The IUS baseball team lost their game on March 10 against Asbury University. Despite a strong start from IU Southeast, the final score was 3-0, in favor of Asbury.
Fielding first, the Grenadiers had Trey Richard, junior infielder, playing shortstop. A.J. Doyle, junior infielder, played third base while Brian Crider, sophomore, played catcher. In addition, Marcus Howard, freshman outfielder, played from left field, Justin Hurst, junior infielder, was at first base, Frank Pluskota, sophomore infielder, was at second base and Jacob Holtz, sophomore pitcher, was pitching.
Richard said he felt good about certain aspects of the game that day.
“I think our pitching was solid,” Richard said. “Our defense played well, but we just didn’t come up with clutch hits.”
The first two players from IU Southeast walked to first base.
Craig Roberts, junior infielder, was beamed in the arm by Isaiah Bell, senior pitcher for Asbury, and was able to walk to first base.
Crider said pitching was one of the areas that needed some improvement.
“As a team, we need to work on getting ahead in the count throwing strikes,” Crider said. “Defensively, we are improving. Offensively, we need to capitalize on our pitch that we are looking for. We take too many strikes and need to protect the plate better with two strikes.”
The first two batters in the second inning were out at first base by Hurst, and the third batter hit a foul ball that was caught.
Richard said he thought there were areas in which improvement was necessary.
“I feel like we need to improve on our hitting and defense,” Richard said. “Next game, we will work on throwing strikes, being aggressive at the plate and making the routine plays on defense.”
The score at the end of the second inning remained the same.
Tyler Wooden, senior catcher for Asbury, hit a home run over the left field wall, getting both himself and Olszowy across home plate and scoring two runs for Asbury.
Crider said he felt improvements could have been made.
“I felt like the team could have played better,” Crider said. “Everyone is out there to win, and sometimes it doesn’t go in our favor. We still have a lot to work on as a team, and we are expecting to still come a long way.”
By the top of the sixth inning, Asbury was winning, 2-0.
In the seventh inning, Asbury was able to score another point.
Richard said he felt good about certain aspects of the game that day.
“I think our pitching was solid,” Richard said. “Our defense played well, but we just didn’t come up with clutch hits.”
Crider acknowledged there is much to be done to rise to the top this season.
“We have a lot of room to get better, and we need to fast,” Crider said. “We aren’t improving at the rate we should be, and we are looking to improve as drastically and as quickly as possible.”
Richard said he remains hopeful.
“So far this year, I think we started off slow, but now we have more chemistry and everything is starting to click,” Richard said.
By SUSAN GREENWELL
Staff
susdgree@ius.edu
