When Devin Taylor saw a wild pitch trickle toward first base Saturday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field, he trotted toward home plate, threw both arms in the air and flashed a wide grin.  

Indiana baseball’s dugout swarmed to the sophomore, whose game-winning run cemented the Hoosiers’ wild 10-9 comeback win to even the weekend series against Penn State. 

It was a memorable run to win the game. Tyler Cerny, a sophomore, hit a game-tying single that was crucial. But without freshman Jasen Oliver’s two-out walk with two outs, who faced seven pitches to reach base despite starting the at-bat down 0-2, the ninth inning miracle would not have been possible.

Head coach Jeff Mercer stated during the game, “The whole thing doesn’t happen unless that kid is tough enough to just compete his way through, foul some pitches off, work back to a walk and give the at-bat to the next two guys behind him.” “They saved us, but that gets overlooked.”

Following Penn State’s dominating 15-4 victory on Friday night, Indiana capitalized on Saturday’s rally to defeat the Nittany Lions 12-3 on Sunday. And a big part of the reason why was the more little elements, including discipline at the plate and a lot of work running the bases.

The offensive output this season hasn’t quite matched the skill at the plate, despite a lineup that routinely smashes the ball hard. With runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth inning and down 8-5, sophomore Carter Mathison blasted a line drive that traveled over 100 mph, but Penn State senior infielder Kyle Hannon stopped it.