Members of the IU Columbus baseball team gather for an NAIA baseball game against West Virginia Tech on the new baseball field at Ceraland in Columbus, Ind., Friday, March 1, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
On a day in which IU Columbus christened its new baseball field, Matthew Gainer and West Virginia Tech spoiled the celebration.
Gainer threw a complete-game one-hit shutout Friday afternoon to lead WVU Tech to a 7-0 win against the Crimson Pride.
“Our bats were cold,” IUC coach Scott Bickel said. “Our approach and mindset weren’t in the right place today. Props to their guy. He’s been the River States Conference for awhile, and he pitched a heck of a game.”
The Crimson Pride (4-12) played a clean game defensively with no errors. They also got a solid outing from Drew Bradley, who started with three shutout innings before allowing two runs in the fourth and three in the sixth.
“I’m proud of Drew,” Bickel said. “He’s one of the leaders on our staff. He wasn’t as sharp as he could be.”
WVU Tech reached reliever Carson Smith for a run in the seventh and a run in the eighth. Lane Zohrlaut, a freshman from Jennings County, came on with one out in the ninth and retired both batters he faced.
“You have to play defense, which we played OK,” Bickel said. “You have to pitch well, and we pitched OK. But we did not have offense. So you’re trying to win a ballgame, and two out of the three phases, we lost. That’s why the score shows what it shows.”
Lucas Slager’s single to left-center leading off the seventh was the Crimson Pride’s lone hit. IUC walked five times, but had two baserunners picked off and another erased on a double play.
“West Virginia Tech is one of the top teams in their division,” Bickel said. “Their coach has been around a very long time, so nothing was really unexpected, other than, we didn’t play up to our potential today. Thankfully, it’s baseball, so (today), we get to wake up and go play a doubleheader and try again.”
IUC, which hosts WVU Tech in a doubleheader beginning at noon today, still is one win away from equaling its win total from last year’s inaugural season.
“We’re going to get there,” Bickel said. “I try to remember all the lessons from last year, but this is a new group of guys. We’re better than our record shows, and it will come out once we’re all healthy and firing on all cylinders. We haven’t quite had everybody healthy yet, and that’s typical in baseball, but we’re also young, and we look forward to when we get everybody back.”
