Devin Taylor walked toward the end of the bench in Indiana baseball’s dugout with his bat dangling in his left hand. The junior outfielder had just struck out with runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Taylor could’ve tied the game or even given Indiana the lead. Instead, he trudged around the dugout. The Hoosiers, for the second game in a row, blew the lead late and fell to No. 18 University of Louisville 6-4.
In this blown lead, Indiana’s defense made five errors.
Indiana’s pitching staff locked it down through the first five innings of the game as senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Kraft got the start. Kraft was coming off his worst start of the season against USC on March 28, when he gave up seven hits and three earned runs in four innings pitched. Outside of walking the second batter of the game Tuesday, Kraft gave up zero hits and struck out a couple in his two innings of work.
“How about the pitching staff showing up on the Tuesday, two days after taking it on the chin and showing up and pitching their butts off?” Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said postgame. “That’s getting up off the canvas.”
Kraft was relieved by junior right-handed pitcher Ayden Decker-Petty, who threw two innings of perfect baseball. In his two innings of work, Decker-Petty didn’t allow a single base runner and collected his sixth strikeout of the season. It was the first time he has thrown two innings in a game since the opening weekend against the University of Nevada Las Vegas on February 17.
“We wanted him back up for this weekend,” Mercer said when asked if it was a planned short start. “We want to piggyback those guys and get some different guys in.”
Offense was hard to come by in the first four innings of the game. Despite the Cardinals striking in the first inning, Hoosier's redshirt sophomore center fielder Korbyn Dickerson recorded the first hit of the game in the fourth inning –– a ground-rule double that bounced into the Indiana bullpen in left field.
Junior left fielder Devin Taylor, who reached on an error to lead off the inning, advanced to third on the double before scoring on a wild pitch thrown by Louisville freshman left-handed pitcher Casen Murphy. Dickerson, who moved up to third, scored on a second wild pitch from another Cardinals freshman in right-handed pitcher Jake Schweitzer.
Schweitzer was forced out of the game after giving up the lone earned run of the game to redshirt sophomore infielder Joey Brenczewski, however the damage had already been done. The Hoosiers had taken a 3-1 lead with the bases loaded, a sophomore left-handed pitcher in Colton Hartman on the mound and the top of the order coming to the plate.
All signs pointed to the Hoosiers blowing the game open.
A walk to Wiggins affirmed that, as Indiana took a 4-1 lead and Taylor stepped into the box. Hartman, however, won the battle against the potential first round pick. The Hoosiers once again had to protect a lead.
The Cardinals cut the lead to two in the top of the sixth inning, as the game fell to a standstill.
With redshirt junior righty Pete Haas on the mound in the top of the eighth inning, the Hoosiers recorded two outs through the first three batters with sophomore outfielder Lucas Moore reaching on a walk for the Cardinals. The inning seemed to be in the Hoosiers’ hands, but Indiana’s past mistakes came back to hurt them once again.
Sophomore catcher TJ Schuyler made a throwing error trying to throw senior utilityman Garret Pike out after he reached on a bunt single. As the ball danced into center field, the Cardinals cut the lead in half and had a runner on third. Still, Indiana had two outs in the inning and was on the cusp of escaping the inning as a routine ground ball was hit to freshman infielder Cooper Malamazian. The throw –– that appeared to be rushed –– sailed to Hanley’s right, pulling him off the bag and giving Louisville new life.
The very next batter, senior outfielder Eddie King Jr., crushed a ball to deep left field giving the Cardinals a 6-4 lead in the top of the eighth.
“When you’re playing good teams, you don’t get a redo,” Mercer said. “You don’t get do overs when you have a really talented crew that’s out there.”
Indiana threw together a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning as Moore reached to lead off the inning on a throwing error. However, both Taylor and Hanley struck out with a chance to tie the game or give Indiana the lead once again, as the Cardinals went on to win 6-4.
Indiana will now switch its focus to another home Big Ten series as the Hoosiers welcome Michigan State to Bart Kaufman Field. First pitch on Friday will be at 6 p.m. with the contest streaming on Big Ten+.
