Indiana’s dominant pitching takes control in 2-0 win over Indiana State

In a season fueled by offensive production, it was the Hoosiers’ pitching which led the way last night.

Indiana took down the Indiana State Sycamores 2-0 in a game the opened and closed as a pitcher’s duel.

The Hoosiers brought former weekend starter Tim Herrin to the mound and he treated this weekday game with the same intensity as any other. Herrin tossed three scoreless innings as part of what would become the Hoosiers second shutout of the season.

Indiana State sent Ryan Keaffaber to the mound to counter Herrin. Keaffaber was effective in his performance, only giving up two runs in five innings. Those two runs were scored in the fifth, and they were eventually two runs too many for the Sycamores to handle. The runs came thanks to the efforts of Logan Sowers and Jeremy Houston.

After Herrin tossed three scoreless innings, Freshman Cameron Beauchamp continued the pitching dominance for the Hoosiers. Beuchamp pitched two scoreless innings, including a strikeout and double play.

In the fifth inning, Sowers drove in Luke Miller with an RBI double. This came after Miller started the inning with a single and moved into scoring position on a Craig Dedelow ground-out.

After Sowers’ drive to left field, freshman catcher Jake Matheny continued the offensive approach with a single that sent Sowers to third. From there, senior second baseman Tony Butler took a ball to the body to set up loaded bases for freshman shortstop Jeremy Houston. Houston then knocked in the final run of the game with a sacrifice fly.

Once the Hoosiers had two runs on the board, it was seemingly over. This statement can be considered an oddity in relation to the rest of the season, but tonight the Hoosiers’ bullpen did the job appropriately. Andrew Saalfrank sent every batter he faced back to the dugout in two innings of work and then junior Austin Foote closed the door with the exact same stat line. This would ultimately become Foote’s first save of his career.

With the struggles in which the Hoosiers experienced this past weekend against Purdue, tonight’s efforts were pivital for a team looking to get back on track. Now the Hoosiers are going to have to build off this win before approaching the Big Ten leading Minnesota Gophers on Friday.