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Indiana Baseball blanks Cincinnati
Indiana Baseball beat the Cincinnati Bearcats 7-0 at Bart Kaufman Field Tuesday afternoon. Indiana (5-6) scored five runs in the first inning and two more in the fifth, and five pitchers combined to strike out 14 Cincinnati (6-5) hitters in the shutout victory. Freshmen Josh Pyne and Brock Tibbitts hit home runs in the game, as IU scored its seven runs on just five hits. The pitching staff faced just two batters over the minimum, as it allowed just two hits and didn’t walk a batter over nine innings. The last shutout for IU came against Ohio State on May 24, 2021, in a game that the Hoosier pitching staff also allowed two hits. The Hoosiers host Purdue Fort-Wayne at 4 pm this afternoon.
Freshman Luke Hayden (2-0) picked up his second straight win as the midweek starter with three scoreless innings of work. He allowed just one base runner – a single – and stuck out a career-best five. Junior Nathan Stahl was the star out of the bullpen with three scoreless innings and four strikeouts. He allowed one hit and threw 41 pitches. Offensively, Indiana walked nine times and collected five hits to score seven times. Pyne posted the third multi-RBI game of his career with a pair of RBIs, while Tibbitts, redshirt-junior Matthew Ellis, sophomore Hunter Jessee and freshman Carter Mathison each drove in one RBI.
For Cincinnati (6-5), Max Bergman came on to steady the game after the first two pitchers recorded just two outs. Bergman threw 4 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out three. Joe Powell collected both hits in the game with a pair of singles.
Three Indiana University Men’s Basketball players earn All-Big Ten honors
Three members of the Indiana University Basketball Team were honored by the conference and media as All-Big Ten selections and specialty teams were announced on Tuesday afternoon.. Trayce Jackson-Davis was selected to the 2021-22 All-Big Ten Men’s Basketball Team as voted on by the league’s coaches, media and Associated Press. He was also one of five players selected to the conference’s All-Defensive Team by the league’s coaches. This is the third year Jackson-Davis earned post-season honors. He was named to the third team as a freshman and the first team (media) and second team (coaches) after his second season at Indiana. He also earned All-Freshman honors in 2020.
The Greenwood native and 2021 All-American ranks among the conference leaders in points per game (17.4; 7th in the Big Ten), rebounds per game (8.2; 5th), field goal percentage (57.8%; 3rd) free throws made (128; 4th), free throws attempted (192; 2nd) and total blocked shots (72, 2nd) in 30 starts for the Hoosiers this season. Jackson-Davis also anchors a Hoosier defense that is ranked as the most efficient in the league by KenPom (20th in the nation) and holds opponents to a league-low 39.0% shooting from the floor. Indiana, led by Jackson-Davis’ 5.8 per game, leads the league in defense rebounds per game at 27.5 and are second in the conference in blocked shots (5.0) per game.
Xavier Johnson was named All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by the media. The Pittsburgh transfer is tied for second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per contest and leads the team in assists (138) and steals (34). He ranks third on the team in made 3-pointers (30) and 3-point field goal percentage (37.0%). Over his last five games, Johnson is averaging a team-high 19.0 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game. He is fourth in the league in assists (4.8) and eighth in free throw percentage (76.7%).
Race Thompson joined Johnson on the Honorable Mention list and was selected as Indiana’s Sportsmanship Award Honoree. He is tied for second on the team in scoring (11.8), rebounding (7.9), steals (32), blocks (21), and FG percentage (55.6%). He is ninth in the league in rebounding. During Big Ten play, Thompson raised his scoring average to 12.3 points per night and leads IU with 7.9 rebounds per game.
Indiana University Diving punches six more tickets to NCAA Championships
It was another productive day for Indiana men’s and women’s diving Tuesday at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships as the Hoosiers punched six more tickets to the national meet inside Donald B. Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor Michigan. Over two days, six IU divers have totaled 12 bids to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships later this month in Atlanta. In Men’s One Meter the trio of senior Andrew Capobianco and freshmen Quinn Henninger and Carson Tyler once again punched tickets to Atlanta, earning three of the top five spots. Henninger finished the highest of the three in second with a 722.20 total score. Capobianco and Tyler placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the Women’s Three Meter three Hoosiers claimed the top three spots, safely in automatic qualifying position. Senior Kristen Hayden led the way once again, finishing top of the leaderboard for a second straight day with a score of 700.45. Hayden scored north of 50 for 11 of her 12 dives and better than 60 for five dives. Annie Fowler capped her day with scores of 55 or better on each of her final four dives. Both Fowler and Tarryn Gilliland finished the event tallying 63 points for a 5152B on their 12th dives. Senior Taylor Carter placed twelfth, just outside of the auto-qualifying zone. However, Carter can still qualify for the 3-meter dive national competition with a top-nine placement in today’s Platform dive final.
Running Back Gi’Bran Payne released from Indiana University Football
2022 four-star running back Gi’Bran Payne from Cincinnati Ohio has requested and been granted a release from his National Letter of Intent to Indiana, he announced on Tuesday. Payne was ranked the No. 21 running back in the class of 2022. The La Salle high school back had offers from program like Florida, Notre Dame, Alabama, Northwestern, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Cincinnati, and more. Payne signed with Indiana during the early signing period in December.
Payne’s departure can likely be linked to the departure of running backs coach Deland McCullough. McCullough left Indiana for the running backs job at Notre Dame in January. Tom Allen brought in former NFL running backs coach Craig Johnson shortly after. Indiana also has a new offensive coordinator in Walt Bell after splitting with Nick Sheridan at the end of the 2021 season. Indiana had a top-15 recruiting class in the 2022 cycle, which included Payne. It also included two transfer running backs in UNC transfer Josh Henderson and Auburn transfer Shaun Shivers. Indiana also has freshman Jaylin Lucas at the position in the 2022 class as well.
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