Baseball Digs Early Hole in Loss to Indiana
3/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BRADENTON, Fla. Indiana University jumped out to a 9-0 lead en route to a 11-6 win over the Kent State University baseball team on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 19) at McKechnie Field in Bradenton as part of the IMG Baseball Academy Spring Invitational.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Kent State (8-7) while Indiana (11-4) rebounded from a last-inning loss to the University of Vermont the day before.
Indiana wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard, scoring four runs in the first inning. After an error and two walks loaded the bases to start the game, Ryan Parker lined a shot off of starting pitcher Evan Smith (Milford, Ohio/Milford) that ricocheted into left field, scoring the games first two runs. A double by Zach Boswell and a sacrifice fly by Brad Udoff plated two more runs in the frame.
The Hoosiers added five more in the second, with Boswell and Parker each driving in two runs, to take a 9-0 lead.
Smith struggled with his command and lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing seven runs- six earned- on four hits. He walked four and struck out just one in falling to 0-2 on the year.
Kent State got three runs back in their half of the second. Freshman DH Greg Rohans (North Lima, Ohio/South Range) bases-loaded groundout plated Kurt Eichorn (Galion, Ohio/Lexington) with the Flashes first run. That was followed by a two-run single from sophomore SS Emmanuel Burriss (Washington, D.C./Wilson) that made the score 9-3.
The Flashes pushed across single runs in the fourth and sixth innings on RBI groundouts by Andy Hargrove (Richfield, Ohio/St. Ignatius/Oral Roberts) and Burriss to cut the lead to 9-5.
Boswell added an RBI-double- his fifth hit of the game- in the eighth to give the Hoosiers a five-run lead. He finished the afternoon 5-for-5 with four RBI.
Jason Seelman (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) relieved Smith and after a rough start, kept the Flashes in the game with 3.2 innings of relief work. He allowed two runs on two hit and a hit batsman in the second inning, but escaped without further damage and went on to strike out five without walking a batter, retiring seven in a row at one point.
Jon Miller (Louisville, Ky./Illinois) followed Seelman, allowing just one run on five hits in three innings.
Offensively, senior OF Chuck Moore (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) had two doubles and reached base three times for KSU. Will Vazquez (Berea, Ohio/Berea) also had two hits and scored twice while Eichorn had a ninth-inning RBI single included in his two hits.
Indiana starter Josh Lewis (3-0) went five innings, allowing five runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Joe Trucchio went the final four innings for the save, allowing a run on five hits.
Corby Heckman added three hits for the Hoosiers, who banged out 18 hits on the day and added a final run in the ninth inning.
The Flashes continue their seven-game, six-day spring trip on Sunday (Mar. 20) with a 10:30 a.m. game against the University of Illinois at Academy Park in Bradenton.
GAME NOTES: McKechnie Field is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Piratesâ?¦ the three RBI by Burriss are a career highâ?¦both sophomore 3B Andrew Davis (Chillicothe, Ohio/Zanes Trace) and junior 2B Drew Saylor (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth/Cincinnati) extended their hitting streaks to seven games eachâ?¦ Indiana coach Bob Morgan, who was the head coach at Kent State from 1982-83, improved to 2-0 against his former teamâ?¦ Kent State threw two runners out at the plate in the ninth inning, one by left fielder Moore and another on a relay from Eichorn to Saylor to Vazquezâ?¦ the Flashes made the defensive play of the day in the eighth inning when Saylor made a diving stop and flipped the ball from his glove to Burriss who threw to first for the double play.
