5 Hoosiers go on to minor-league play

Three years ago, 19 freshmen came to Bloomington as members of IU baseball coach Tracy Smith’s first full recruiting class.

There was great hope in that talented class, with the goal – stated or otherwise – of establishing IU as a respected program, in the conference and across the country.
Now five of them move on, having done just that.

Eric Arnett, Josh Phegley, Matt Bashore, Evan Crawford and Kipp Schutz wrote the ending to their illustrious time at IU on Tuesday and Wednesday as their names were called in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

Arnett, a tall, right-handed pitcher, led things off, going in the first round as expected,
No. 26 overall to the Milwaukee Brewers.

He was followed closely by catcher Phegley (No. 38, Chicago White Sox) and southpaw Bashore (No. 46, Minnesota Twins). Crawford went in the ninth round to the San Francisco Giants (No. 267 overall), and Schutz went to the Baltimore Orioles – the team that drafted him out of high school – with the 566 overall pick.

“We expected to come in, we had hopes of changing that program around and that’s what Coach Smith wanted us to do,” Phegley said by phone. “He had faith and trust in us to believe that we could do it.”

The Hoosiers capped off a strong 2009 campaign that saw them finish third in the conference with a run to the Big Ten tournament title. That run was in no small part because of Bashore and Arnett, who started the first two of four tournament games.
Both hurlers earned all-tournament honors for their respective performances, fulfilling the promise they had when they hit campus in 2006 and propelling the Hoosiers to their second-ever College World Series appearance.

“We all came here to accomplish something, and it turned out, the time frame that we were there, we were able to do it,” Crawford said. “That’s pretty special.”

The remaining members of that class – there were nine still on roster this season – were a tight-knit group that made their presence felt across the board this season.
In the field, five of the original 19 notched a combined 177 starts, and the other four were four of the Hoosiers’ top six pitchers. Bashore said the group stayed close throughout their careers.

“It’s just a good class to be a part of,” Bashore said the night he was drafted. “It was fun to put on a uniform and go out and play.”

Half of them will move on now – perhaps more in the coming days or in next year’s draft – to chasing more personal ambitions, the ever-present goal climbing higher up the ladder and making their way to the big leagues.

They can leave IU knowing their business in Bloomington is finally finished.

“Back when we were freshmen, we all talked about how we were going to get a Big Ten championship,” Schutz said. “Everybody’s following their dreams now.”