Indiana Baseball Bounces Back With Three Victories

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After being ranked in the preseason top 25, Indiana’s baseball team started the season 0-4 and fell out of the rankings.

In a trip to Cary, N.C., Indiana was able to get itself back on track. The Hoosiers went 3-0 in games played against Fordham, Harvard and Big Ten colleague Northwestern.

Indiana was originally supposed to play from Friday to Saturday, but the schedule at Cary was altered due to rain.

Indiana made short work of Fordham in a 15-2 win on Saturday. A three-run third inning and four-run fifth inning helped put the Hoosiers in the driver’s seat against the Rams.

Korbyn Dickerson hit a home run and was one of four Hoosiers with at least two base hits. Joey Brenczewski, Jake Stadler and Tyler Cerny also had two-hit games.

Most encouraging for Indiana was a six-inning, two-hit performance from No. 1 starter Gavin Seebold. He also struck out seven.

Indiana was similarly dominant against Harvard as the Hoosiers won 14-4 on Sunday. Indiana took a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning and never looked back. Indiana star Devin Taylor was a single away from hitting for the cycle. He was 3-for-4 with a double, triple, a home run and 4 RBI.

Brenczewski was 4-for-4 and Dickerson was 3-for-5 with another home run and 5 RBI. The top three spots in the order combined to go 10-for-13 with 10 runs scored, 10 RBI, two home runs, a double and a triple against the overwhelmed Crimson.

Indiana starting pitcher Cole Gilley struck out seven in five innings. Indiana pitchers struck out 13 Harvard batters overall.

Monday’s finale in Cary was far more competitive. Indiana took on Northwestern in a game that won’t count as a Big Ten Conference contest. The Hoosiers and Wildcats will not play a regular season series.

Northwestern took a 2-0 lead after the first two innings, but Indiana’s bullpen did not allow another run. Drew Buhr, Henry Brummel and Ben Grable pitched seven innings of relief and allowed just one run.

That allowed the Hoosiers to get back into the game. A RBI double by Jake Hanley cut Northwestern’s lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning, the Hoosiers tied it in the seventh via a Dickerson single and took a 3-2 lead via a Brenczewski single in the eighth.

Northwestern tied the game via a Jack Lausch (also Northwestern’s quarterback in football) in the top of the ninth, but Indiana had a surprise in-store in the bottom half of the inning.

After Dickerson singled and Andrew Wiggins walked, Indiana manager Jeff Mercer sent pinch-hitter T.J. Schuyler to the plate. Schuyler had never had a hit in 20 career at-bats.

He squared to bunt, but pulled the bat back and hit a single to left field. Dickerson scored the winning run to give Indiana its third win of the season in walk-off fashion.

Indiana (3-4) has rescheduled its mid-week home against Xavier. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, the game will be played at Bart Kaufman Field at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Admission is free.