IUP Baseball's cinderella run comes to an end in DII national semifinals
INDIANA, Pa. (KDKA) - For the Indiana University of Crimson Hawk's baseball team, this spring has been a magical run that saw them charge all the way to the NCAA DII national semifinals via the tournament's "loser bracket."
The Hawks qualified for the tournament after defeating Seton Hills two games to one in the NCAA DII Super Regionals the weekend of May 24, winning games two and three by a combined score of 16-12 after dropping game one 5-4.
The NCAA DII College World Series tournament, just like the Super Regionals, began with a 2-1 loss to Point Loma on June 1.
This placed the Hawks into the so-called loser's bracket, meaning they could not afford a loss, otherwise they would've been eliminated from the tournament.
Two days later, the Hawks would go on to defeat one-seed Central Missouri 4-3, keeping their hopes alive. They followed that victory up on June 5 with some revenge, beating Point Loma 1-0 and continuing on through the bracket.
The bats would erupt for the Hawks one day later when they would charge past Angelo State 10-8, but a rematch in the DII College World Series semifinals awaited.
On Friday, they were unable to get the same offensive burst against Angelo State, losing 7-3.
It was IUP's fourth game in as many days and playing the defending national champions two games in a row proved to be too much for the upstart Hawks.
In Friday's matchup, IUP would walk eight batters, hit five more, and commit three errors.
A late push was not enough for the Hawks, trailing 7-1 in the top of the ninth, Zach Miller would hit a two-run home run to pull them within four, but that would be all the offense they could muster.
Angelo State will head back to the DII World Series, this time taking on the two-seed, Tampa.
Despite coming up just short, it was a historic season for IUP. This was the school's first appearance in the NCAA DII World Series and the club set a school record for wins with 41 and games played with 59.
