting a ground ball fielder’s choice off of an 87mph off-speed. So, despite the error and the soft contact hits, Indiana pitching limited the damage to just two runs that inning.
Offensively Indiana produced runs in all but two innings, putting up multiple runs in three. Freshman second baseman Jasen Oliver had a career day going 4 for 5 with two home runs. Mercer reflected, “Jasen Oliver, you can see he’s following the progression of the freshman we’ve seen over the past few years. He’s really talented, highly acclaimed, athletic, you start working him in, and you push him, he starts to take off and you got one.” Oliver reflected, “I had good work day yesterday, a good work day today. It’s finally paying off, finding some barrels.” Mercer echoed that, “Jasen spent six hours in the cages the last two days. He was in there all day today. I told him after the game today that it’s not shocking when you put in work like that… all of a sudden you have the best game of your life. They go hand-in-hand.”
The biggest inning of the night was the bottom of the 8th when the Hoosiers accomplished a feat last achieved by Kyle Schwarber, Sam Travis, and Scott Donnely. Oliver hits a two run bomb, and then senior Sam Murrison, who entered as a pinch runner and stayed in for his outfield defense, hit a ball to the highest part of the scoreboard, and then Carter Mathison drilled the third for back-to-back-to-back jacks. Hoosiers were up 12-5.
The final two innings belonged to Brayden Risedorph on the mound. Mercer has again solidified that Risedorph is the Hoosier closer. “We will get the same innings [as when he was starting], just over two to three outings per week.” Risedorph faced 7 batters. One got a hit in ninth. All of the other six struck out. In total 18 of the Blue Raider’s 27 outs came via the strikeout
Indiana next travels to Indianapolis to start a four game series with Butler. The first game is at Butler on Thursday at 5p, the others will be in Bloomington at Bart Kaufman Field. Those include a Friday evening game at 5pm and Saturday double header at 2pm. Indiana Baseball will not play on Easter Sunday.