Hoosiers complete West Coast trip strong with wins in 4 of last 5

The IU baseball team spent spring break in California, just like plenty of other college students. There probably wasn’t much time for sightseeing though. \nThe team traveled to Fresno, Calif., for eight games in eight days – a two-game set against Fresno State before the six-game round-robin Pepsi/Johnny Quik Tournament. After losing their first three games out west, the Hoosiers (7-7) heated up, winning four of their last five to break an even 4-4 on the trip. The four victories brought the Hoosiers a third- place finish in the tournament. \nIU coach Tracy Smith said he believes his team improved over the break, which was his main focus out west. \n“I was pleased,” Smith said Saturday. “I thought we got better and just more comfortable playing the game of baseball as the week went on.”\nThird place wasn’t the only thing IU brought home with them from the Pacific Time Zone. Sophomore shortstop Evan Crawford was named the tournament’s top overall offensive player after notching a .464 batting average, driving in eight runs and stealing five bases. \nCrawford, who began the tournament with a 3-for-4 performance against Gonzaga, called the award a “pretty good accomplishment.” Overall, Crawford had five multi-hit games in the series. \nCrawford said he believed both he and the team started the trip sluggish. He credited Smith for bringing the team together. \n“Coach Smith told us to start trusting each other and believing we could win,” Crawford said. \nHowever, the trip’s most exciting moment had nothing to do with third place. \nWith IU up 8-0 in the eighth, Crawford and junior outfielder Andrew Means led off the inning with back-to-back singles. \nDuring the next at-bat, Fresno State pitcher Jake Floethe hit IU’s Josh Phegley in the back with the first pitch. Smith took exception, calling the pitch intentional. Emotions ran high, and both benches emptied onto the field. \nNo serious fighting broke out, but the umpires chose to eject all players who ran onto the field that were not currently playing, forcing both teams to play out the rest of the game with the lineups they had prior to Phegley’s at-bat.\n“I have always had an issue with that – when you start throwing at kids, you are putting kids’ careers in jeopardy, and to me there is no place for that,” Smith said following the game. “It’s not something we are proud of and I wish it wouldn’t have happened.”\nCrawford said he and his teammates knew they had to protect each other, but none of them were looking for a fight or were proud of what transpired. \n“We stuck together as a team and that was good, but the whole situation was bad overall,” Crawford said. \nIU quickly put that incident – and an 11-2 loss to Utah the next day – behind them, thanks to sophomore pitcher Matt Bashore. The Tipp City, Ohio, native shut out Portland in a 7-0 IU victory last Thursday, striking out 12 and setting the stage for IU’s win against New Mexico State the following day to take home third place and close the tournament with a victory. \nFollowing the tournament, Crawford said the Hoosiers believe they have a good chance to compete for a Big Ten Championship this year, and Bashore agreed. \nStaff writer Ryan Gregg contributed to this report.