Indiana Pitcher Ryan Kraft Has Memorable Final Home Start In Win Over Purdue

Every career is a journey and every journey is different for student-athletes.

Indiana pitcher Ryan Kraft has gone through just about everything you can experience on the mound during his four-year Hoosiers career.

Kraft began in 2022 as a freshman pitcher trying to find his way. Like many freshmen, the southpaw struggled to do so, racking up a 9.78 ERA in his opening campaign.

In 2023, a season that ended with Indiana playing in the Lexington Regional in the NCAA Tournament, Kraft developed into a lockdown bullpen option. He had a 2.48 ERA and five saves for the Hoosiers, including 51 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.

However, opponents locked into Kraft during his junior season. His ERA jumped back up to 7.27.

His senior season, however, continued the down and up pattern. He developed a different repertoire as a five-pitch hurler and it has paid off. Kraft has a 3.48 ERA and has also become a reliable starter for Indiana after spending the majority of his career as a reliever.

On Friday, in front of an overflow crowd on a gorgeous night at Bart Kaufman Field, Kraft may have saved his best outing for his last home appearance.

Kraft pitched seven shutout innings against a Purdue offense that is ranked fifth in the Big Ten with a .292 batting average. He scattered five hits as he was pivotal in Indiana’s 8-0 series-opening victory over the Boilermakers.

Kraft’s seven innings was the second-longest outing of his career – he had a 7 1/3-inning performance against Northwestern in 2023. Kraft only allowed four hits in that outing against the Wildcats, but he allowed one run. Friday’s game was the longest shutout outing of his Indiana career.

Kraft wasn’t thinking much about his outing as it happened but was able to soak in the moment a bit more.

“I didn't really think about it too much until after I was done pitching,” Kraft said. “All the pitchers came up to give me a big hug and congratulated me on a great start.”

Indiana coach Jeff Mercer watched with pride as Kraft finished his home career at his best. Kraft will be honored at Senior Day ceremonies on Saturday, but to finish strong on the mound makes the weekend even better.

“He's been everything that you could ever ask of a kid in the program of a Hoosier,” Mercer beamed.

Mercer noted all of the adjustments that Kraft has made in his career.

“What a career transformation that he's had. His freshman year, he pitched a bunch, he got hit really hard, but he was always in the fight. We just kept running him out there,” Mercer said.

“And then his sophomore year, he's magical, primarily with an elevated sinker and cutter. And then we went back to the same game in his junior year, and he got hit really hard,” he continued.

“(Kraft) goes out in the summer ball and in the Northwoods (League) and kind of reinvents himself as a five-pitch guy. He brings back that really big, slow curve ball and worked on a change-up this year,” Mercer continued. “He just wasn't a two-pitch guy and just really became the consummate pitcher.”

Kraft reflected a little bit on his journey, but he also noted that Indiana isn’t done.

“There's a lot of ups and downs. You have a good year, bounce back, and don't have a great year. It's like, how do you return from that? It's like one foot after another and just day after day,” Kraft said.

Purdue never really posed a serious challenge to the Hoosiers. The Boilermakers twice got runners to third base, but both times with two outs and Kraft induced easy outs to contend with the threat.

Meanwhile, Indiana’s offense – usually noted for its power – demonstrated it has more than one way to score runs.

The Hoosiers led 2-0 after the second inning thanks to a Cooper Malamazian double and a sacrifice bunt by Jake Stadler.

It wouldn’t be the last time Indiana employed small ball. In the fourth inning, after Malamazian drove in two more runs via a single to left, Tyler Cerny bunted runners into scoring position to set up a fielder’s choice RBI for Andrew Wiggins to make it 5-0.

During Indiana’s three-run eighth inning, Stadler reached on a bunt single and Devin Taylor later knocked in Stadler via a bunt single.

“Last year we played at Purdue. We didn't bunt very well. They were in those big shifts and we hit into them all weekend,” Mercer recalled.

“We made a commitment to the staff after that game, after that weekend – we will never not be able to bunt again. We will make it a priority,” Mercer said. “We did a ton of bunting this week, just in preparation that if they did use the shifts on us that we had had something to go to.”

Indiana (28-21, 13-12) got back over .500 in Big Ten play and kept momentum going to perhaps position itself for an outside shot at a NCAA Tournament bid. It was the fifth win in a row for the Hoosiers. Indiana also opened up a 2 1/2-game gap to 12th place, the final position that qualifies for the Big Ten Tournament.

For Purdue (29-20, 9-16) it was a damaging loss. The Boilermakers need to have success in Bloomington this weekend to play their way into the Big Ten Tournament.

The rivals will meet again for game two of the series at 2 p.m. on Saturday.