Indiana‘s bewildering start to the college baseball season continued Friday, and the Hoosiers, though playing much better, suffered their fourth straight loss, falling to Arkansas No. 2 5-2 at Karbach. Round Rock Classic in Texas.
ROUND ROCK, Texas – By design, Indiana baseball coach Jeff Mercer knew that starting this season would not be easy. To win against a team like No. 2 in Arkansas, Indiana would have to play perfect baseball on Friday.
That didn’t happen in the Karbach Round Rock Classic, and the Hoosiers lost 5-2 to the loaded Razorbacks. The performance was much better than a week ago at Clemson, when the Indiana pitchers gave up 33 runs in three games, but it was still not close enough. Indiana fell to 0-4 this season.
“He was very proud of our pitchers. John (Modugno) gave us a very good start and was competitive. Grant Holderfield came in and did very well and it was great to see Brad (Brehmer) come in and do well afterwards. from last week “.
Indiana starter John Modugno had problems in the fourth, but threw well otherwise, which was encouraging after suffering badly in his debut last weekend at Clemson. He pitched five innings, conceding four runs, three wins, five hits and three walks, with most of those problems in the three-quarter quarter.
Out of some problems in the fourth inning, Indiana starter John Modugno has been much better this week against Arkansas No. 2 than a week ago.
He had two passes and hit a batter, and a Kip Fougerousse error helped Arkansas have to make three runs at the entrance to advance 4-0.
Indiana didn’t score until the fifth, getting a triple on Morgan Colopy’s right field and a third baseman Josh Pyne double with an out. Indiana, however, could not address anything.
Still, it was nice to see Indiana start chaining together, something they’ve struggled to do so far this season.
“It felt good. We’ve focused on improving every game, and we’re starting to see that,” said Colopy, who is one of Indiana’s few starters. “When Josh came back from the winter holidays, he was really working.
“We’ve started with a lot of really good teams, so we’re excited to keep seeing improvements. The victories will come.”
Grant Holderfield, a freshman from Oak Park, Illinois, relieved Modugno and threw well. He threw a perfect sixth inning and gave up an undeserved run in the seventh while Arkansas pushed the score to 5-1. Bradley Brehmer threw a goalless draw and a perfect ninth to end the day, which felt good after giving up six runs in a workout in Saturday’s loss to Clemson.
Indiana struggled to put together any offense against Arkansas incumbent Connor Noland. The right-hander has 10 strikeouts in six innings and has only allowed five hits and one run, and has gone away with that 4-1 advantage.
In the eighth inning, Indiana shortstop Phillip Glasser made a single and Bobby Whalen walked. Glasser scored on an Arkansas error with two outs, but in the first year Carter Mathison was tricked with a broken ball and put himself out to end the inning.
“Every time you make a calendar like this, you’re trying to get all your flaws exposed so you can overcome them,” Mercer said. “Today we were much better than a week ago. Now it’s about being better (Saturday).”
Indiana plays Louisiana-Lafayette and Noon ET on Saturday. The game can be played online or listened to at iuhoosiers.com.
Here are the links for Saturday’s broadcasts:
It was cold at Round Rock on Friday when Indiana lost to Arkansas 5-2. Temperatures were in the mid-30s.
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