IU Athletics
Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers Split Doubleheader With Purdue, Lose Series 2-1
Purdue second baseman Paul Toetz made sure Indiana, his former team, felt his impact early and often. Toetz roped a single up the middle off Indiana starter Bradley Brehmer to give Purdue a two-run lead in the first inning of Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader at Alexander Field in West Lafayette, Ind.
Toetz added another single up the middle in the third inning, but it was the bottom of Indiana's order that made the difference in the opener, a 10-3 Indiana victory. The first six Hoosiers went 3-for-20 at the plate, but the lineup's trio at the bottom finished with seven base hits in 12 at-bats.
This late-order prowess began with right fielder Samuel Murrison, who lifted a two-run home run over the left field wall to tie the game at 2-2 in the third inning.
The Hoosiers took the lead for good later that inning when catcher Matthew Ellis grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to score second baseman Tyler Doanes.
It was senior right-hander Braydon Tucker's game to finish when he took the mound in the seventh inning, fanning two batters and allowing just a pair of Boilermaker hits across three innings. The Hoosiers added runs in five separate innings, concluding with a two-run home run from freshman first baseman Brock Tibbitts.
"I was just absolutely thrilled with the way that we played in all phases of the game," Indiana coach Jeff Mercer told his team after the win. "But we came here for the series."
Indiana's bats stayed hot in the second game, but the same wasn't true for its pitchers. The Hoosiers were outslugged in a 16-15 loss to Purdue, which was the third-highest scoring game in the history of the rivalry.
Indiana starter Nathan Stahl lasted only two innings after six hits and a walk led to six Boilermaker runs. The Hoosiers rallied for nine unanswered runs in the fifth and sixth innings behind home runs from third baseman Josh Pyne and Murrison to take a 14-12 lead.
But Indiana couldn't hold the lead in the bottom of the inning when right-hander Reese Sharp allowed two singles and a double, resulting in four runs for the Boilermakers. Purdue centerfielder Curtis Washington's two-RBI single in the sixth proved to be the game winner as Indiana's ninth-inning rally ended with the bases loaded.
This win gave Purdue a 2-1 series victory — the Boilermakers won 17-0 on Friday — and moved them to 21-7 overall and 3-4 in Big Ten play. Indiana's continued pitching struggles led to its 18th loss of the season. The Hoosiers are 12-18 overall and 2-4 record in the conference.
"I told them before the series started, 'Hey, this is a season-changing series,'" Purdue coach Greg Goff said after the series finale. "'You've got your rival coming in, you got swept last week, you need to stand out and win a series this year,' and our guys absolutely did."
Next up for Indiana is a short road trip to Terre Haute on Tuesday to take on Indiana State at 6 p.m. ET before traveling to Rutgers for a three-game weekend series beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
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