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(06/17/13 1:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — “A row by any other name is still a row J.” That phrase is on a custom-made sign hung on a tailgating tent by Vic Kensler, who is attending his 46th College World Series. Kensler is part of an infamous group of CWS partiers that take full advantage of the atmosphere that surrounds college baseball’s championship series since 1968, when Rosenblatt Stadium was a landmark in downtown Omaha. He has been coming since 1968 and teamed up with Rick Marasco to purchase group tickets for “row J” every year. The group has become a mainstay at the event. Everyone knows where to find them, whether in the tailgate lot or, of course, in row J.When the old Rosenblatt Stadium was vacated in 2010 in favor of TD Ameritrade Park, the original row J was no more.In response, Kensler had the sign created to reinforce the main point behind row J. “I had this sign made so that people would understand that it’s the spirit of the party, not where you’re having it,” he said. Still, Kensler and his crew have strong emotional ties to Rosenblatt, the home of the CWS for 50 years. Kensler’s son Todd has been coming to the game since he was 3, making this his 35th CWS. To him, Rosenblat will always be the superior stadium. Perhaps that’s why he wore a shirt that read, “I still call it Rosenblatt.” Todd was so passionate about the since-demolished stadium that he bought the “row J” sign in an auction and presented a refurbished version to all the fathers of the group last Father’s Day.“Rosenblatt’s something where it’s like, you grew up as a kid,” Todd Kensler said. “I mean, a lot of life lessons, and stealing beers out of your dad’s cooler. To be able to have row J back, that’s just where we always were.”The blue “row J” sign stood proudly on full display at the edge of the Kenslers’ tent on the main drag of TD Ameritrade’s tailgating lot Saturday, the first day of competition.Vic Kensler is a CWS booster who sells general admission tickets every year. He grew up in Iowa and attended college in northeast Nebraska, and said he fell in love with the CWS and everything around it.He said he doesn’t usually have a rooting interest, and that’s part of what makes the experience so fun.“I root for good baseball,” Vic Kensler said. “And I hope everybody that comes to Omaha enjoys it and takes back good memories, and comes back again.”Morasco grew up a few miles from Rosenblatt. He has been attending the series since the 1950s and played in the stadium as a kid.“It was a big deal to go to the College World Series even before it got to be what it is today,” he said.To be sure, the CWS makes for a massive tailgating experience. Pat Hupp has been coming to the series for 30 years.Hupp, who works at insurance company in Lincoln, Neb., said some of his employees take the entire week off to hang out in Omaha. With a new venue comes an adjustment in tailgating logistics. Hupp said he was frustrated because he was having a hard time finding some tailgates, which wouldn’t have been a problem at Rosenblatt. “The park’s nice,” he said. “I think (at Rosenblatt) the tailgates and everything were all set up and everything, everyone knew where to go, I knew where all my friends were. It’s not bad here. It was great at Rosenblatt. It’ll get good here.” A visit to the row J tailgate party might just cure his frustrations. After all, it’s the spirit of the party, not where you’re having it.
(06/17/13 1:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — If tracking pitch count is overrated, then Joey DeNato is Exhibit A.The junior southpaw fired a complete-game shutout as IU beat Louisville 2-0 to win its first College World Series game Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park.The Hoosiers (49-14) will face Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Monday.DeNato (10-2) needed 136 pitches to finish off the Cardinals, surrendering just four hits while never allowing a runner past second base.“In the midst of a game like that, you never think about pitch count or your arm’s getting tired or not,” he said. “My arm felt just as good in the ninth inning as it did in the first.”Even when DeNato hit 115 pitches through seven innings and 130 through eight, even when two of DeNato’s outs in the latter innings were well-struck liners and when he gave up a sharp double with two outs in the eighth, there wasn’t so much as a passing thought of taking him out — from either coach or player.“I think we were on the same page,” DeNato said. “He knew I wanted to go out and I knew I wanted to go out, so yeah.”“We didn’t say one word to each other the entire ballgame. Truth?” IU Coach Tracy Smith asked DeNato.“Yes.”“Exactly,” Smith said.Such arm strength at the end of games wasn’t always there for DeNato. At 5 feet, 10 inches, he tended to wear down toward the end of seasons.He pitched in the Cape Cod League for two summers but decided to not throw this fall. The time off paid dividends while he rehabbed and strengthened his arm.“Last year at this point during the season, I knew my arm definitely wasn’t 100 percent,” said DeNato, who finished with eight strikeouts and three walks. “And this year, I really focused on taking care of my arm and doing rehab and all that stuff every single week. Now my arm feels just as strong as it did day one.”DeNato’s outing could have hardly come at a better time. The Hoosiers managed just seven hits and ran themselves out of scoring opportunities twice, leaving 11 men on base in all.It also snaps a streak of three consecutive games in which an IU starter failed to finish the sixth inning — including DeNato’s three-inning clunker against Florida State on June 8 — and allows Smith pitching staff flexibility.“That’s the tone-setter for the whole week that we’re here,” sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “I feel like that’s gonna play a big role in the morale of our bullpen and our starting pitchers.”But as IU polished its first College Series win on its first try, the night belonged to DeNato.“That was huge,” Smith said of DeNato’s performance. “Our mindset coming into the game was (to) stay in the winner’s bracket. If we had to use tomorrow’s starter, we were going to do it.”Among his eight strikeouts were three of the caught-looking variety — he froze a different hitter in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings on inside fastballs — illustrating the command he had of all three of his pitches.“It was great that he was having his control on everything,” Schwarber said. “I mean, his changeup was phenomenal. There really wasn’t anything that wasn’t working for him.”IU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley singled up the middle, scoring Schwarber. Junior outfielder Will Nolden was picked off trying to steal third by Louisville starter Chad Green, who lasted just two-plus innings.The Hoosiers tacked on a second run in the third on senior shortstop Michael Basil’s RBI single to left, which scored Nolden before Schwarber was gunned down at the plate by Coco Johnson.Nolden returned the favor in the bottom of the third. Cole Sturgeon singled sharply to right, and Nolden gunned home to nail Sutton Whiting who was trying to score from second. Nolden hit Schwarber on the fly, and the catcher was waiting for Whiting at the plate.Green (10-4) allowed two earned runs with four strikeouts and four walks for Louisville (51-13).
(06/17/13 1:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — The line stretched longer than the eye could see.When IU fans sitting in the general admission section made their way to TD Ameritrade Park Saturday for IU’s first game of the College World Series, they were welcomed by a familiar sight they usually see outside Assembly Hall.Fans sitting in general admission are allowed to line up for their spot outside the park several hours before the game starts.For sophomore JoJo Daghe, the line looked a lot like the line for the student section general admission to IU basketball games.“We waited a lot of nights when it was freezing before games,” she said. “I’m used to this.”The first IU fans spotted in the line were Joe and Danna Creager from Carrollton, Ky. Joe graduated from IU in 2004 and is originally from Ft. Wayne.He said being nestled in with Lousiville and Kentucky fans has made his life as an IU fan challenging at times.“It’s a little crazy,” he said. “I’m a teacher and all of my students are either U of L or UK fans. All the U of L people were asking me if I was coming to this and telling me that U of L was going to win. But I know we’re going to take this one.”Joe and Danna lined up at 2 p.m. local time — five hours before the start of the IU game.Unfortunately, the two didn’t have anything to do for their five-hour wait except people watch, but they said they enjoyed that.They decided to make the trip Wednesday and arrived at Omaha at 11 a.m. on Saturday, spending Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa.Daghe and her party of eight could not come close to seeing the Creagers. The line snaked back for hundreds of feet as people lined the sidewalk and sat against the fence outside the ballpark waiting for their opportunity to get in and see their team.Daghe stood near the end of the line. Someone else in her party asked how far up the line went, as they couldn’t even see half of it.All they could see in the straight line in front of them was people, not an entrance.“It’s crazy,” Daghe said. “Someone said it’s like 200 people, and then all of a sudden, it’s like all these people.“Daghe and her immediate family and friends left Indiana at 4 a.m. Saturday, arriving around noon local time to Omaha.They were just in time to make it in line.“It was kind of a late decision,” Daghe said. “We just decided that we really wanted to see it, and then it happened.”With his spot secured in the front of the line, Joe Creager had the chance to evaluate the fans walking past him. He thought he saw more Hoosier crimson than Cardinal red. Danna said that everywhere they had been, people had greeted them with “Go Hoosiers!”That’s exactly what made Daghe decide she had to come.“I was really excited just to be here because I’ve heard people say how awesome it is,” she said. “It definitely hasn’t let me down.”
(06/17/13 1:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — In the hallways of TD Ameritrade Park Saturday evening, sophomore outfielder Chris Sujka approached his good friend Will Nolden.“It’s blowing up on ESPN!” Sujka told him. “You’re on SportsCenter! Your throw is the No. 2 play!”“Really?” Nolden responded.The throw that gave Nolden his 15 seconds of fame may have clinched IU’s victory against Louisville Saturday night.In the bottom of the third, Louisville’s Sutton Whiting walked to advance to first.Then he made it to second on a passed ball.His next move around the bases wouldn’t be as easy.With two outs, Cole Sturgeon recorded the first hit off of junior starting pitcher Joey DeNato, dropping the ball into short right field.Whiting was waved home.By the time he got there, sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber stood planted with the ball in his glove waiting for him in front of the plate.Nolden had fired a dart from the outfield to beat Whiting.“Will has a great arm,” senior center fielder Justin Cureton said. “We all know that, and I’m glad our opponents don’t yet. They try to test it as many times as possible, but that’s just a bad move. He has a great arm, a very strong arm, a very accurate arm, and it’s a weapon out there. When he gets the ball, and someone’s going home or third, or any other base, we know he’s going to make a play. Tonight he just made a great play.”Cureton said he sees Nolden make plays similar to that routinely in practice.“I just had that feeling that Will was going to put it on the money, and he did,” Cureton said. “When I see runners try to test that arm, I’m just shaking my head like ‘please don’t do it’ for their sake. But for our sake, I’m glad we have a weapon out there in right with such a monster arm.”Louisville Coach Dan McDonnell said that with two outs, the team would be sending the runner from second “99 percent of the time” and wanted to try to capitalize off of DeNato, who hasn’t allowed an earned run to Louisville in 13 innings pitched this season.Then he acknowledged Nolden and admitted it’s easy to second guess the decision.“That kid’s got a good arm and didn’t even risk a bounce,” McDonnell said. “He threw it in the air.”Junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth watched Whiting get the wave around. He said he knew then that the inning would be over.“It was beautiful, a perfect throw,” he said. “Right when I saw them send the guy around third, I knew he was going to be out. It was a huge play for us.”Nolden also provided the offensive spark for the Hoosiers. The leadoff man went 1-2 with a double, three walks and a run scored.He started rallies in the first, third, seventh and ninth innings by reaching base.In the first, he was thrown out trying to steal third, but eventually Schwarber scored on a single by sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley.“He was huge getting on in the first inning, setting the tone for us,” DeMuth said of Nolden. “It really helped. Anytime he can get on at the leadoff spot, he can run a little bit, and we’ve got Schwarber and Sam right behind him.”When Sujka approached Nolden after the game, Sujka wasn’t surprised about the throw or the play, his expression instead stemming from ESPN finally noting something his teammates have noticed all season long.“Every time it’s hit to him,” DeMuth said, “I expect him to make a play.”
(06/17/13 12:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — IU Coach Tracy Smith has dealt with people doubting his team all year.The Hoosiers surprised many at the beginning of the year when they took two of three games from Florida, an SEC team, in Gainesville, Fla.Now they get another SEC team in their second College World Series game.IU will play Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Monday in Omaha.“SEC teams, the two traits I would say is they’re good and they’re very good,” Smith said.Being ranked last, or near last, of the eight College World Series teams in several categories doesn’t really bother him.Baseball America had IU as the worst defensive team of the eight remaining in college baseball, the second worst in starting pitching, the worst bullpen and the worst on experience and intangibles.“I read all the stuff,” Smith said. “Everyone grades us out. We’re not supposed to be able to pitch it, our defense is terrible, blah blah blah blah blah. But we’re still here, and that’s kind of the way we’re going about it.”But, IU’s total cumulative score from Baseball America, 56.4 on a scale from 20-80 with 50 being average, is the same as Mississippi State’s.The Bulldogs are the one team graded lower than IU’s 50 in starting pitching, receiving a 40.While Smith said he doesn’t read too much into those numbers, being ranked near the bottom in pitching is different.He suddenly started to talk softer and more direct, looking reporters directly in the eyes when answering.“I understand defensively, but the pitching thing kinda got me a little bit because these guys have pitched it pretty consistently, been in the top 10 all season,” Smith said. “So I don’t get it.” Is it motivation?“I hope so, ‘cause it motivates me,” he said.Smith said he made sure that his pitchers saw the rankings so they were aware of how people felt about them.“I look at some of the national breakdowns,” he said. “Yeah, I like to read that stuff just to see. And I saw that they had our pitching rated down below — how can you rate a pitching staff — when it all goes back to, ‘well, they play in the Big Ten.’”The geographic location has biased some people against IU all year. Going into the Bloomington regional, Smith talked about how he felt it was IU’s job to carry the torch for the northern schools.They’ve taken that torch all the way to Omaha.“I guess if you want to knock the northern (schools) you can,” sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley said. “But we’re out here. We’re going to prove ourselves.”After defeating Louisville 2-0 Saturday behind a dominant, complete game shutout from junior pitcher Joey DeNato, it reiterated Smith’s point about the team’s pitching.And for junior outfielder Casey Smith, it sent another message to the doubters.“I think last night was the stamp on it like, ‘Hey, we’re here,’” he said Sunday. “We play so much better with a chip on our shoulder. We need those doubters.”IU will once again be viewed as an underdog against Mississippi State after the Bulldogs knocked off the only national seed on IU’s side of the bracket, Oregon State, on Saturday afternoon.“I don’t really think of it,” Donley said. “I just go out there and play. I treat every team like it’s the same whether it’s a northern team, southern team, west coast, east coast. I’m going to go out there and keep playing the game.”
(06/17/13 12:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. — Now that the IU baseball team has won its first College World Series game, it gets a day to recharge.Come 8 p.m. Monday, though, it’s back to business when IU takes on Mississippi State at TD Ameritrade Park.“The key thing is we don’t want to be that team — the common trap of first-timers, they get all fat and sassy after the first win and think their mission is over,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “This group is not. “We’re gonna let them enjoy some time today, catch a little bit of the games on the off day, but we’ll circle the wagons again come evening time and get guys focused in again on their baseball game.” Like he has all year, Smith said he will focus more on how his team executes rather than overanalyze the opponent. Smith said he didn’t know a lot about the Bulldogs (49-18), who beat Oregon State 5-4 Saturday, and had not yet had a chance to watch a replay of that game. Smith did not name a starter for Game 2, saying he wanted to further evaluate how his pitchers match up with Mississippi State.He could go with sophomore Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers, who has struggled in his last two postseason starts, freshman left-hander Will Coursen-Carr, who is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 18.1 innings this postseason, or lefty sophomore Kyle Hart who hasn’t pitched since May 25 against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament.Slegers has made it through 8.1 innings total in his last two starts, allowing four earned runs on 15 hits in that span. He had been the No. 1 starter for the Big Ten Tournament and No. 2 for the super regional.And while Hart has had a long layoff, Smith said he would be comfortable starting him at any point, as Hart was penciled in to start a potential game four in the Bloomington Regional had the Hoosiers not swept it in three games. “The good thing about him and all these guys is they prepare every single day as if they’re going to get the ball, and I think that’s what makes this team special is there’s not sitting around moping and pouting,” Smith said of Hart. “He’s ready... and I said to him after we won at Tallahassee, ‘You’re gonna be important for us in the World Series.’”Regardless of who toes the rubber for IU, the Hoosiers have shown they can win games in different ways. IU has won four games this postseason in which it scored in double-digits, as well as four two-run contests. If Saturday’s 2-0 win against Louisville was any indication, the Hoosiers know they can win even if one part of their game — pitching, defense or offense, as was the case Saturday — falters. “It’s the best feeling ever because you take the field and not at one point in the game does it creep in your mind, ‘Oh, you know, we gotta press,’” junior outfielder Casey Smith said. “We can just handle our business.”They also bucked the recent trend for teams making their first CWS appearance: IU’s win improved such teams to 3-11 all-time. Considered an underdog coming in to Omaha, the Hoosiers might maintain thaelabel after beating the Louisville Cardinals for the third time this season, giving them an upper hand in their bracket. The deeper they get, the less realistic that label becomes. “I think people are starting to realize that we can play a little bit,” sophomore first baseman Sam Travis said. “There’s definitely gonna be the people that aren’t gonna think you’re good or think you can play with your typical SEC teams or ACC Team. But I mean, that’s gonna happen, that’s how it’s always gonna be, so we just gotta go keep playing.”
(06/16/13 6:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. --- If pitch count is overrated, then Joey DeNato is Exhibit A. The junior southpaw’s grittiness earned IU baseball a big win, and set up the Hoosiers’ pitching staff for the stretch-run. DeNato fired a complete-game shutout as IU beat Louisville 2-0 to win its first College World Series game Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park. The Hoosiers (49-14) will face Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Monday for a right to advance to the semifinals. DeNato (10-2) needed 136 pitches to finish off the Cardinals, surrendering just four hits while not allowing a runner past second base. “In the midst of a game like that, you never think about pitch count or your arm’s getting tired or not,” he said. “My arm felt just as good in the ninth inning as it did in the first.” Even when DeNato hit 115 pitches through seven innings and 130 through eight, even when two of DeNato’s outs in the latter innings were well-struck liners and he gave up a sharp double with two outs in the eighth, there wasn’t so much as a passing thought of taking him out — from either coach or player. “I think we were on the same page,” DeNato said. “He knew I wanted to go out and I knew I wanted to go out, so year.” “We didn’t say one word to each other the entire ballgame. Truth?” IU Coach Tracy Smith asked DeNato.“Yes.” “Exactly,” Smith said. Such arm strength at the end of games wasn’t always there for DeNato. At 5-foot-10, he tended to wear down toward the end of seasons, and has pitched in the Cape Cod League the past two summers. He decided to not throw this fall, and the time off has paid dividends while he rehabbed and strengthened his arm. “Last year at this point during the season, I know my arm definitely wasn’t 100 percent,” said DeNato, who finished with eight strikeouts and three walks. “And this year, I really focused on taking care of my arm and doing rehab and all that stuff every single week. “Now my arm feels just as strong as it did day one.” DeNato’s outing could hardly have come at a better time. The Hoosiers managed just seven hits and twice ran themselves out of scoring opportunities, leaving 11 men on base in all. It also snaps a streak of three consecutive games in which an IU starter failed to finish the sixth inning — included DeNato’s three-inning clunker against Florida State on June 8 — and allows Smith flexibility with his pitching staff. “That’s the tone setter for the whole week that we’re here,” sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “I feel like that’s gonna play a big role in the morale of our bullpen and our starting pitchers.” Smith did not name a starter for Game 2, saying he wanted to further evaluate how his pitchers match up with Mississippi State. He can go with Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers, who has struggled in his last two postseason starts, freshman left-hander Will Coursen-Carr, who is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 18.1 innings this postseason, or lefty sophomore Kyle Hart, who hasn’t pitched since May 25 vs. Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament. “That was huge,” Smith said of DeNato’s performance. “Our mindset coming into the game was (to) stay in the winner’s bracket. If we had to use tomorrow’s starter, we were going to do it.” But as IU polished its first College Series win on its first try, the night belonged to DeNato. Among his eight strike outs were three of the caught-looking variety — he froze a different hitter in the fourth, fifth and eighth on inside fastballs — illustrating the superb command he had of all three of his pitches. “That’s the first time he’s thrown three pinpoint around the corner and he got three strike outs on it,” Schwarber said. “It was great that he was having his control on everything. I mean, his changeup was phenomenal.“There really wasn’t anything that wasn’t working for him.”IU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley singled up the middle, scoring Schwarber. Junior outfielder Will Nolden was picked off trying to steal third by Louisville starter Chad Green, who lasted just two-plus innings.The Hoosiers tacked on their second run in third on senior shortstop Michael Basil’s RBI single to left, that scored Nolden before Schwarber was gunned down at the plate by CoCo Johnson. Nolden returned the favor in the bottom of the third. Cole Sturgeon singled sharply to right, and Nolden gunned home to nail Sutton Whiting, who was trying to score from second. Nolden hit Schwarber on the fly, and the catcher was waiting for Whiting. Green (10-4) allowed two earned runs with four strike outs and four walks for Louisville (51-13).
(06/16/13 4:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. -- In the hallways of the TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., Saturday evening, sophomore outfielder Chris Sujka approached his good friend Will Nolden."It's blowing up on ESPN!" Sujka told him. "You're on SportsCenter! Your throw is the No. 2 play!""Really?" Nolden responded.The throw that gave Nolden his 15 seconds of fame may have saved IU's victory against Louisville Saturday night.In the bottom of the third, Sutton Whiting walked to advance to first. Then he made it to second on a passed ball.His next move around the bases wouldn't be as easy.With two outs, Cole Sturgeon recorded the first hit off of IU starter Joey DeNato, dropping the ball into short right field. Whiting got waved home.By the time he got there, sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber stood planted with the ball in his glove waiting for him in front of the plate.Nolden had fired a dart from the outfield to beat Whiting."Will has a great arm," senior center fielder Justin Cureton said. "We all know that, and I'm glad our opponents don't yet. They try to test it as many times as possible, but that's just a bad move. He has a great arm. A very strong arm, a very accurate arm, and it's a weapon out there."When he gets the ball, and someone's going home or third, or any other base, we know he's going to make a play. Tonight he just made a great play."It's a play none of his teammates were surprised to see him make. Cureton said he sees Nolden make plays similar to that routinely in practice."I just had that feeling that Will was going to put it on the money, and he did," he said. "When I see runners try to test that arm, I'm just shaking my head like, 'Please don't do it' for their sake. But for our sake, I'm glad we have a weapon out there in right with such a monster arm."Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said that with two outs, the team would be sending the runner from second "99 percent of the time" and wanted to try to capitalize off of DeNato, who hasn't allowed an earned run to Louisville in 13 innings pitched this season.Then he acknowledged Nolden and admitted it's easy to second guess the decision."That kid's got a good arm and didn't even risk a bounce," McDonnell said. "He threw it in the air. "Junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth watched Whiting get the wave around. He knew then that the inning would be over."It was beautiful. A perfect throw. Right when I saw them send the guy
around third, I knew he was going to be out. It was a huge play for us."Nolden also provided the offensive spark for the Hoosiers. The leadoff man went 1-2 with a double, three walks and a run scored.He started rallies in the first, third, seventh and ninth inning by reaching base.In the first, he was thrown out trying to steal third, but eventually Schwarber scored on a single by sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley."He was huge getting on in the first inning, setting the tone for us," DeMuth said of Nolden. "It really helped. Anytime he can get on at the leadoff spot, he can run a little bit, and we've got Schwarber and Sam right behind him."When Sujka approached Nolden after the game, Sujka wasn't surprised about the throw or the play, his expression laid in the fact that ESPN had taken note of something his teammates have noticed all season long."Every time it's hit to him," DeMuth said, "I expect him to make a play."
(06/16/13 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OMAHA, Neb. -- IU started the first inning of the College World Series the same way it did in 28 of its previous 62 games: it scored a run.Saturday, that one run in the top of the first was all the offense the Hoosiers needed.IU defeated Louisville 2-0 Saturday in Omaha, Neb., in its first game of the College World Series, advancing to the winner's side of the bracket in the double-elimination tournament.Junior pitcher Joey DeNato pitched nine innings and recorded eight strikeouts to shut down the Louisville attack and record the shut out. He never allowed a runner to advance to third, and he only surrendered four hits.IU will play Mississippi State, who defeated Oregon State 5-4 Saturday afternoon, on Monday at 8 p.m.Coming into the game, Louisville had won 21 of its last 23 games, including a win against the Hoosiers March 8 in Louisville.Junior outfielder Will Nolden got things started for IU in the top of the first with a walk. Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber followed with a single to put two runners on. Nolden was eventually picked off at third on a double steal attempt, but Schwarber advanced to second.Sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley, the team's RBI leader, singled up the middle with two outs to score Schwarber from second to give IU the 1-0 lead that it would never relinquish.Nolden set the tone again in the third when IU recorded its second run. He started the inning once again with a walk. Schwarber singled, again, too. After sophomore first baseman Sam Travis walked to load the bases, Donley recorded a fly out that brought up senior shortstop Michael Basil.Basil ripped a grounder through the left side to score Nolden to make it 2-0 IU, but Schwarber was thrown out at the plate.In the third inning, Nolden gunned out Louisville's Sutton Whiting at the plate to keep the clean sheet for DeNato. Whiting started on second, and was sent home on a Cole Sturgeon single to right field. But the sharply hit ball combined with the powerful right arm of Nolden resulted in Whiting being greeted by Schwarber with the ball in his hands when he met him at home.Louisville would not threaten again the rest of the game.Saturday morning, IU Coach Tracy Smith was announced as the National Coach of the Year by the National Baseball Writers of America.The win came in front of the seventh largest crowd in College World Series history, and it was the largest crowd in TD Ameritrade Park history at 27,122.
(06/15/13 8:25pm)
College World Series fan Pat Hupp talks about his favorite part of the event at the "fanzone" outside of TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. Hupp, of Lincoln, Neb., has been coming to the College World Series for the past 30 years with his daughter and a couple of her friends.
(06/15/13 7:55pm)
University of Minnesota alum Kent Peterson talks about his tailgating experience at the College World Series as his allegiance to the Big Ten. Peterson's camp was set up in "Lot D" near TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
(06/15/13 6:05pm)
It's a special Father's Day for Larry Bentley.
(06/15/13 3:28pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Tracy Smith was named National Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association Saturday morning in Omaha, Neb.Smith led the Hoosiers to their first College World Series appearance this season. The team has also recorded a record number of wins against D-I opponents this season and won the outright Big Ten regular season title for the first time in 81 years.The Hoosiers followed that with a Big Ten Tournament Championship, the first time the team had ever won both in the same season.IU achieved a national ranking as well this year.The team hosted its first regional in school history and made just its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament. IU has won five consecutive games in the NCAA Tournament. Before that, the Hoosiers had only recorded one win in the tournament in school history.— Robby Howard
(06/13/13 12:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a team loaded with talented underclassmen, it’s easy to overlook some of its veterans. Names like Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Slegers and Sam Travis regularly appear on award lists, are mentioned frequently in broadcasts, and grace the sports section as key players.But the leadership of its four seniors — Michael Basil, Justin Cureton, Walker Stadler and Trace Knoblauch — has been integral in IU baseball’s historic ascent to its first College World Series appearance. “We’re not sitting where we are right now if we don’t have that kind of leadership in this team,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “I’ve had talented teams, and I maybe even had more talented teams than this, but what we didn’t have is exactly what we have in those guys, which is their leadership, their perspective, their work ethic has been off the charts.”All four joined the program a season after IU won its first Big Ten Tournament title and appeared in just its second NCAA Tournament, so the program wasn’t in terrible shape. Cureton said he never expected a season this good, though. “Coming in, I saw the records we’ve had in the past and I just wanted to make the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “But then coming into this year knowing the talent we had, I overlooked that.“It feels good, always to give back to a program. By having this good of a season, it just makes it that much more special because my senior year is my last year. Why not go out on top?”All four have experienced a rollercoaster ride over the four years. The team made the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 6 seed in 2010 before missing the cut the following year. In 2012, IU got hot in the second half of the season and stormed into the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed, but its season ended there. “It’s unbelievable to be able to finish it with a season like this,” said Basil, a four-year starter at shortstop. “Last year started off terribly. Ever since that season turned around it’s been amazing. To know that I’ve been able to be an upperclassman and a starter throughout all that and playing a big role in it, it’s definitely special to me to know I’ve been able to be a part of that.”Cureton, Basil and Stadler talked about leading by example, both on and off the field. Basil said that he and his fellow seniors get help from sophomores like Schwarber and Travis, who he described as natural leaders. In turn, he said, the freshman were taught the expectations of the program early on in the season. “I’ve said all year this is the easiest team to be considered a leader of because everyone knows what’s expected,” he said. “We just come to practice and make sure we’re doing everything right, and if we do stuff the right way, then the younger kids will see that and they will do it too. “Vocally, there’s not that much that has to be done to keep the team in check. Everyone is always helping each other, and I think the thing that’s really helped the team is this is the closest team I’ve ever been with from top to bottom.” Stadler and Knoblauch don’t have nearly the same impact on the field as Cureton and Basil. Knoblauch is a career .199 hitter in 171 at-bats, having started just 34 games.Stadler has a 5.96 ERA in 90.2 innings pitched and has thrown just 9.1 innings in six appearances this season. But Smith said having both players around is like having extra assistant coaches, and that without their leadership the team would not be headed to Omaha. “We don’t really care what our roles are,” Stadler said. “We’re just happy to be here and this is an unbelievable team.”
(06/13/13 12:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>He doesn’t remember exactly what happened.When freshman pitcher Will Coursen-Carr took the ball in Sunday’s fifth inning of Game 2 of the super regional in Tallahassee, Fla., he entered with the bases loaded, one out and the Hoosiers clinging to a 5-3 lead. Then he hit his first batter. It’s 5-4.“There were crazy fans there,” Coursen-Carr said. “When I came in, I hit the first batter. I took a step back and I realized all these people are yelling at me and rooting against me and everything.”He managed to escape the inning by allowing one more run, which tied the game. He pitched four innings that day, allowing only two hits and one earned run. He earned the win — a win that clinched IU’s first appearance in the College World Series.In the past three games — the two super regional games and the regional championship, arguably the three most important in IU history — Coursen-Carr has recorded either a win or a save.In the Big Ten Tournament, he pitched in the championship game, going the full nine innings to secure the 4-3 victory.He’s experienced his fair share of high pressure moments.“I think that everybody looks at CC and knows that he’s going to lay it all out there and he’s got guts,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said.But he almost buckled in Sunday’s game. Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber could see it in his demeanor. That’s why he came out to talk to Coursen-Carr immediately after hitting his first batter.That’s the conversation Coursen-Carr said he doesn’t exactly remember.“I’ve been there before in that kind of spot being a freshman, you’re in a big situation,” Schwarber said. “Just going out there, I just give him a big smile and say, ‘Hey, it happens you know. I know you’re better than these guys. This kind of stuff is going to happen. They’re going to have an inning where they get maybe three runs, you know. It’s not a big deal because (we’ve) got confidence in you to throw strikes.’ I just wanted to go out there and calm him down and give him his confidence back.”On Saturday in Game 1 of the super regional, Coursen-Carr took the call from the bullpen in the ninth inning to relieve IU’s all-time saves leader, junior Ryan Halstead.In that game, the freshman entered with runners on first and second and no outs, with IU holding on to a 10-8 lead.He threw two wild pitches and allowed one run and one hit, but with the tying run on third and the winning run at second, he closed the door on Florida State’s cleanup hitter to give IU the win.“He has a lot of confidence in himself,” Basil said. “Coming into the year, I knew he was going to be an effective pitcher for us, but I wasn’t sure we were going to get out of him what we have. Here at the end of the season, he’s been huge for us. “He’s quite honestly probably been the best pitcher on our staff over the last few weeks the way he’s been throwing the baseball. It’s been awesome to have him doing what he’s doing.”For most of the season, Coursen-Carr served as the weekday starter for IU. He’s made 16 appearances this season, 10 of which were starts. Of the starting pitchers, including the Big Ten’s Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Aaron Slegers, Coursen-Carr has the best earned run average at 1.80, although he has only pitched 60 innings compared to Slegers’ 97.During the regular season, Coursen-Carr only made four relief appearances.It’s a role he said he’s comfortable with for the postseason if that’s what IU Coach Tracy Smith asks of him.“Pitching is pitching,” Coursen-Carr said. “It doesn’t matter if I start or if I relieve.”Coursen-Carr said coming into the season, he hoped to be the guy that the team trusted with the ball in high pressure situations, but admitted he didn’t think that would actually be a reality as a freshman.“It’s pretty surreal,” he said. “It’s awesome. I’m happy to have (Smith’s) confidence and happy the team is confident in me.”Schwarber said that after watching him struggle for a bit to start the season, it’s been rewarding to watch him succeed.“I feel like as the year has progressed on,” Schwarber said, “he’s been one of those guys we can go to. I feel like he’s got a totally different demeanor out there when he’s on the mound. “He’s just doing what he needs to do. I can’t be more happy for him. That’s what I expect out of him. He’s just pounding the strike zone and he’s got some good stuff to back it up with that.”
(06/13/13 12:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For most of the year, the sign inside the Scott Rolen Clubhouse read “Omaha.”Nothing more.That was objective number two of 10 for the IU baseball team this season. Now that objective has changed. The Hoosiers have checked that off and are heading to Omaha, Neb., Saturday for a matchup with Louisville in IU’s first College World Series appearance.“We had to readjust our ‘Omaha’ to ‘winning Omaha’ now,” sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “We weren’t too specific when we wrote down our goals, and we wrote down Omaha. But now we’re there, we’ve got to make it more specific. And I feel like that’s what this team is doing a good job of handling, that ‘Oh, we’re going to Omaha. This is Omaha.’ We’re focused on we’ve got more baseball to play.”The only two goals the team hasn’t been able to check off is a team fielding percentage of .970 or better, which currently sits at .965, and a team batting average of .310 or better currently at .306.At the beginning of the season, IU Coach Tracy Smith had the idea of putting a visible reminder of all the goals for the team inside the clubhouse so that everyone stayed focused on the task at hand. Then, it seemed like “Omaha” was all that was necessary.Now the goal is more than Omaha.“It’s everybody’s dream when you play college baseball to get to Omaha,” Smith said. “That’s a good thing and that’s a bad thing because you don’t really say, ‘Let’s go win a National Championship.’ Everybody says, ‘Let’s get to Omaha.’ Well now we’re at Omaha, so it’s like we’ve had to readjust our goals. Our goals are to win this thing.”Schwarber said the team doesn’t do anything when it achieves one of the goals, such as defeating Louisville two out of three times in the regular season. The players and coaches just check that objective off mentally.After defeating Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., Sunday to advance to Omaha, Schwarber said Smith immediately acknowledged that the board needed to be updated.“He came in the dugout,” Schwarber said. “And he’s like ‘Oh wow, our billboard says Omaha, it doesn’t say anything specific about Omaha.’”For senior shortstop Michael Basil, the thought of having Omaha listed as a reachable goal is something he didn’t think would happen when he committed to IU.Junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth didn’t know if it was possible this year.“I didn’t really expect getting to Omaha to be honest,” he said. “After last year we played well down the stretch, we played well in the Big Ten Tournament, It kind of carried over to this year and it showed this year.”This year IU has won a Big Ten outright regular season title, a Big Ten Championship, hosted its first regional, and advanced to not only its first super regional but also its first College World Series.“It’s a surreal feeling,” Basil said. “When I committed here I don’t know if I honestly thought Omaha was a possibility. But coming into the season we made it a goal to go to Omaha because we knew we had the team.“It’s an amazing stride for the program. To be able to be along for that ride and get to end my career in Omaha, it’s the best possible way you could end a baseball career.”But for sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley, the mission is far from over. Despite having accomplished so many firsts this season, the team now has one more mental check to make to the big board inside the Scott Rolen Clubhouse.“You just look at the big picture,” Donley said. “You can’t think about anything like (what we’ve accomplished already). You play college baseball to try to get to the championship game and play under those lights. You can’t be satisfied with one win or winning the Big Ten or regionals and all that.”
(06/13/13 12:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s not who you beat, but when you beat them. When Indiana and Louisville play each other at 8 p.m. Saturday in the opening round of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., it will be the fourth meeting this season between the two teams and on the biggest stage yet. The Hoosiers took two of three from the Cardinals in the regular season, an error late in the third game costing them a sweep. To IU Coach Tracy Smith, though, the postseason is a new season, and regular season head-to-head results mean little. “I would say they’re playing really, really good baseball right now, better than they played earlier in the season,” he said. “So I’m not gonna put any stock into the fact that we beat them twice during the regular season.”Nonetheless, the matchup has developed into a Midwestern rivalry. The team accomplished one of its preseason goals by taking two games from the Cardinals, who had owned the Hoosiers in the recent seasons. Louisville had won 10 of the previous 11 games prior to 2013, outscoring IU 34-8 in two wins against IU in 2012. “We feel like we’re almost like their kid brother,” junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth said. “They beat us up pretty good last year and we kind of got back at them this year.”The significance of beating a regional college baseball powerhouse — the Cardinals have made the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven seasons and appeared in the College World Series in 2007 — was not lost on DeMuth, either. “We definitely have confidence against them beating them twice and playing them down to the wire at their place,” he said. “I don’t think it’s friendly. I don’t think they like us, we probably don’t like them, but they’re a good team. We respect them and have a lot of respect for their program.”The Hoosiers will send junior left-hander Joey DeNato (9-2, 2.76 ERA) to the mound. He struggled in his last start, lasting just three innings giving up two earned runs and walking four in IU’s 10-9 super-regional win against Florida State Saturday. As a unit, IU’s starters have struggled with their command in five postseason games, walking 12 in 23.1 innings. Only once has a starter lasted at least six innings in that span.Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber was not concerned with his starters. He said they were just going through a normal slump all pitchers experience. “Those guys have been solid for us all throughout the year,” he said. “I’m expecting Joey to come out and be Joey. He’s just gonna come out there and pound the strike zone.”DeNato and his teammates dealt with a hostile crowd in Tallahasee, Fla., something Schwarber said will help prepare the Hoosiers for the stage in Omaha. “There’s not gonna be a more hostile place in college baseball,” he said. “Playing in the super regional down at Florida State, those fans are brutal. That’s gonna help us calm ourselves down in the midst of all the people around us and the lights shining on us.”The Hoosiers will also have to play in yet another unfamiliar venue, and will move from a more hitter-friendly ballpark to a spacious one. While Florida State’s Dick Howser Stadium featured a short porch in right and a high wall that encourages doubles and triples, Omaha’s TD Ameritrade Park features larger dimensions — 335 feet to left and right field, and 408 to dead center — than the average ballpark.For the Big Ten Tournament, IU played at the Minnesota Twins’ Target Field, which is even deeper in left and the left-center field gap, and the same distance to center.Smith said other coaches who have played at TD Ameritrade Park have suggested he tell his hitters to not to hit fly balls in batting practice to adjust to the dimensions. “That’s like telling the Pope not to pray,” he said. “We’re gonna be who we are. I’m not gonna try to change them in one week’s time.” He said the first seven or eight hitters in his lineup have gap-to-gap power, which plays well in this particular ballpark, he said. The Hoosiers have averaged 9.4 runs per game in the postseason, scoring in double digits in three of five games while clubbing six home runs. “We don’t think there’s a hole in our lineup,” DeMuth said. “You go one-through-nine and everyone can hit, everyone can bunt, can do the little things and we have a lot of confidence in our lineup. If pitching’s not there one game, we feel like we can swing our way out of it.”The Hoosiers are the only Big Ten team to make Omaha this year, and the first since Michigan in 1984. Smith said he received “nasty emails” from people in Tallahassee saying IU had no chance of winning.“It makes it that much sweeter when we’re able to defy the odds,” junior outfielder Will Nolden said. “They definitely doubted us heading down to Florida State. We felt it more than ever. I think what we were able to do down there sends a message to the rest of the country.”
(06/13/13 12:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you were paying even the least bit of attention to IU athletics during the 2011-12 season, you were aware of Hoosier basketball’s “resurrection.” However, something of even greater magnitude has transpired during the past week. The Hoosier baseball team has advanced to its first College World Series appearance in school history, which is even more astonishing in the proper context. The Hoosiers have become the first Big Ten Conference team to reach the College World Series since 1984 and did so by defeating Florida State twice during the super regional on the Seminoles’ diamond last weekend. Keep in mind that IU entered that series as the undeniable underdog, particularly against a team that had posted one of college baseball’s most gleaming home records at 35-3. The Seminoles also earned the No. 7 national seed from the NCAA.The combination of those conditions forecasted what was destined to be a bitter end to the Hoosiers’ dream season, but they continued to distort the concept of fate. Yet the one piece of information that is absolutely jaw-dropping — for lack of a more effective phrase — is the fact that prior to the current season, the Hoosiers had recorded one NCAA tournament victory through 118 seasons. Consider that figure. One victory in 118 seasons. IU Coach Tracy Smith and his team have defied not only the historical odds, but all types of odds imaginable within collegiate baseball. First and foremost, the Hoosiers have disproved the theory that teams located in the “cold” regions, specifically the Midwest, aren’t legitimate contenders once postseason play arrives. There is some truth to that statement, though. The Big Ten Conference is considered somewhat of a “mid-major” in baseball, meaning that it’s extremely rare to see one of its members advance deep into the NCAA Tournament. And considering the conference’s struggle to make any noise in the tournament lately, the trajectory of the Hoosiers’ season has an air of added significance. A cross section of the team reveals an unmistakable winning formula. It all begins with pitching. Of the Hoosiers’ four main starting pitchers — freshman Will Coursen-Carr, sophomore Aaron Slegers, junior Joey DeNato and sophomore Kyle Hart — not one has an earned run average higher than 3.01. The group’s combined ERA rests at a sparkling 2.43. The Hoosiers have also been equally as dominant at the dish, posting a team batting average of .306 that includes 197 extra base hits, 18 of which have arrived from sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber’s spectacular 18 home runs. Don’t believe that the success the Hoosiers have enjoyed is smoke and mirrors, either. Coursen-Carr, Slegers, DeNato and Hart each have eligibility remaining beyond the current season, although Slegers is likely to go to the MLB, where the Minnesota Twins drafted him in the fifth round. And of the Hoosiers’ primary batters, only two — senior shortstop Michael Basil and senior center fielder Justin Cureton — will see their eligibility clocks expire at the final out of the current season, with junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth also probably departing to join Slegers, as he was selected in the eighth round by the Twins. This may just be the beginning of a potential dynasty in Bloomington. — ckillore@indiana.edu
(06/12/13 3:03pm)
IU sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley, sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber, senior shortstop Michael Basil, freshman pitcher Will Coursen-Carr and junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth talk about the IU baseball team making its first appearance in Omaha, Neb. The position players all note that this is the best offensive lineup they have ever been apart of, and Basil and Schwarber talk about the development of Coursen-Carr.
(06/12/13 2:39pm)
IU Coach Tracy Smith talks to the media about the IU baseball team's first appearance in the College World Series and what it means to the program. He also talks about the matchup with Louisville and announces the starting pitcher for Game 1 to be Joey DeNato.