Miami Student

Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Sports

First-year pitcher Nick Kurash breathes a sigh of relief after recording the final out of the third inning, Wednesday night. Kurash threw 4.1 innings in just the second start of his college career.

The bats were rolling on a chilly night in Oxford, as the Miami University baseball squad recorded its 20th win of the season against Big Ten opponent Indiana.

Coming off a disappointing series loss to the Kent State Golden Flashes this past weekend and a 13-2 thrashing at the hands of the Indiana State Sycamores Tuesday, the RedHawks got back on track with a 10-1 blowout win under the lights at McKie Field at Hayden Park.

Bolstered by solid performances from a handful of freshmen and some sloppy fielding by their Indiana counterparts, the 'Hawks were able to cruise to an important confidence building win, heading into a Mid-American Conference tilt with Bowling Green this weekend.

"That was a pretty solid ball club," said Head Coach Dan Simonds. "It's a big win for us coming off a tough loss. We didn't have a good ball game last night so to come here (Wednesday) with the guys ready to play was huge. We had a couple of freshman really do a nice job for us and we're going to take that into the weekend."

Wednesday night's game saw several freshmen either get starts in the field, or pinch-hit for some of the more senior players later in the game. Starting pitcher Nick Kurash, reliever Chase Stewart, infielder Gary King and outfielder Jason Cisper all saw action against the Hoosiers.

Kurash put in 4.1 solid innings of work, surrendering only two hits and allowing zero runs, while striking out six batters.

Stewart came in after Kurash and held the Hoosier bats at bay. King got the start at third base and drove in two runs while scoring two himself. Cisper came in for a pinch-hitting assignment and recorded a hit and a RBI in his one plate appearance.

With Miami jumping out to a big lead, Simonds was able to play around with the lineup and give some of the younger and less experienced players valuable time on the field. After the game, King commented on how important the win was.

"We knew we had to play well as a team," King said. "The last couple of games we got into a little funk. Everyone has just got to come out with a different mindset and attitude before the game and we did that today."

Continued...

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