Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers Swept by Ohio State, Losing Streak Reaches 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It was a long day at the ballpark for Indiana on Saturday, long and painful.
The Hoosiers, who have been in first place in the Big Ten since the first weekend of the season, looked nothing like a top-level team throughout a doubleheader with Ohio State and Bill Davis Field. The Hoosiers were swept 6-0 and 5-2, and struggled in all aspects of the game, especially at the plate
Over the course of two games, Indiana hitters struck out a whopping 28 times in 16 innings. (The first game was seven innings). Indiana also made six errors, which made it tough of pitchers to keep the Hoosiers in the game.
Seth Lonsway struck out 17 batters in the opener -- (Full Game 1 story below) -- and the Hoosiers struck out 11 more times in the nightcap. They were never competitive in the first game, getting only two hits, but they did have their shots in the second game.
In the first inning, Drew Ashley and Grant Richardson opened the game with singles, but then Ohio State starter Jack Neely struck out the side. Ohio State scored twice in the bottom of the inning, Shortstop Zach Dezenzo homered and then Mitchell Okuley singled after two Ty Bothwell walks.
Indiana made it 2-1 in the fourth on a home run by shortstop Grant Macciocchi, but Ohio State countered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning by Okuley.
Indiana cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth on a Cole Barr homer, his second in two days, and Indiana pitchers kept them in the game. But in the bottom of the seventh, another defensive miscue cost the Hoosiers when Macciocchi booted an easy double-play ball behind second base that allowed two runs to score.
Indiana threatened in the ninth against Ohio State closer T.J. Brock, who came into the game with four saves and a 1.06 earned run average. Morgan Colopy singled, Ashley was hit by a pitch and Richardson walked to load the bases. But Barr popped up to short on a 1-0 pitch to end the game,
Indiana is now 11-6 on the season, and Ohio State is 11-7. The two teams wrap up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Game 1: Ohio State 6, Indiana 0
There are those rare occasions when pitchers simply overpower hitters in a baseball game, and that happened on Saturday when Ohio State starter Seth Lonsway blew away Indiana hitters in a 6-0 victory.
Lonsway, who came into the game with an 0-3 record and a 5.23 earned run average, struck out 17 Hoosiers in the seven-inning game, the first of a doubleheader here at Bill Davis Stadium. Indiana managed just two hits, harmless singles by Grant Richardson and Morgan Colopy.
With the loss, the Hoosiers fell to 11-5 on the season, and this was their second straight loss to Ohio State after falling 3-2 Friday night. This will now be the Hoosiers' first weekend in five where they didn't win the weekend. Ohio State is now 10-7.
Lonsway, who has struggled with control issues all season -- he had 15 walks in 20 2/3 innings thus far -- was in a groove on Saturday. He had nine strikeouts through three innings and in the fourth induced a double play from Paul Toetz after Richardson's single. He then struck out the side in the fifth, and had two more in the sixth and seventh for Ohio State's first complete game of the season.
It was a sunny day with the wind blowing out at about 20 miles per hour. It wreaked havoc on Indiana's defense, which had four errors and botched a few other plays as well to were officially called hits.
It was the highest error total of the year.
McCade Brown (3-2) started for Indiana and allowed five runs in four innings, but only two were earned. He allowed four hits and two walks, and struck out six. Braydon Tucker pitched two innings, and allowed a homer to Connor Pohl in the sixth inning.