{"id":1339,"date":"2025-05-16T23:28:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T23:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/indiana-overpowers-michigan-in-game-1-home-run-derby-8-7\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T23:29:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T23:29:02","slug":"indiana-overpowers-michigan-in-game-1-home-run-derby-8-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/indiana-overpowers-michigan-in-game-1-home-run-derby-8-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana overpowers Michigan in Game 1 home run derby, 8-7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Indiana baseball team\u2019s offensive prowess hasn\u2019t come under criticism all season. First in all major statistical categories \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/bigten.org\/base\/stats\/?sortBy=AVG&amp;stats=table_team_batters&amp;category=team&amp;teamValue=all\"> batting average<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/bigten.org\/base\/stats\/?sortBy=OBP&amp;stats=table_team_batters&amp;category=team&amp;teamValue=all\"> on-base percentage<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/bigten.org\/base\/stats\/?sortBy=OBP&amp;stats=table_team_batters&amp;category=team&amp;teamValue=all\"> slugging<\/a> \u2014 the Hoosiers are the Big Ten\u2019s most robust hitters. And with the low possibility of lights-out pitching from either team, the Michigan baseball team needed to win a slugfest to come out on top.<\/p>\n<p>With a myriad of homers from both sides, the Wolverines (32-20 overall, 15-13 Big Ten) took on Indiana (30-22, 15-13) in a Game 1 thriller of their series. But Michigan came up just short of the win, falling by one run, 8-7.<\/p>\n<p>As the Hoosiers brought in two runs off of three hits in the top of the first inning, the slugfest had already begun. In response, leadoff graduate shortstop Benny Casillas singled to left field, seeing only one pitch in his at-bat. Two plays later, junior Mitch Voit stepped up with a 400-foot home run over the farthest point of the Ray Fisher Stadium \u2014 good enough to move him and Casillas up and over home plate.<\/p>\n<p>While it started hot, the rest of the first three innings of the contest proved to be disastrous for Michigan. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/kurt-barr-asserting-himself-as-go-to-guy\/\">subpar<\/a> pitching from junior right-hander Kurt Barr, the Hoosiers earned five runs with one coming off of a solo homer in the third inning. The Wolverines rotated through their entire lineup through both innings, earning only a single hit from senior third baseman Cole Caruso.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>While Michigan\u2019s mid- and late-game sparks were missing in its last weekend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/stalled-bats-cost-michigan-series-against-nebraska\/\">series<\/a>, those sparks were not absent in this contest. Roping a full-count pitch deep into right field, Voit earned his 16th double of the year and second hit of the game. Another single from Caruso put runners on the corners. With only one out, a flyball from graduate first baseman Jeter Ybarra would secure Michigan\u2019s third run of the game. But instead of looking to the clouds, Ybarra looked to the fences and crushed the payoff pitch for a three-run home run.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not gonna say I tried to do that,\u201d said Ybarra. \u201c\u2026 But I mean, with two strikes, I was just trying to compete in the zone, compete with any pitches in the zone. \u2026 The guy left the hanger curve ball down the\u00a0 middle and I was able to react and get the barrel on it and hit it pretty far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now down just two runs, the Wolverines had room to breathe \u2014 but Despite Redshirt freshman catcher still Noah Miller not typically being a power hitter, he stepped up to the plate right after Ybarra and sent another ball over the right-field fence, cutting Indiana\u2019s lead, 7-6.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe never really question (Noah\u2019s) approach,\u201d said Michigan coach Tracy Smith. \u201c \u2026 Noah, for the most part, has given us pretty good at bats all year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Michigan struck again in the bottom of the eighth after another homer from Indiana. With a photo-finish double from Casillas, a misplaced pitch that moved him to third base and a chopped ball from Voit, the Wolverines cut the lead to only one run yet again, 8-7.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>After a shutout ninth inning from sophomore right-hander Dylan Vigue, Michigan hitters had a chance to comeback from their one-run deficit. A double from Ybarra kicked off the inning, but a successive flyout, strikeout looking and a strikeout swinging ended the inning without the tying run run for the Wolverines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur execution in the ninth inning was terrible,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe bats that subsequently followed the double were not good at-bats\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though it fell early to Indiana, Michigan didn\u2019t lie down. Although late home runs made the game close, the early admission of runs spelled disaster as it fell, 8-7.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Indiana baseball team\u2019s offensive prowess hasn\u2019t come under criticism all season. First in all major statistical categories \u2014 batting average, on-base percentage and slugging \u2014 the Hoosiers are the Big Ten\u2019s most robust hitters. And with the low possibility of lights-out pitching from either team, the Michigan baseball team needed to win a slugfest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1488,1036,33,1479,222,1487,1301],"class_list":{"0":"post-1339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-derby","9":"tag-game","10":"tag-home","11":"tag-indiana","12":"tag-michigan","13":"tag-overpowers","14":"tag-run"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1341,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}