Indiana Baseball Loses Season Opener 6-3 to No. 12 Duke; Cerny, Mathison Hit Home Runs
The pitcher’s duel between Indiana baseball and No. 12 Duke Friday unraveled in the sixth inning, and the Hoosiers eventually lost 6-3 to a team that was one win away from reaching the 2023 College World Series.
The matchup, part of the Baseball at the Beach event, is hosted by No. 18 Coastal Carolina, which the Hoosiers will play Saturday afternoon. For now, Indiana is 0-1 on the season, despite an outstanding start by sophomore Brayden Risedorph.
The right-hander no-hit the Blue Devils through the first four innings. And though back-to-back two-out doubles knocked Risedorph out of the contest in the fifth — and put Duke up 1-0 — he provided his lineup ample time to get on the board.
But the bats failed to plate runs versus Duke left-handed starter Jonathan Santucci. The preseason No. 7 best starting pitcher in the nation, according to D1Baseball, hurled five scoreless innings alongside seven strikeouts.
Santucci walked Carter Mathison on four pitches to begin his outing, and Devin Taylor’s single put two runners on in the first inning. But Brock Tibbitts and Tyler Cerny both struck out to stop the rally. The Hoosiers went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, while the Blue Devils went 2-for-10.
Both teams used the long ball to power their offenses. The Blue Devils mashed back-to-back solo home runs against Indiana left-handed reliever Ryan Kraft in the sixth inning to lead 3-0.
Friday’s relief outing was uncharacteristic for Kraft. In his freshman season two years ago, he conceded 10 home runs in 42 innings. Last season, that declined to two home runs across 62 innings, as Kraft became one the staple relievers in the regular season. But versus Duke, Kraft gave up two home runs to the first four batters he faced. His final line was 1⅓ innings, with four earned runs.
To be fair, it was Opening Day. Indiana knocked around one of Duke’s relievers, as well.
Duke sophomore left-hander Owen Proksch relieved Santucci for the sixth inning, and the third batter he faced, sophomore Tyler Cerny, belted the team’s first home run of the season to left field. Cerny played tremendously, making three difficult plays at shortstop and going 2-for-4 at the plate. In weeks leading up to the season, head coach Jeff Mercer praised Cerny’s improvements. His two-run shot put the Hoosiers only down 3-2, going into the seventh.
And the seventh was identical to the sixth. Kraft allowed the first two runners to reach base — they came around to score to put Duke up 5-2 — and Mathison smashed his first homer of the season in response to cut the deficit to 5-3. Like Cerny, Mathison batted 2-for-4.
But after that, Indiana’s bats were silenced. Duke graduate reliever Charlie Beilenson came in midway through the seventh, stranded two Hoosiers, and later completed the eight-out save. Beilenson picked up five strikeouts, without any earned runs, in the eventual 6-3 Duke victory.
Indiana plays No. 18 Coastal Carolina Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, which airs on ESPN-plus.
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