138 wins.
That’s what the last four years of Hoosier baseball have amounted to.
On Saturday afternoon, IU celebrated its senior class of Laren Eustace, Brian Hobbie, Chris Lowe, Kade Kryzsko, B.J. Sabol and Logan Sowers prior to its 13-3 walloping of the Maryland Terrapins at Bart Kaufman Field to close the regular season.
It was a display of dominance Hoosier fans are no strangers to, partially thanks to this class.
“The way they go about their business, on and off the field, they’ve just set the tone for our program," IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. "There’s a lot of leadership in there. I came in with all these guys. So it was neat to do.”
The senior class came to Bloomington at a pivotal time, as IU was making the transition from former Coach Tracy Smith to Lemonis while trying to continue the program’s rise on a national level. The seniors that arrived in Bloomington four years ago had the option to go elsewhere, but each made the decision to stick with IU and Lemonis.
“Being a first-time head coach and these are all your freshmen running around, I think there is a little more connection,” Lemonis said.
That connection is something the players share as well.
“Sometimes we’re in here at 6 a.m. in the morning, or going to weights early and you never really realize how special that is until it’s about done,” Sowers said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell the freshmen. It flies by. It’s crazy. Four years flew by like that and it’s been awesome.”
This group of seniors has had made their presence felt, as they’ve helped sustain IU’s success from the era of Tracy Smith, Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis into the Lemonis era, cementing IU’s status as a power in the Midwest and the Big Ten.
They’ve won more than 61 percent of their games in the cream and crimson, with an overall record of 138-87-2 following Saturday’s win and a 55-37-1 record in the Big Ten. IU has won more than 30 games each season the seniors have been on campus, with this season’s win total being the highest over.
The group has also seen a pair of NCAA regionals. They traveled to the Nashville regional as freshmen and then the Lexington regional last season as juniors, but they aren’t done yet.
The Hoosiers will head out to Omaha, Nebraska, later this week, attempting to add something else to the senior class’ list of accomplishments — a Big Ten Tournament championship.
With the regular season at its end, the Hoosiers now control how much longer they’ll play.
Their seniors will play a big part in the postseason, as they try to extend their collegiate careers as long as they can.
