Rain, rain go away: IU to play second home game

In the eight games played so far this year, the Hoosier baseball team has only touched Sembower Field once for a home game. The team members have already made lengthy road trips to Millington, Tenn., as well as Shreveport, La., and found success in both places. After more than 12 hours of driving Sunday into early Monday morning, the team is finally home. \nThe Hoosiers are set to face the Xavier Musketeers 3 p.m. today as part of a two-game set at home against Xavier and in-state rival Butler. IU was originally scheduled to face Butler last Wednesday, but the game was canceled during to inclement weather. \nBecause of the weekend the Hoosiers took three out of four games at the Gent Classic against Arkansas-Little Rock and Centenary and claimed the classic championship. Second baseman Jay Brant, who drove in four runs in Sunday's winning effort, said the success during the weekend should carry to this week's games.\n"We had a good weekend and we need to build off of that," Brant said. "Xavier and Butler are tough teams and we need our momentum to continue this week."\nIU coach Bob Morgan has stressed run production and strong pitching to his team throughout the early portion of this season. Despite having scored at least three runs in every game so far this year, Morgan said he feels the offense still needs to capitalize with run scoring opportunities. He said he still sees room for improvement with the team's pitching as well.\n"There are too many walks," Morgan said. "We've started to score some runs, but we can be even more productive."\nThe Hoosier offense tallied a total of 32 runs during the weekend, in large part because of the play of third baseman Corby Heckman. Heckman belted nine hits and drove in three runs before going down with a minor ankle injury. Heckman said while he hopes to play sometime this week, he will not rush into getting back on the field.\nIf Heckman is unable to play, the Hoosiers have six other players batting above .300 on the year to whom they might look for run production. Among those six is first baseman Ryan Parker, who is batting .441 on the year with five doubles and a .735 slugging percentage. Parker hit his first home run of the season last Friday against Centenary, which was just one of several firsts for individuals on the Hoosier squad. Two freshman pitchers, right-hander Chris McCombs and left-hander Brad Davidson, both picked up their first collegiate victories during the weekend as well. \nDavidson said the weekend success was not only a confidence booster for him individually, but for the team as a whole.\n"We need to keep it going strong from here on out," Davidson said. "If we keep playing like we are we can really take it to (Xavier and Butler)."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Matt Mattucci at mmattucc@indiana.edu.