IU women’s tennis to add a pair of international freshmen in the fall

By Andy Wittry | IDS Women's Tennis Beat Writer

Posted at 5:47 pm on May 17, 2013 | | | Comment (1)

After suffering a season-ending loss to No. 19 Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the IU women’s tennis team shifted gears to focus on next season. On Thursday, the team announced that freshmen Paula Gutierrez and Kim Schmider will attend IU and join the Hoosiers for the 2013-14 season.

IU Coach Lin Loring said that he is excited for the women to join the team next fall.

“They are both excellent students and tennis players,” he said. “Both girls have claimed their country’s No. 1 national ranking in their age group, which is quite an accomplishment in any sport. They will be an outstanding addition to our team.”

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IU to play Virginia Tech in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 1:41 pm on May 16, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

The IU women’s basketball team will play Virginia Tech Dec. 4 at Assembly Hall in the seventh annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the team announced today.

Virginia Tech and IU have never played each other in women’s basketball. This is the second straight year the Hoosiers will play at home for the challenge.

“We are excited about hosting Virginia Tech in the annual challenge,” IU Coach Curt Miller said in a press release.  “I have great respect for their coaching staff and the program they are building. They are coming off an excellent year defensively as they held 20 opponents to 60 points or less during the 2012-13 season.  The game will be a good measuring stick for our young team as we enter the 2013-14 season with ten freshmen and sophomores on the roster.”

The Hoosiers are 3-3 all time in the challenge but have won their last three. IU topped Clemson 52-49 at Assembly Hall last season while the Hokies beat Wisconsin 47-38.

The Big Ten went 5-7 against the ACC in last season’s challenge. The ACC leads the all-time series 41-27.

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2014 Big Ten schedule released

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 12:37 pm on May 16, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

The Big Ten  released the 2014 football conference schedule today, as the Hoosiers will open the 2014 Big Ten season against Maryland at home.

Below is IU’s 2014 Big Ten schedule:

Sept. 27: vs. Maryland
Oct. 4: Bye
Oct. 11: at Iowa
Oct. 18: vs. Michigan State
Oct. 25: Bye
Nov. 1: at Michigan
Nov. 8: vs. Penn State
Nov. 15: at Rutgers
Nov. 22: at Ohio State
Nov. 29: vs. Purdue

The Iowa (Oct. 11) and Purdue (Nov. 29) games are IU’s two cross-division opponents from the West Division. IU will play the Boilermakers at home for the second straight year.

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Kyle Schwarber named to Team USA

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 5:08 pm on May 15, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber has been named to USA Baseball’s 2013 Collegiate National Team, IU baseball announced in a press release today.

“I just think that speaks to how good that guy is,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We talk about all the players across the country and the many great players across the country — that he has the honor of wearing the stars and stripes across his chest is something I think he’ll never forget.”

Schwarber is the fourth Hoosier to be selected by Team USA, and the second since Smith took over in 2006. Alex Dickerson earned a spot via a tryout in 2010.

“The best part about him is our best players are our hardest workers,” Smith said. “When you have that you have something special, and he truly is something special — not just talent-wise but they type of person he is and his work ethic.”

Schwarber is hitting .384 with 13 home runs, 41 RBIs and 48 runs scored. The 13 homers lead the Big Ten while his runs and RBIs rank second and third in the Big Ten, respectively. Schwarber also leads the conference in slugging (.680) and is second in on base percentage (.474).

“Seeing some of these wonderful opportunities he gets — playing on a good baseball team and being a big part of that but playing on Team USA this summer— I think his confidence level coming back next year is even gonna be greater because these are some of the best players in the country, and I think he’s going to fit in very, very well with that group,” Smith said.

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No. 19 Vanderbilt blanks No. 41 IU in first round of NCAA Tournament

By Andy Wittry | IDS Women's Tennis Beat Writer

Posted at 6:27 pm on May 12, 2013 | | | Comment (1)

For the second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the IU women’s tennis team, Vanderbilt defeated No. 41 IU 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

With the loss in Clemson, S.C., the Hoosiers end the year with an 18-10 record, which marks the most wins for the IU women’s tennis program since the 2007-08 season.

While the Hoosiers failed to earn a point, the match was much closer than the score would indicate. IU was competitive in all three doubles matches and three of the singles matches went to three sets.

The No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 singles matches were unfinished. IU was leading or tied in all three matches.

“Singles was a toss-up; I think if it wasn’t a tournament situation, I think we would have split the singles 3-3,” IU Coach Lin Loring said. “We won three of the first sets. Jithmie lost the first set of a tiebreaker so we were literally a handful of points away from winning four of the first sets.”

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Hoosiers beat Wildcats 9-2, take series

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 3:39 pm on May 12, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

After two consecutive games in which an IU starting pitcher failed to make it through the third inning, Aaron Slegers reminded Hooiser fans what a strong outing looked like.

Slegers registered his team-high eighth win of the year, scattering nine hits in 6.2 innings, allowing two runs (both earned) with four strikeouts and no walks in IU’s 9-2 win over Northwestern on senior day Sunday at Bart Kaufman Field.

The sophomore right-hander’s win didn’t come without some drama in the top of the sixth, though.

Pinch hitter Jack Livingston led off the inning with a single the opposite way to left. Trevor Stevens followed with a single between Slegers’ legs and in to center field to put runners on first and second for Kyle Ruchim.

Ruchim hit a one-hop liner to short that senior Michael Basil tried to backhand. The ball instead caromed off Basil and into left field, scoring Livingston and putting Stevens on third to make it 6-1 IU.

Pitcher Zach Morton then singled to left to make it 6-2 Hoosiers, sending Ruchim to third. After a popout, catcher Scott Heelan hit a chopper back to the mound. Ruchim broke for the plate, and Slegers tossed it to Schwarber to cut down Ruchim at the plate easily.

A single by Zach Jones loaded the bases, but Slegers got out of the jam by getting Jack Mitchell to pop out in the infield.

IU got the scoring started in the second. After the first two hitters reached with singles and Casey Smith sacrificed them to second and third, freshman second basemen Nick Ramos singled the opposite way to left to drive in two and give the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead.

The Hoosiers (38-11, 15-6 Big Ten) added four runs in the fourth on an RBI bunt single by Justin Cureton and a two-run single to left by Sam Travis.

After Northwestern’s mini-rally in the top of the sixth, IU responded with three runs in the bottom half.

With the win, IU took two of three from Northwestern (22-23, 9-15) for the fourth consecutive year.

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No. 16 IU loses to No. 10 Louisville on walk-off sacrifice fly

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 9:06 pm on May 8, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

Danny Rosenbaum hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Cole Sturgeon from third as No. 10 Louisville beat the No. 16 IU baseball team 4-3 in walk-off fashion Wednesday night in Louisville.

Sturgeon led off the bottom of the ninth with a double off the wall in right-center field. Catcher Kyle Gibson sacrificed Sturgeon to third for the first out, drawing the Hoosiers’ infield in and setting up Rosenbaum’s heroics.

Rosenbaum, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh, took a fastball up and on the outside corner from IU right-hander Ryan Halstead (2-3) and lined it deep enough to right for Rosenbaum to tag up and score. Sophomore Tim O’Connor gave it a desperation heave, but it was well late and off the mark.

IU (36-10) led 3-1 with two outs in the seventh inning when things started to fall apart. Gibson singled to center field. Rosenbaum then hit a slow grounder to second that would have ended the inning, but freshman Nick Ramos charged and mishandled it for IU’s second error of the game.

With runners on first and second, shortstop Sutton Whiting then tied the game at 3-3 with a double down the right field line. Both runs were unearned but spelled the end of the day for IU freshman starter Will Coursen-Carr.

With the win, Louisville (39-10) salvaged the season series after losing the first two games to IU.

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IU to play at Syracuse in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

By Jordan Littman | IDS IU football beat writer

Posted at 2:08 pm on May 8, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

IU’s men’s basketball team will play at Syracuse on Tuesday, Dec. 3 in the 2013 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, ESPN announced Wednesday afternoon.

The matchup will be a rematch of the 2013 NCAA Tournament game in which the 4-seed Orange eliminated the 1-seed Hoosiers in the Sweet 16 by a 61-50 margin. Though Syracuse has been in the Big East since 1979, the 2013-14 season will mark its first in the ACC.

In the all-time series between the two schools, IU has only won one of five matchups – the lone victory being the 1987 National Championship Game. The Hoosiers have never played the Orange at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, however.

Heading into the 2013 season, the Orange will be losing three of their top four scorers but will return their leading point-scorer senior forward C.J. Fair. Syracuse will also be adding five recruits to its roster, including former IU signee Ron Patterson and five-star guard Tyler Ennis.

The game’s tip-off time and broadcast channel have yet to be announced.

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IU baseball clobbers Nebraska 10-2, takes series

By Joe Popely | jpopely

Posted at 3:58 pm on May 6, 2013 | | | Comments (0)

Aaron Slegers turned in one of his best performances of the year, Dustin DeMuth hit a three-run homer and the IU baseball team took the rubber match from Nebraska with a resounding 10-2 win Monday in Lincoln, Neb.

A day after the Hoosiers had their nine-game winning streak snapped, Slegers (7-1) dominated the Cornhuskers from the onset, allowing just two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks in 8.1 innings pitched. He nearly threw a complete-game shutout but was pulled with one out in the bottom of the ninth after allowing a single, double and sacrifice fly to the first three hitters.

Six of Nebraska’s seven hits were singles, and no Husker baserunner made it past first base until Bryan Peters reached second following a Rich Sanguinetti single.

The IU offense, meanwhile, did its job. The Hoosiers (36-9, 13-5 Big Ten) racked up 10 hits, the big blow DeMuth’s 3-run home run in the fifth. Kyle Schwarber led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Michael Basil’s single with two outs. DeMuth’s blast brought home Schwarber and Basiland extended the IU lead to 5-0.

The Hoosiers got a run in the first when senior center fielder Justin Cureton led off the game with a walk, stole second and later scored from third on a passed ball by Nebraska starter Aaron Bummer (1-1). Chad Clark doubled home Casey Smith in the second to make it 2-0 IU.

In the ninth, DeMuth added an opposite-field RBI double down the left-field line that scored Will Nolden. DeMuth, a junior infielder, finished 2-for-5 with 4 RBI and two runs scored.

IU scored three runs in the ninth, its second three-run inning of the game. Nebraska (21-25, 12-6) responded with two runs in the bottom half with a pair of sacrifice flies. Both runs were charged to Slegers.

Sophomore outfielder Tim O’Connor, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Smith in the eighth, ended the game in dramatic fashion. Bryan Peters singled to right field, sending home Kash Kalkowski from second. O’Connor gunned down Kalkowski at the plate from right field to secure the win.

The game featured sloppy defense from both teams, though. Nebraska committed errors on back-to-back plays in the top of the ninth while IU committed an error in the fourth and eighth innings. The Hoosiers committed nine errors during the three-game series.

With the win, IU took the series from Nebraska and sole control of second place in the Big Ten.

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No. 38 IU selected for NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship

By Andy Wittry | IDS Women's Tennis Beat Writer

Posted at 6:19 pm on April 30, 2013 | | | Comment (1)

Tuesday evening, the NCAA held its annual women’s tennis championship selection show to announce the 64-team tournament field. There are 31 automatic qualifying teams that won their respective conference tournaments in addition to 33 teams that received at-large bids.

The top 16 teams host the first two rounds and the winner of each four-team pod advances to Urbana, Ill. to play in the Sweet Sixteen. The championship match will be played on May 21.

The No. 38 IU (18-9) women’s tennis team qualified as an at-large team and is scheduled to face No. 18 Vanderbilt (15-11), who defeated the Hoosiers 4-0 in IU’s last NCAA Championship appearance in 2010, in the first round. Thirteenth-seeded Clemson (14-7), who is ranked No. 11 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, is the host school of IU’s pod and will face Eastern Kentucky (19-6) in the first round. The first round of the tournament is scheduled to start on May 10, with second round play slated for May 11-12.

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