Bats Stay Silent Again as Hoosiers Fall 3-1 to Ohio State; Losing Streak Reaches 5
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana's batting slump has come at the worst time, and once again, the hitters' struggles led to another loss, this time 3-1 to Ohio State on Sunday at Bart Kaufman Field.
The Hoosiers have lost five straight games now since last Sunday. Their Big Ten title hopes ended on Saturday after a loss to Nebraska and after Sunday's loss to the Buckeyes, their hopes for an NCAA Tournament bid are hanging by a thread now, too.
The Hoosiers were in first place just last weekend, but they've gone 1-6 in their last seven games. In those six losses, they've scored just 13 runs, a 2.1 average. One bad outing seems to be leading to another, and the Hoosiers look like they're pressing.
"I would say that's probably a true statement,'' Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said. "They're good kids and they're working hard at it, and you can kind of feel them press a little bit and pull their weight to help us win, and they've shown the ability to be good offensively.
"It's frustrating to come off a month where we were so good offensively and then struggle the way we have. For me, as I watch the game last night, we did not perform well offensive. Today we were much better offensively. We weren't perfect, but we had five or six balls on the screws and they were caught. We were better. We did more positive things than we did last night, we just weren't able to break through.''
Indiana scored quickly in the first on a leadoff double from shortstop Jeremy Houston and a single by left fielder Drew Ashley, but that would be the only run they would get all day, leaving men stranded on second and third in that first inning.
They had seven hits on the day against Ohio State starter Garrett Burhenn, a Lawrence North product from Indianapolis who came into the game with a 4.41 earned run average. The Hoosiers never really threatened again until the ninth inning.
Ohio State got to Indiana starter Gabe Bierman early. Ohio State first baseman Connor Pohl hit a solo homer in the second, and the Buckeyes scored twice in the fifth after a walk, a single and a hit batter loaded the bases, and then catcher Brent Todys singled up the middle to drive in two runs.
Indiana didn't threaten again until the bottom of the ninth. Grant Richardson led off the inning with a single off the head of Burhenn, which was scary. But after a few practice throws, he stayed in the game.
"I don't know what to say about that, other than it stung a little bit,''Ohio State's Burhenn said. "Me and Grant, we just kind of exchanged eye contact there at the end, but I gave him a thumbs up that I was all good. It hit me on the hand first.''
Cole Barr hit the ball hard to right field, but it was right at Mitchell Okuley for the first out. Then he struck out Paul Toetz ahead of a Morgan Colopy single. Freshman first baseman Kip Fougerousse came up with two outs, representing the winning run, but he struck out to end the game. He finished with 11 strikeouts.
"That was a big win for us, just mentality, to go out and give it our all the last couple of weekends,'' Burhenn said. "The defense and the bats were really good tonight, and I was glad that I could save the bullpen a little bit.''
The two teams meet again on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. The game is being televised by the Big Ten Network.
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- INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here is Indiana's complete schedule for the season, including links to game stories from Tom Brew for every game this season. CLICK HERE