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Grand Slam Buries Hoosiers In Rubber Match
CHAMPAIGN,
Ill. - Indiana Baseball lost its first series of the Big Ten season on
Sunday, dropping the rubber match to Illinois, 11-6. The Hoosiers are
now 14-18 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play. Meanwhile, the Fighting
Illini improve to 17-12 and even their conference mark at 3-3.
Both
starting pitchers got roughed up early on, but it was the Illini
bullpen and most specifically Matt Millroy, whom stopped the bleeding
and shut down the opposition. Millroy entered in the third inning with
the score tied up at 5-5 and delivered five innings of shutout
baseball. He struck out 10 Hoosiers while scattering three hits and
four free passes (3 BB, 1 HBP).
Illinois’ base robbery was key to the win as well. The Fighting Illini swiped seven bags in total.
The
game started as a slugfest with 10 runs coming off the board in the
first two innings. For the second straight day, IU posted a pair of
tallies in the opening half inning.
After seeing his
17-game hitting streak snapped on Saturday, Sam Travis started a new
one with single in his first at-bat. Kyle Schwarber had walked before
him, putting two runners aboard for Dillon Dooney. Dooney sliced a
double down the line and into the right field corner. Illinois’ Davis
Hendrickson played the carom perfectly though to keep Travis at third
and limit the damage to one run. It was just a momentary stop for
Travis at third base, however, advancing the final station off an
RBI-grounder from Michael Basil for run number two.
Illinois’
response was loud and clear in the home half, chasing Indiana’s starter
off the mound without recording an out. Matt Dearden entered with bases
loaded, no outs and a run already across. He did his job, inducing
back-to-back groundballs, but didn’t get the results he was hoping for.
The first grounder worked out well as the Hoosiers surrendered a run in
exchange for a double play. The next roller found its way to the
outfield though, driving in another run and putting Illinois on top
3-2.
Josh Perry issued a pair of free passes to open the
second and Schwarber made it hurt, blasting a three-run bomb piercing
through incoming winds to vault IU back into the lead at 5-3.
Seeing-eye
groundballs continued to find their way through the infield in the
bottom half. Add in a bean ball and sac fly; and the ledger was
balanced once again at 5-5.
Milroy took to the bump to
start the third, and as mentioned before, rattled of five scoreless
frames. With Milroy skating along, Illinois was able to get to the
Hoosier bullpen and score a run in the fourth and five in the sixth to
blow open the doors at 11-5, capped off with a grand slam.
Justin
Cureton wasn’t done yet, annihilating a pitch off the scoreboard in
left for his second long-ball of the series. His solo shot cut the IU
deficit to 11-5, but that’s where it remained the rest of the contest.
At
5-4 in Big Ten action, Indiana sits in a three-way tie for second place
in the conference standings. Purdue is tops at 7-2 while the Hoosiers,
Ohio State and Nebraska share the next slot at 5-4 each.
The
Cream and Crimson now start a stretch in which they play eight of nine
games inside the friendly confines of Sembower Field. In the upcoming
week, the Hoosiers will host Indiana State on Wednesday (Apr. 11)
before hopping back into the B1G slate when Michigan State comes to
town for a weekend series.
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