After Indiana dropped two out of three games in Frisco, Tex., last weekend, the Hoosiers started out slugging in Wednesday's game against Northern Kentucky. After Indiana only scored one run on Sunday against Arizona, it scored five runs in the first inning, thanks to hits from Nick Mitchell, Josh Pyne, Brock Tibbitts, Tyler Cerny and Morgan Colopy.
Seth Benes, who was expected to start for Indiana, was a late scratch. Ethan Phillips was the last-minute replacement starter. Phillips threw a scoreless first inning, then he got in trouble in the second inning after allowing a lead-off double against Logen Devenport. Tyler Shaneyfelt followed with a single.
Brandon Burckel committed the first of many errors for Indiana, allowing Jake Altman to get on base and a run to score. At that point, Phillips had thrown 39 pitches and Ryan Kraft soon relieved him. Kraft got out of the jam without giving up any runs.
Following Burckel’s defensive error, and given his recent offensive struggles, Indiana coach Jeff Mercer pulled Burckel early. Andrew Wiggins pinch-hit for him. Wiggins, who entered the game 1-for-4 on the season, made the most out of his opportunity, smashing the ball into the left-field bullpen for his first collegiate home run. Wiggins’s home run, which had a 104 mile-per-hour exit velocity, drove in Colopy.
Regarding the possibility of Wiggins starting for Indiana in the future, Mercer said, “That certainly is an option and an opportunity and something that we’ve talked about, but he’s gonna have to continue to play well. Then he’s going to have to beat somebody out and guys have done a good job overall.”
Mercer then added, “He’ll get in there at this current rate and once he does, he’ll have the right to play there every day.”
As a drizzle and fog entered Bart Kaufman Field, the turf conditions slowly became tougher for the defenses. In the top of the fourth inning, when Northern Kentucky had two runners on base, Cerny committed an error on a routine play, which loaded the bases for the Norse. Zacarias Salinas followed with a two-RBI single, ending Kraft’s night.
In the next inning, Cerny committed another error, the third of the day for Indiana. After making two errors in the field, Cerny led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a stand-up double. Jake Stadler then slammed a no-doubt home run that traveled 409 feet to right field. Stadler’s first home run as a Hoosier came at an excellent time for Indiana.
Indiana's Julian Tonghini threw the final 3.1 innings of the game, looking excellent while allowing one hit, walking three batters and striking out four. Tonghini’s pitches were spectacular and displayed an extremely impressive spin rate as he earning his second save of the season.
Tonghini credited his hard work in the offseason when discussing his performance tonight. Tonghini said his focuses in the offseason were “strength and conditioning training, the work with [IU pitching coach Dustin] Glant… working on those pitch grips, finding out what zones are going to play best with, then sitting down with the data and just saying, 'Hey, you need to throw this here in these counts and you’re going to have success.'"
Indiana's offense backed up Tonghini with two late-inning runs in the eighth. Mitchell and Pyne walked to open the inning then Devin Taylor laid down a bunt for an infield hit, loading the bases. Tibbitts took advantage of the situation, hitting a single that brought in Mitchell. Cerny then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run.
Tibbitts closed his night batting 4-for-4 with a run, a walk and two RBI. When asked about his stellar game, Tibbitts explained his mindset as “stay simple with my approach and not trying to do too much to play offensively.”
Indiana got a much-needed win, 11-5. Indiana will head into a three-game home series this weekend, when it hosts Troy.
