Hoosiers win NCAA baseball tournament opener – Indianapolis Star
Zach Osterman, zach.osterman@indystar.com
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IU Insider Zach Osterman breaks down an impressive Kyle Hart pitching performance in Indiana’s third straight NCAA tournament-opening win, this time 7-1 over Radford.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Indecision might have saved Indiana pitcher Kyle Hart’s first NCAA tournament start just when it got rocky. He did the rest himself.
With no one out and runners on the corners in the first inning of Friday’s regional opener, No. 2 seed Radford got aggressive. The runner at first, Josh Reavis, took off on a full count. He was thrown out by IU catcher Brad Hartong after the batter struck out. The runner at third, Shane Johnsonbaugh, got cold feet halfway down the base line.
“He mentally locked up,” Radford coach Joe Raccuia said.
Caught in a rundown, Johnsonbaugh was the final victim of an unusual 2-6-2 triple play, a moment that diffused Radford’s promising early threat and sent Hart into cruise control. The redshirt junior left-hander worked six more innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out six in a 7-1 Indiana (35-22) victory.
Friday marked the third consecutive regional-opening win for the Hoosiers.
“That totally kind of revamped my start,” Hart said afterward. “I don’t think I would’ve had the type of success I had without that play.”
It was the closest Radford came to truly threatening the Hoosiers, who would score seven behind two-RBI performances from Brian Wilhite and Craig Dedelow. The latter added his team-leading seventh home run.
But Hart was the story, both pre- and postgame.
A weekend starter since 2012, matchups and Tommy John surgery kept him out of Indiana’s previous two NCAA appearances. He had won 20 games in an IU uniform, but at this level, Hart was always a bystander.
Now, he’s won 21.
He looked shaky early, his problems more physical than mental.
“The first inning has been the toughest inning for me, not because I’m worked up or anything. Just because my body needs a little time to warm up,” Hart said.
The unorthodox triple play was all he needed, apparently. After escaping the early jam, Hart looked nearly untouchable. His six strikeouts were a season high, and at one point, he retired 10 straight Highlanders.
Radford, which hadn’t lost since the tail end of April and entered the weekend winners of 15 in a row, couldn’t solve the Hoosiers’ recovered ace.
“He located all three pitches, curveball, changeup,” Johnsonbaugh said. “All of it was working.”
Teammates took their cues from Hart.
Dedelow homered to right in the seventh. Wilhite, better with his glove than his bat, drove in a pair on a double to deep left, and he turned in a hat trick of stellar defensive plays at third base.
IU coach Chris Lemonis traced that — like the Hoosiers’ 12-3 mark in their past 15 games — back to Friday’s star.
“Kyle is the epitome of our team,” Lemonis said. “We don’t have a ton of superstars. He pitches very gritty and never gives in. When he got in the mix for us is when we took off as a team. A lot of his personality has rubbed off on our whole ballclub.”
Hart’s performance rests Indiana’s formidable bullpen for another day, with defending national champion Vanderbilt on tap for 8 p.m. Saturday. Junior right-hander Christian Morris, who has allowed just four earned runs in his past 17 1/3 innings, will start for Indiana.
Hart’s weekend is almost surely done, his sole responsibility — seeing Indiana into the winners’ bracket — executed splendidly.
“He doesn’t really get rattled,” Hartong said. “We know he’s not going to give up the big inning. We just have a lot of confidence in him.”
Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
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