By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

Still think the Hoosier State’s a baseball wasteland? 

Tuesday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis, where Indiana U. edged Ball State 4-3 in 10 innings, twenty-nine former Hoosier preps were on the two teams' rosters. 

The two-hour, 59-minute game ended on a run-scoring hit by Hamilton Southeastern High School alum Matt Gorski.  Gorski's RBI single to right with two out followed a hit batter and an intentional walk to Logan Sowers, a McCutcheon High School graduate. 

Nine ex-Indiana preps were in the stating lineups. 

Former Jasper High School standout Cal Krueger took the mound for IU (22-16-2), backed up by Luke Miller (Cowan) at first base, Gorski at third, and an all-Indiana outfield of Sowers in right, Craig Dedelow (Munster) in center and Alex Krupa (Greenwood) in left. 

Ball State (21-20) had Griffin Hulecki (Fishers) behind the plate, Caleb Stayton (Elkhart Christian Academy) at first base and Matt Eppers (Elkhart Central) in center. 

The contest opened with a fine diving catch by Krupa, who robbed Ball State leadoff hitter Alex Maloney of a sure extra-base hit. 

Krueger, the first of five Hoosier pitchers, went four innings and gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits while striking out three with no walks.  His earned run average this season is 2.84. 

Ball State starter Colin Brockhouse (Fort Wayne Northrop) pitched two frames, giving up one run (earned) on two hits and a pair of walks with one strikeout.  Brockhouse's ERA is a frugal 2.29. 

Ball State took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third on a two-run single by Eppers, a .338 hitter who had a 1-for-4 night. 

Tim Herrin (Terre Haute South), IU's fourth pitcher, entered the game in the seventh.  After walking the first two batters, the left-hander sat down the next three Ball State hitters, two of them by strikeouts.  Herrin lowered his ERA to 3.61. 

IU went up 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh.  Sowers opened the frame with a base on balls and scored the tying run on Jeremy Houston’s single. 

Ball State tied it at 3-all with a ninth-inning tally.  

Gorski, batting .304 this season, went 2-for-4 with a bunt sacrifice.  Krupa, a .303 hitter, had two singles and a walk in five at-bats.  Sowers (.253) was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks. 

Colby Stratten (Bloomington North) saw action, pinch-running for IU catcher Ryan Fineman in the ninth.    

Counting Indiana junior right-hander Brandon Kelly, who was home-schooled in Evansville, there were 30 former Hoosier preps on the IU and Ball State rosters. 

The complete list 

BALL STATE

So. 1B Maverick Bacon (North Montgomery HS)

RS-So. OF Roman Baisa (North Central HS)

Fr. C Tim Blankenberger (Northwestern HS)

Jr. RHP Colin Brockhouse (Fort Wayne Northrop HS)

Jr. RHP Brendan Burns (Hamilton Southeastern HS)

Fr. UT Jake Clawson (Yorktown HS)

Sr. OF Matt Eppers (Elkhart Central HS)

So. RHP Nick Floyd (Jimtown HS)

RS-Fr. RHP Nick Handlon (Avon HS)

So RHP TJ Harmon (McCutcheon HS)

RS-So. RHP/C Griffin Hulecki (Fishers HS)

Jr. INF Justin Kirkpatrick (Pendleton Heights HS)

RS-So. Zach Milam (Terre Haute North HS) 

Fr. LHP Mike Pachmayer (Hamilton Southeastern HS)

Sr. C/1B Caleb Stayton (Elkhart Christian Academy) 

INDIANA

Fr. LHP Cameron Beauchamp (Peru HS)

Sr. OF Craig Dedelow (Munster HS)

Fr. Matt Gorski (Hamilton Southeastern HS)

So. LHP Tim Herrin (Terre Haute South HS)

Jr. RHP Brandon Kelly (home-schooled, Evansville)

Fr. RHP Cal Krueger (Jasper HS)

Sr. OF Alex Krupa (Greenwood HS)

So. INF Luke Miller (Cowan HS)

So. RHP Pauly Milto (Roncalli HS)

Fr. RHP Justin Reed (Lawrence North HS)

Fr. LHP Andrew Saalfrank (Heritage HS)

So. RHP Grant Sloan (Zionsville HS)

Jr. OF Logan Sowers (McCutcheon HS)

Sr. RHP Luke Stephenson (Triton Central HS)

Jr. INF Colby Stratten (Bloomington North HS) 

Former Hoosier high school players dot the rosters of college teams around the country. Of the NCAA Division I schools that have been ranked among the Top 25 this year, 14 have Indiana high school alums. 

Here's a list: 

FLORIDA ATLANTIC:  RS Fr. LHP Jordan Poore (Park Vista HS, Lake Worth, Fla.;  born in Noblesville), Fr. RHP Nick Prather (Zionsville HS) 

FLORIDA GULF COAST:  Jr. RHP Peyton Gray (Columbus East;  Gulf Coast State College) 

GEORGIA TECH:  Sr. RHP Zac Ryan (Andrean HS)  

KENTUCKY:  Fr. C T.J. Collett (Terre Haute North Vigo HS), Fr. LHP Zack Thompson (Wapahani HS) 

LOUISVILLE:  So. RHP Noah Burkholder (Crown Point HS), Jr. RHP Chandler Dale (Jeffersonville HS), Fr. RHP Austin Dickey (New Albany HS), Jr. 3B Drew Ellis (Jeffersonville HS), So. RHP Bryan Hoeing (Batesville HS), So. INF Devin Mann (Columbus North HS), Fr. RHP Michael McAvene (Roncalli HS) 

MICHIGAN:  Jr. RHP Mac Lozer (North Central HS) 

MISSOURI:  Jr. C/OF Alex Del Rio (Munster HS), R-Jr. RHP Cole Bartlett (Hagerstown HS) 

NEBRASKA:  So. C Jesse Wilkening (Hanover Central HS) 

SOUTH CAROLINA:  Jr. RHP Brandon Murray (Hobart HS) 

TULANE:  Fr. INF Kody Hoese (Griffith HS) 

VANDERBILT:  Fr. RHP Reid Schaller (Lebanon HS) 

VIRGINIA TECH:  RS Sr. IF Matt Dauby (Cathedral HS) 

WAKE FOREST:  Sr. RHP Parker Dunshee (Zionsville HS) 

WRIGHT STATE:  Jr. IF Matt Morrow (Richmond HS), Sr. INF Nick Weybright (Lawrence North HS), So. RHP Caleb Sampen (Brownsburg HS), Sr. RHP Mark Meyer (Jeffersonville HS) 

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”