INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 2-seeded University of Indianapolis baseball team has punched their ticket to their second-straight NCAA Midwest Super Regional, defeating the Maryville Saints 9-3 in the Monday afternoon finale of the NCAA Midwest Regional II bracket. The Hounds, after dropping the first contest of their journey, rattled off four-straight victories, including two against the Saints to punch their tickets.
Diego Cardenas and
Payton Plym combined for nine-innings of excellence from the mound in the Hounds victory. Cardenas went 5 & 2/3 giving up just one earned run for the win in the contest. Plym, in relief, kept that dominance alive, picking up the save after 3 & 1/3 innings of work.
With the bats, it was the heart the order putting in the work as four, five and six in the Hounds lineup all recorded multi-hit games.
Dakota Sill of those three shined brightest, going 3 for 5 with two runs scored and an RBI to his name.
Cole Hampton, Caleb Vaugh and
Nick Lukac all recorded two-RBI performances to add on.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a first inning home run by the Saints, it looked like the Hounds were in for a slugfest, but much to the contrary as within two frames the Hounds had already tied it and took the lead in Indianapolis. Both runs came off the bat of Lukac who slapped a ball into right for a two-RBI single.
Much to the dismay of the Saints who came into their games against the Hounds undefeated in the regional, that was just the beginning of the offense for UIndy. The Hounds added on two runs in back-to-back-to-back frames from the fourth to the sixth, leaving it 8-1. Vaughn added two of those runs himself, the first by a big home run in the fourth and then the second by a missile up the middle in the sixth.
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Al Ready on the win…
"Cardiac Hounds man, no question about it. Cardiac Hounds, Cardiac Canines, you can draw it up however you want at this point, we just keep doing it. I knew we weren't out of it when we lost the first game at Trevecca, I knew having the home field advantage, even though it was a lot of work to get in this field ready and playable and we had to play over at IU that one day, I still knew that we were going to be very, very difficult to beat at home, at Greyhound Park and that proved to be the case."
Ready on Cardenas…
"What else is there to say about Diego, he's been money for us all year long. He started out as a midweek starter and just performed unbelievable. We had a couple guys go down from the weekend rotation and he stepped in and has never relinquished that role and he's turned into our number one, our ace."
Ready's additional comments…
"Go Hounds!"
UP NEXT
The Hounds will make the trip to Saginaw Mich. for their second-consecutive Midwest super regional. The Hounds will battle the No. 1-seed in the Midwest Saginaw Valley State in a best out of three series for a trip to Cary. N.C. for the NCAA DII Championship.
Last season, the Hounds visited the No. 1 seed in the Quincy Hawks and beat them in two straight games to advance to Cary. N.C.
