Tight-knit sophomores explode onto scene

IU baseball coach Tracy Smith couldn’t wait to gain the freshman 19 last year. \nNineteen freshmen baseball players, gathered from across the country, made up Smith’s first full recruiting class. \nNow, 13 of those freshmen remain and comprise the core of his IU team. \nTwo of those players redshirted last season and are therefore technically still freshmen. But the 13 current sophomores and redshirt freshmen that came into the program last year as true freshmen are banding together in search of the Hoosiers’ first Big Ten Tournament appearance since 2003. \nSmith said he and his staff made a “conscious decision” last year to play their freshmen more, knowing the team might struggle. \n“We were going to play a lot of those kids last year,” Smith said. “You don’t want to take your lumps, but it was for a reason. It was to get them ready for this year.”\nThat “conscious decision” looks like it’s paying off. \nThrough six games, three of the top four batting averages on the team belong to sophomores. Three members of that class are among the top four in total hits so far this season, with sophomore catcher Josh Phegley leading the team in that category. Phegley also leads the team in runs batted in, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. \nThe sophomores get it done from the rubber, too, having accounted for 22 1/3 of the Hoosiers’ 51 innings pitched and 23 of IU’s 47 strikeouts. Southpaw Matt Bashore has 14 of those strikeouts himself, in only 10 1/3 innings pitched. \nThree sophomores – Bashore, Phegley and shortstop Evan Crawford – earned All-Invitational honors at the Austin Peay Invitational last weekend, where the Hoosiers went 2-1. Phegley batted for the cycle in a 5-for-5 performance in the Hoosiers’ final game, a 17-14 victory over in-state foe Valparaiso. \nBashore said he thinks some of his classmates’ strong early-season stats are because of the extra playing time last year Smith referenced.\n“There were parts of (last) season we were feeling our way through,” Bashore said, “and this year, I think we know what to expect, and we’ve got confidence and we feel like we can make a run this year.”\nLefthander Chris Squires agreed, saying the sophomores arrived on campus this fall with a better “identity,” which he said in turn made preseason preparation much easier. \nAnd that class only got better in the offseason with the addition of two sophomore transfers – Tyler Rogers from Ball State and Michael Earley from Cincinnati. \nIt’s not always going to be roses when a team leans so heavily on youth, something Smith admitted readily. Smith pointed to four errors made in a 5-4 loss to LSU on Feb. 23, a statistic Smith said cost the Hoosiers a chance to take a season-opening series victory over the No. 34 team in the nation. \nHowever, the third-year coach said he sometimes has to remind himself that his sophomores are still just that, regardless of how much experience they have. \n“I’ll be aggravated at some kid for making a mistake, but then I take a step back,” Smith said. “You’re looking at them as these seasoned veterans, but yet they’re still only in their second year of college baseball.”\nPhegley said many members of the sophomore class now find themselves acting more like veterans than they ever did last year, something he realized when new players started looking to him and his classmates for advice. \n“We’re kind of forced into leadership positions,” Phegley said. “Seeing ourselves in them, we’ve come a long way.”