TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Following a disappointing weekend at Penn State where IU lost its first conference series, head coach Jeff Mercer and his staff were looking for a boost with the midweek matchup against Indiana State on Tuesday.
The Hoosiers did just that, defeating the Sycamores 9-4.
Amid pitching struggles with the staff Mercer and pitching coach Dustin Glant decided to start with a new name on the mound for Tuesday's game. Deron Swanson got the nod, going for three innings and allowing one hit and one earned run with five strikeouts.
Mercer talked postgame about some of the strategy they used going into Tuesday's game and it started with how they played on the mound. He was pleased with how Swanson performed as the starter, throwing a strike for his first pitch and making his changeup an appealing pitch for the opponent.
Swanson faced off against Indiana State’s Breyllin Suriel, who allowed three runs in 5.1 innings. Mercer said his mound presence showed that Swanson wanted to be in that fight.
“He was aggressive, he had fastball control for the most part and got to both sides like (Suriel) did,” Mercer said.
Indiana rotated in five more pitchers after Swanson including Gavin Seebold who closed out the game. Seebold, who normally throws on the weekends but made an appearance Tuesday, was part of their strategy, Mercer said. He said that Seebold did not meet his pitch count last week and so that made him available to go on Tuesday. Mercer wanted to break Seebold’s innings up over the week and use him to help manage games where they needed it.
“Kudos to him,” Mercer said, “for taking the ball and saying, ‘What’s the team need me to do? I'm going to go out there and compete.’”
Offensively IU started the game rather competitively with three hits and two runs in the first five innings. Things sat quiet until the sixth inning opened up.
The score was tied 2-2 and Indiana was looking for its opportunity to put up a few more runs and pull away in the late innings. Will Moore stepped up to the plate for IU with bases loaded and bunted, causing chaos for Indiana State’s defense. After multiple throwing errors, Indiana scored three unearned runs as Moore advanced to third base.
Mercer said this play was not something that they really practice, that it's really come from recruiting over the past few years.
“We’ve gotta hit the ball low in the line and play a more college brand of baseball when the situation calls for it,” Mercer said.
Next, Indiana plays Ohio State in a three-game series at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington. The Hoosiers will open things up on Friday night against the Buckeyes at 6 p.m. EDT. Saturday’s game will follow at 2 p.m. and the weekend wraps up Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
