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It was impossible to know what to expect Tuesday night at Bart Kaufman Field. Indiana fans could only hope that Sunday's defensive breakdown against Penn State was an anomaly. That hope was rewarded with what was Indiana's best win to date.
The Hoosiers (16-5, 1-1) used dominant pitching, solid defense, and two Isaiah Pasteur swings to push their record against Top-25 teams to 6-1.
Scott Effross was very effective in his short outing, allowing just two hits over his 4.0 IP. The short outing was to be expected given that this was Effross's first real start since missing a couple weeks due to general soreness. (He started last week against Valpo, but only threw 11 pitches.)
In the bottom of the 3rd, Pasteur smacked a shot over the left field wall for his first career home run and to give Indiana a 1-0 lead that they would never relinquish. Effross turned the game over to LHP Austin Foote in the 5th. Foote, a guy who I haven't given nearly enough credit to, continued his strong season, going 2.1 innings, allowing one hit, and striking out four of the eight hitters he faced.
In the bottom of the 5th, Pasteur blasted another home run, this one of the two-run variety, that left the ballpark on the same trajectory and landed in the exact same spot.
Harrison came on in the 7th for the Hoosiers, and found trouble in the 8th after Louisville scraped out two infield singles. But Harrison retired the next three batters and ended the Cardinals' only threat of the game. Halstead struck out two in the 9th, the 11th and 12th strikeouts for the Hoosier staff, and that was all she wrote on Louisville.
So what did we learn?
1. There will be one more impressive win on the resume for the selection committee to consider. As previously noted, the Hoosiers are now 6-1 against ranked opponents this season, and still have match-ups with Illinois and Maryland, both of whom should be ranked when the teams tangle, and it wouldn't be surprising if Long Beach State made their way into the Top-25 by the end of the season. If they can win all of those series, and take care of business against everyone else like they should, there's no way Bloomington isn't hosting a regional.
2. Nothing else. We know how great the Indiana pitching is. We know that the offense seems to always do just enough. And we know that the Hoosiers play up or down to their competition. We'll learn a lot more about this club in the next two Big Ten series with Iowa and Michigan, two middle of the road conference opponents who aren't exactly teams that you circle on the calendar. Those are the types of games Indiana has to win to contend for a Big Ten title and to deserve to host a regional.