During a year where the outlook was bleak at times the Hoosiers ended its regular season campaign in familiar territory, with its ticket punched to the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.
IU (31-22, 15-9) earned the No. 3 seed, finishing behind No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Nebraska, and will square off against No. 6 Maryland (28-25, 13-11) at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
“To have our kids and program here in Omaha playing in the Big Ten tournament is exciting,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “We’ve been a little up and down, but we’ve had some really good stretches in there and we’re excited to be here and play great baseball.”
In the double elimination tournament, the Hoosiers will send senior starting pitcher Kyle Hart to the hill as the Terrapins expect to rely on junior starting pitcher Mike Shawaryn to compete against Hart.
The Maryland ace had a shaky 2016 after being nearly perfect a season ago with a 1.71 ERA and 138 strikeouts. Shawaryn still posted a respectful 3.30 ERA this year while keeping the strikeout/nine above eight and his walk total low.
The Hoosier offense went cold against Nebraska in its final regular season series. IU scored just one run in the series and was shut out in the final two games to round out the year.
“We’re a team right now built on pitching and defense, and we need timely hitting,” Lemonis said. “Getting the big hit with somebody out there is the key for us.”
Two players that would be relied on to get the key hit for the Hoosiers have struggled down the stretch.
Sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers went 0-for-18 at the plate to the end the year after being an important piece in the Hoosier lineup all year. While freshman catcher and cleanup hitter Ryan Fineman has seen a decline in his numbers as well at the plate, earning just two hits in the past four games.
While a few Hoosiers have been scuffling, junior outfielder Craig Dedelow has seemed to hit his stride in the batters box. He accounted for the only Hoosier run in the Nebraska series via a solo home run and has watched his batting average rise from .302 to .315 with six doubles in the month of May.
The injury bug has depleted the Hoosiers late in the year as freshman third baseman Luke Miller started game one against Nebraska, but was removed due to complications following an injury he suffered versus Illinois the weekend before.
Junior second baseman Tony Butler, the defensive guru for the Hoosiers who hasn’t committed an error all year, has been battling a knee injury that Lemonis said he tweaked during the opener against Illinois. Sophomore second baseman Colby Stratten has replaced Butler the past five games going 3-for-16 at the plate and no errors committed in the field.
Winning the Big Ten tournament outright, like so many of these other teams, may be the only shot the Hoosiers have to make the NCAA tournament. With a RPI of 91, IU hasn’t beat enough quality opponents to prove its mark in the NCAA and will look to take care of business against its Big Ten foes this weekend.
“We need to win the tourney to get in,” Lemonis said. “I think right where we’re at RPI wise unless it went crazy, which I don’t see that happening. I see us needing the automatic qualifier to get into the postseason.”
