Confident Hoosiers swing for 5 straight

Confidence is the buzz word at Sembower Field this week, and the IU baseball team is brimming with it. That’s what happens when a team puts together a four-game winning streak and ranks second in the Big Ten in both hitting and pitching with the conference schedule right around the corner. \nBut tempered optimism is the order of the day for the Hoosiers, who will host Xavier today at 3 p.m. at Sembower Field looking to extend their momentum prior to opening Big Ten play this weekend. \n“We just try to take it one game at a time,” freshman outfielder Kipp Schutz said before practice Tuesday. “We know that we can’t look past any of our opponents.”\nPart of that increase in confidence is due to a greater level of experience on the team, especially among the heralded sophomore class that logged so many innings as freshmen last year.\n“The main thing for our class was just getting a lot of playing time last year and getting that experience and knowing what to expect,” Schutz said.\nIU coach Tracy Smith said he thinks his team is learning what a winning mentality feels like. \n“I think there’s no question,” Smith said, standing outside his team’s locker room before practice Tuesday. “I’ve said, you learn how to win, you learn how to lose. So, hopefully, we’re starting to learn how to win a little bit, and know what that feels like.”\nAwaiting the Hoosiers in their third game at Sembower in 2008 are the Xavier Musketeers (6-10), who come to Bloomington fresh off a 5-3 loss to Dayton. The Musketeers struggle both in the box and on the mound, boasting just a .250 team batting average while carrying a 6.57 overall team ERA.\nThere will be a familiar face on the opposing bench today in the form of Xavier coach Scott Googins, who spent eight years as an assistant at IU and worked under Smith at Miami (Ohio) before leaving to take the top slot at Xavier. \nExpected to start for the Hoosiers today is sophomore right-hander Eric Arnett, who is currently 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in five appearances. Arnett said his focus on the mound this afternoon will be to force as many ground balls as possible and to throw strikes early in the count.\nArnett said he feels the same confidence Smith and Schutz talked about, something he said makes the game more fun. \n“It makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have people that are excited about winning and confident about winning behind you,” said the Evansville native.\nArnett also said the improved weather — which means the team can practice outside instead of at Mellencamp Pavilion — is helping both the hitters and pitchers improve.\nSomething that isn’t improving, much to Smith’s chagrin, is IU’s team defense, which ranks second to last in the Big Ten with 33 errors. Smith said the team will continue to work on improving their defense, as well as rotating players to try and solve their fielding woes. \nThe Hoosiers begin Big Ten play Friday at Minnesota. The Hoosiers have said all along that conference play this year is their main focus as they look to return to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2003. \n“We certainly want to have a good showing against Xavier tomorrow,” Smith said. “But everything we’ve talked about up to this point is preparing for the Big Ten, which I think we’ve done a pretty good job of doing.”