Peter Serruto

Serruto’s late blast knots up Cream and Crimson series 1-1

Pitchers flip the script in competitive game 2 of instrasquad series

Article and photos by Carl James @jovian34, tweets by Chris Feeny @iubase17 October 15th, 2022

The Hoosiers wrap up the formal portion of fall workouts each year with a “Cream and Crimson” intrasquad series. It’s a fun time to come out the Bart and see some baseball and get a look at how players have been progressing.

The series started on Thursday with Phillip Glasser’s Crimson bombers thumping Bobby Whalen’s Cream 20-6. Friday featured much improved pitching, with Crimson taking a 3-2 advantage into the 8th inning hoping to be up big in the fine game series.

Seti Manase put in 4 innings of work. After appearances against Eastern Illinois, Indiana State, and Scout Day this was the first time I saw Manase let a runner on base. He showed he can manage with traffic and kept the game in hand.

Luke Sinnard started for Cream. He also managed the game well in 3.1 innings of work, showing that the Hoosiers will have multiple options for starting pitching in the spring.

While an instrasquad series in the recent past would not be a great barometer of this, the depth of bats in the position player group meant there were very few easy outs on either side.

Veteran catcher Peter Serruto is have an amazing series at the plate. We still aren’t sure what role he will serve in the spring as the Hoosiers are rich in catching depth with Brock Tibbitts possible no longer the only reliable option at first base thanks to freshman Devin Taylor’s impressive fall, but the New Jersey backstop is making a case for himself this week.

Outfielder Hunter Jessee continues to provide consistent pop from the left side.

Outfielder Carter Mathison continues to be a force to be reckoned with. His bat could have him competing for more B1G honors in 2023 and hearing his name very early in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Lefty Ben Seiler gave Crimson a new look out of the bullpen in the middle of the fourth inning.

Sophomore Brock Tibbitts has been solid at the plate this fall while juggling defensive work both at first base (where he earned all-B1G Freshman honors in the spring) and at catcher, his natural position.

Crimson Senior pitcher Ty Bothwell was one of the few successful pitchers in Thursday’s home run fest. On Friday he was serving as Phillip Glasser’s pitching coach. Here he is after one of several solid innings from reliever Gabe Levy.

Sophomore Luke Hayden struggled a bit with command in the early parts of his two innings but then got under control. This is big growth for Hayden who has worked with Pitching Coach Dustin Glant this fall on more consistent mechanics and not letting a minor control setback snowball into big innings for the opponent. Hayden used his very impressive stuff to keep Crimson off the board to earn the win for Cream.

This was a great baseball game. Good pitching, good hitting, several defensive gems. We are seeing some pitchers get stretched out now which shows promise for a team that really needs to cover more innings next spring so Indiana can take advantage of this experienced position player group to compete for a B1G title and return to NCAA post-season play for the first time in four years.

With series tied at 1-1, a critical game three is on deck for Tuesday at 5pm at Bart Kaufman Field. The fall series will wrap up with games at 3pm Thursday and 5pm Friday.