BLOOMINGTON, IN ? The Indiana State Sycamores fought back to tie the game at 2-all but then the Indiana Hoosiers erupted for five runs in the fifth inning, going on to defeat the Sycamores 7-2 in a non-conference game Wednesday afternoon.
The Sycamores 12-24 overall, will return home for a three-game weekend Missouri Valley Conference series with the Wichita State Shockers. Action begins at 6 p.m. Friday with games on Saturday and Sunday scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
The Sycamores found themselves down 2-0 after the first two innings of play. The Hoosiers pushed over one in the first on a Josh Phegley RBI double and then got one more in the second on a Michael Earley solo home run.
Indiana State came back in the top of the fifth to tie the game. Bronco Lafrenz doubled to right center with two outs and, after Ryan Strausborger reached after being hit by a pitch, Brian Ramirez doubled to right center to score both Lafrenz and Strausborger.
Indiana exploded for five runs in the bottom half of the fifth to retake the lead. The Hoosiers had four straight singles with one out to score one run and another came in on a fielder's choice. The big blow came on a Phegley home run to left that scored three runs.
Indiana State had a chance to get some of those runs back in the eight when they worked the bases loaded with two outs. However, the Sycamores were unable to push over a run.
The Sycamores had only six hits in the game. Besides a double each by Ramirez and Lafrenz, Indiana State got singles from Nick Ciolli, Chris Schmidt, Ryan Strausborger and Brian Jett.
Matt Shelton (3-4) started for Indiana State and worked the first four innings. Nathan Inman took over to start the fifth with Clay Kovac pitching the eighth inning for ISU.
