Luke Miller's 3-Run Home Run Rallies Indiana To 6-5 Win Over Maryland
Down to the final out and perhaps Indiana's best chance at a rally, junior infielder Luke Miller stepped to the plate with runners on the corners.
He needed just two pitches to launch a 3-run run home run on a 1-0 count which lifted the No. 19 Hoosiers to a 6-5 win over Maryland in Game 1 of the best-of-three regular season series Thursday night at Bart Kaufman Field.
The curveball which Miller launched 330 feet and propelled the comeback for Indiana (35-15, 12-9 Big Ten) over Maryland (24-28, 9-12) was also one he saw coming after the same pitch contributed to strikeouts by IU senior outfielder Logan Sowers and sophomore outfielder Matt Gorski before him.
"I just saw that he threw it to Logan and Matt before me, so I thought I’d probably see the same thing," Miller said. "I was sitting on it."
Following Miller's home run, Maryland right-handed reliever John Murphy overreacted throwing a pitch behind junior catcher Ryan Fineman's ear. Fineman objected to the pitch and Maryland catcher Justin Vought shoved him, prompting the benches to clear.
Murphy was ejected, but both teams eventually settled down.
"I feel like it’s been tense for a month, you know?" IU head coach Chris Lemonis said. "We’ve just been in that world. We talk about just making the next play and being able to talk to ourselves and keep ourselves calm because I know everybody’s tense. This is that time of year where you’re playing for so much. We talk about those type of things and how to handle it, but they did a great job tonight."
Play was halted in the top of the seventh at Bart Kaufman Field due to lightning in the area, suspending play for nearly 2 hours. The Terrapins were leading the Hoosiers 4-2 with two outs in the top of the seventh with a runner on first prior to the delay.
Lemonis' message to the Hoosiers during the stoppage was simple.
"That we're going to win this," Lemonis said. "Coming out of that locker room, let’s win the last three innings at-bat by at-bat. Luke will swing for that every time if you let him. But you just had to get some guys on base and get the momentum going, and we were able to do that."
Sophomore shortstop Jeremy Houston's walk and junior Logan Kaletha's single put two runners on to start the IU rally. Junior utility man Matt Lloyd followed with an RBI single to right which drove in Houston and advanced Kaletha to third. Miller took it from there for his second home run of the night, finishing 2 for 3 with 4 RBI.
"Those pieces were huge because we almost had them the inning before," Lemonis said. "We just felt like, if we could get a rally going we had a chance to do some damage. Luckily we were able to get the right guy at the plate."
The first Miller home run was a solo shot to left which helped Indiana cut into an early 2-0 Maryland lead in the bottom of the second. Senior outfielder Zach Jancarski hit a two-run home run to left in the top of the second to give the Terrapins that early advantage.
Junior infielder Taylor Wright helped Maryland regain the lead with an RBI single through the left side in the top of the sixth. A sac-fly RBI by junior infielder Marty Costes pushed Maryland's lead to 4-2 and registered as the final scoring play before lightning forced the stoppage in play.
Indiana junior right-hander Jonathan Stiever struck out 7, allowing just 7 hits, 3 earned runs and four walks in 6.0 innings of a start. He was replaced by freshman lefty Tommy Sommer prior to the start of the seventh inning. Sommer struck out one, surrendering two hits and one earned run in 2/3 of an inning against the four batters he faced prior to the storms halting the game. When play resumed, Sommer was replaced by senior righty Kade Kryzsko, who tossed two strikeouts and allowed just one earned runoff three hits in 1 1/3 innings before lloyd closed the game with a walk, a strikeout, a pop out and a ground out.
Maryland's starter, junior right-handed pitcher Hunter Parsons, tallied 2 strikeouts, with 5 hits, 2 earned runs and 2 walks allowed in 6.0 innings. Ryan Hill and Grant Burleson surrender 3 earned runs off three hits in an inning before Murphy took over.
Last year's regular season series between these two teams got chippy as well. Tonight, the cooler heads prevailed but the competitiveness picked up where it left off.
“I mean, definitely, there is always a little bit of tension there," Miller said. "Especially (because) we’re always competitive with them and they’re competitive with us."
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