Bats hit stride in Florida games

The IU baseball team couldn’t put the total package together in Florida for eight games in eight days and finished with a 5-3 record.

The Hoosiers started the trip winning four of their first five games and had consistent pitching efforts throughout the first four games.

IU coach Tracy Smith put his weekend rotation of junior Blake Monar, junior Chad Martin and freshman Brian Korte in the first three games of the trip.

All three starters lasted at least seven innings, and Monar was the only one not to record a win as IU fell victim to a 2-hit shutout by Central Michigan’s Trent Howard in the opener.

Facing Pittsburgh, the only BCS school during the eight-game trip, Korte went the distance for IU’s first complete game of the 2011 season, scattering nine hits without a walk.

Smith said he was pleased with the pitching efforts he got early in the trip but said his offense needed a wake-up call after only scoring six runs through the first 26 innings.

“The offense is just not clicking right now,” Smith said after the first four games. “What we are trying to look at right now is what’s going to play. What we have to find is a group of guys that will give you quality at-bats, move the baseball and make the defense make a play on you.”

IU’s offense finally found its stride in the week’s final four games as the Hoosiers scored 36 runs, including three home runs from junior All-American Alex Dickerson.

However, the offensive production didn’t lead to wins as IU dropped two of its final three games on the trip to Bucknell and Army.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well this week,” Smith said. “We know we can play a lot better than we played, and we are still kind of waiting to put it all together and get the offense clicking a little bit. We still haven’t put it all together yet.”