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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports baseball

Hoosiers preparing for rematch against Hawkeyes in Big Ten Tournament

spBaseballvsOhioSt

One day after after hitting a 2-out walk-off home run against Ohio State, Iowa's Nick Day was at the plate again with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Michigan, this time representing the tying run.

He once again sent the ball high in the air, but the ball only travelled about halfway up the first base line and was caught for the final out of a 8-5 Michigan win. The loss sets Iowa up for an elimination game Friday against IU.

IU travelled to Iowa earlier this season for their first weekend of the Big Ten schedule and were swept. The sweep marked the beginning of a two month long slide the Hoosiers have only recently corrected.

But IU Coach Chris Lemonis said he believes that series is not an indicator of what might happen Friday. In fact, the series wasn’t as lopsided as the final scores might suggest, he said.

“We played Iowa early and it was 1-0 into the eighth, so it was very competitive,” Lemonis said. “We just couldn’t get the hit at the time.”

Recently, IU has been getting the hit at the right time. Thursday, the hit was an eighth inning 2-out, 3-RBI double from senior Scott Donley, the difference in IU’s 5-3 win that eliminated Ohio State from the tournament.

The Hoosiers will start junior Christian Morris on the mound against the Hawkeyes. Morris didn’t pitch in the Hawkeye sweep earlier this season as his demotion to the IU bullpen had just begun.

But Morris’ struggles this season have started to disappear, and Lemonis said his right-hander is starting to return to the form that earned him a spot on an All-Big Ten team last season.

“He’s won a handful of games here and in the Big Ten and was first team All-League last year,” Lemonis said. “We feel like we have a guy who has a chance to have some success.”

Lemonis said the recent turnaround has been due to an increased confidence on the mound for Morris. The junior has stopped putting so much pressure on himself, Lemonis said.

The increased confidence and the increased performance work in tandem, Lemonis said. As Morris’ confidence increases, his pitching improves and as his pitching improves his confidence increases.

His stuff’s a little better right now,” Lemonis said. “He’s come out and thrown some pretty good stuff as of late and made a couple mechanical adjustments so that’s led to his confidence.”

While Lemonis can feel confident about his pitcher’s recent success, Iowa Coach Rick Heller can feel confident about his starter’s success for the entire season.

Calvin Matthews is 5-2 with a 2.08 ERA in 13 starts this season. But in his start against IU, the Hoosiers had some success.

Matthews lasted four inning that Sunday in Iowa and allowed three runs.

One thing the Hawkeyes did in the final game of that series in March was jump on the Hoosiers early. The combination of juniors Scott Effross and Evan Bell allowed six Hawkeyes to cross home plate in the first inning.

That energy that Iowa had against IU in March was lacking in Thursday’s loss, Kris Goodman said. That energy early on will be the key.

“We need to start earlier with energy and have some quality at bats right away and continue that on into the game,” Goodman said. “We need to fight.”

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