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Indiana baseball went down to Texas to play in the Round Rock Classic looking for a bounce back weekend after going 0-3 against Clemson in the season-opening series. The Hoosiers found their first win of the season but fell in the other two games, going 1-2 on the weekend.

IU got its sole win over Louisiana, 12-4 in the middle game of the weekend, but fell to two top-10 opponents in No. 2 Arkansas and then No. 6 Stanford. In the two losses, they were outscored 18-2.

The biggest problem this weekend was the inability to find success on the bases. Indiana left 23 runners left on base, bringing its total to 55 stranded runners through the first six games of the season.

In game one, Indiana left 10 stranded against Arkansas in a 5-2 loss. None more important than the one runner stranded in the bottom of the third inning. Third baseman Josh Pyne led off the inning with a single and eventually made it to third with just one out. Indiana wasn't able to capitalize and Arkansas scored three in the next inning to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Indiana then had other good opportunities in the fifth and eighth innings, stranding two runners on both occasions.

After a 12-4 win over Louisiana in which they left eight runners on base, it was the same issue for the Hoosiers against Stanford. In multiple critical moments in the middle innings, Indiana left runners on base in the second through fourth innings when it was just a 2-0 game. Going 0-for-6 for runners on base in those innings would be the ballgame. Stanford went for three runs in the bottom of the fourth to stretch the lead to 5-0 and then never looked back. The final was 13-0 in seven innings.

"We had two runners on in the second, third and fourth consecutive innings and we weren't able to come through,” Mercer said after the loss to Stanford. “We have to go back and get better.”

After getting outscored 33-8 in the opening series against Clemson, IU's pitching was much better in Texas. After a solid start for John Biagio Modugno gave the Hoosiers a chance, the bullpen came in and gave 4.0 innings of work resulting in one unearned run. In the first two games of the weekend, the relief pitchers went 8.0 innings and gave up just two earned runs.

"We had similar pitch calling but just better execution," Mercer said. "Getting the nerves out of the system and getting out there and trusting yourself to play in the zone and being aggressive with that.

"I was really proud of our pitchers, they did a really good job... just had a few miscues that cost us. Much more of what we expected coming into the season so we bounced back well."

Louisville transfer pitcher Jack Perkins was on the mound for IU's first win of the season, going 5.0 innings and giving up just two earned runs while striking out seven.

Shortstop Phillip Gasser led the Hoosiers from the plate, going 4-of-13 with three runs and one RBI. Center fielder Bobby Whalen was 3-of-9 on the weekend with three RBIs and three walks.

Indiana will now look to Tuesday's home opener against Miami (OH) to get the bats back in order and be able to see the pitching and bats working at the same time.

"A lot of the things, you could see us take the next step and logical progress in those things and if you look at the first few games you can see that improvement," Mercer said of the improvement at the plate. "You ask them to improve and attack the game plan."

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