It took three hours and 16 minutes for the Indiana Hoosiers to take down the in=state Ball State Cardinals on Tuesday night, but when they finally got the job done, it was worth the wait.
Indiana put two runs on the board in the Bottom of the 1st with singles from Matt Lloyd and Logan Sowers scoring Alex Krupa and Luke Miller, respectively. From that point forward, the game was a battle between the pitching staffs.
From that point on, however, Ball State freshman, John Baker, settled in nicely. Baker proceeded to toss five scoreless innings thereafter and only gave up two hits during that span. The Cardinals’ freshman stayed poised and under control while utilizing his off-speed pitches to perfection.
Offensively, the Cardinals scored one run in the Top of the 4th thanks to a triple to right from Jeff Riedel.
Baker was relieved after giving up a bloop single to shallow left-center to start the 7th. He was replaced by TJ Baker who gave up one hit before striking out two batters and inducing a fly out to get out of the jam.
The Cardinals then put the pressure on Indiana in the Top of the 8th with the bases loaded and 1 out. Hoosier pitcher, Cal Krueger, hit Seth Freed which forced in the tying run for Ball State. The threat was quickly ended, however, when the hero of the night, Lloyd, came in and threw one pitch that turned into a double play for Indiana.
The pitchers then went back and forth for 3 innings until Matt Lloyd stepped up to the plate in the Bottom of the 11th. With two outs and two strikes on him, Lloyd crushed a ball over the right field fence to end the game 3-2 and walk it off for the Hoosiers.
On the night, Lloyd had 2 RBIs and was on the mound for 1.2 IP scoreless. The Canadian national is continuing his great play after picking up National and Big Ten Player of the Week honors last week.
The Hoosiers improved to 15-11-2 on the season and will travel to West Lafayette this weekend to take on Purdue in a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m. ET.