Indiana baseball didn’t waste much time in its regional opener.
The Hoosiers’ offense jumped on Southern Miss in the first two innings, opening a 5-0 lead that only grew. They didn’t relinquish that edge, cruising to an 10-4 win on Friday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
Indiana advances to the 1-0 game in the regional on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET against the winner between Northern Kentucky and No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.
IU’s offense dominated on Friday, with 17 hits along with two walks and one hit batsman. All nine starters got at least one hit, with five enjoying multi-hit afternoons. Junior Brock Tibbitts, sophomore Devin Taylor, and redshirt junior Jake Stadler each recorded three hits.
Tibbitts got the Hoosiers started in the top of the first inning with a no-doubt two-run home run. IU then stacked up four hits in the second en route to three runs. Fifth-year senior left fielder Morgan Colopy brought one in on an RBI double, and junior third baseman Josh Pyne hit a two-RBI single two batters later. Tibbitts added two more on an RBI double in the fourth inning, and Taylor tacked on another with an RBI single in the fifth.
Colopy, who manned left field while Taylor served as designated hitter, smoked a two-run home run in the ninth inning to give him three RBIs on the day.
The result was rarely in doubt for IU from there. Southern Miss strung together a rally in the sixth inning, ending the shutout with a two-run home run. The Golden Eagles loaded the bases after that, but got only one run across.
While Indiana’s offense rolled, Indiana starting pitcher Ty Bothwell turned in a good outing. The graduate student left-hander allowed a baserunner in each of the first five innings, but he worked around those threats efficiently. He allowed the home run in the sixth and exited with two runners on, but ultimately gave the Hoosiers a solid performance with good length, which could pay dividends later in the regional through a rested bullpen.
Bothwell was charged with three runs (two earned) on seven hits, two walks, and one hit batsman with nine strikeouts across 5 ⅔ innings. Graduate student Drew Buhr pitched the rest of the game in relief and got IU across the finish line. The right-hander threw 3 ⅓ innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
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