Indiana baseball routs Southern Miss 10-4 in NCAA Tournament opener

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WDRB) - Before taking the field at a regional hosted by the top seed in Tennessee and facing a Southern Miss team that was as hot as any in college baseball, Indiana first baseman Brock Tibbitts made something clear.

"We get this opportunity," Tibbitts said. "You can't ask for much more. We get to be one of the 64 teams that compete to win its final game. You capture that moment."

Consider the opening moment captured. Tibbitts racked up four RBI to help power an offensive outburst for IU in a 10-4 win over the Golden Eagles.

The Hoosiers totaled 17 hits and wasted little time jumping all over USM. Tibbitts blasted a two-run homer in the top of the 1st to open the scoring. He entered Friday with just three home runs on the season and had not hit one since March 29.

T1 | Brock goes big fly to open the scoring 🫡@brocktibbitts | #IUBase pic.twitter.com/qUHHlIaJpm
— Indiana Baseball (@IndianaBase) May 31, 2024

IU continued to apply pressure with base runners with at least one hit in each of the first five innings and did not waste the chances to bring them home.

Morgan Colopy, who later hit a two-run homer of his own, and Josh Pyne came up with RBI doubles in the second to push the lead to 5-0. Indiana entered the NCAA Tournament ranking 10th in the nation in doubles.

T2 | Putting another pair on the board!@_joshpyne_ | #IUBase pic.twitter.com/dWhogkUY2w
— Indiana Baseball (@IndianaBase) May 31, 2024

Tibbitts came back up in the top of the fourth with another chance to extend the lead. He responded with an RBI double of his own to put the Hoosiers up by seven. The junior tied his season high with four RBI and was just one away from tying his career best.

But just because the Hoosier bats did their job doesn't mean they even needed to do it that well. Starting pitcher Ty Bothwell struck out nine batters over 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits.