Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

RedHawks topple Indiana, prepare for Bowling Green

First-year pitcher Nick Kurash breathes a sigh of relief after recording the final out of the third inning, Wednesday night. Kurash threw 4.1 innings in just the second start of his college career.
First-year pitcher Nick Kurash breathes a sigh of relief after recording the final out of the third inning, Wednesday night. Kurash threw 4.1 innings in just the second start of his college career.

Dan Kukla

First-year pitcher Nick Kurash breathes a sigh of relief after recording the final out of the third inning, Wednesday night. Kurash threw 4.1 innings in just the second start of his college career.

The bats were rolling on a chilly night in Oxford, as the Miami University baseball squad recorded its 20th win of the season against Big Ten opponent Indiana.

Coming off a disappointing series loss to the Kent State Golden Flashes this past weekend and a 13-2 thrashing at the hands of the Indiana State Sycamores Tuesday, the RedHawks got back on track with a 10-1 blowout win under the lights at McKie Field at Hayden Park.

Bolstered by solid performances from a handful of freshmen and some sloppy fielding by their Indiana counterparts, the 'Hawks were able to cruise to an important confidence building win, heading into a Mid-American Conference tilt with Bowling Green this weekend.

"That was a pretty solid ball club," said Head Coach Dan Simonds. "It's a big win for us coming off a tough loss. We didn't have a good ball game last night so to come here (Wednesday) with the guys ready to play was huge. We had a couple of freshman really do a nice job for us and we're going to take that into the weekend."

Wednesday night's game saw several freshmen either get starts in the field, or pinch-hit for some of the more senior players later in the game. Starting pitcher Nick Kurash, reliever Chase Stewart, infielder Gary King and outfielder Jason Cisper all saw action against the Hoosiers.

Kurash put in 4.1 solid innings of work, surrendering only two hits and allowing zero runs, while striking out six batters.

Stewart came in after Kurash and held the Hoosier bats at bay. King got the start at third base and drove in two runs while scoring two himself. Cisper came in for a pinch-hitting assignment and recorded a hit and a RBI in his one plate appearance.

With Miami jumping out to a big lead, Simonds was able to play around with the lineup and give some of the younger and less experienced players valuable time on the field. After the game, King commented on how important the win was.

"We knew we had to play well as a team," King said. "The last couple of games we got into a little funk. Everyone has just got to come out with a different mindset and attitude before the game and we did that today."

The freshmen weren't the only ones playing well. Sophomore Chris Nadeau went 3-5, driving in two runs and scoring another. Batting right behind Nadeau was designated hitter Eric Darlage, who went 3-4 from the plate with three RBIs and a run scored.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

The RedHawks scattered 15 hits throughout the game during their offensive attack. Their efforts were also aided by a shaky Hoosier defense that committed three errors in the field. Miami didn't let Indiana get away with the mistakes, and scored runs off each of the three errors.

"It's huge," Nadeau said. "It was a close game in the beginning so when they have errors and we take advantage of it, that's huge in putting them away."

Simonds was also encouraged by the RedHawks opportunistic play, but didn't want to discredit his team's overall solid performance.

"(The errors are) big, but we also banged out 15 hits so that's even bigger," Simonds said. "We did take advantage of some errors but we swung the bats well so that was good to have. It was just a good team win."

Although it was just a non-conference matchup, the win still had significant value to the 'Hawks. In the midst a midseason slide, the Red and White was in desperate need of a confidence booster.

"These are wins that create a team atmosphere and build team chemistry," Simonds said. "The conference games are obviously bigger but you can't just turn it on and off. You have got to continue to play good baseball and that's what we set out to do."

Up next for the RedHawks are the Falcons from Bowling Green, who come into Oxford this weekend hoping to accomplish what Kent State did a week ago, and upset Miami at home.

Friday night's game starts at 6:30 p.m., while Saturday's contest kicks off at 5 p.m., and the series concludes in a game starting at 1 p.m. Sunday.