Record-breaking sweep

Several weeks ago, IU coach Tracy Smith told reporters he had stopped looking at where his team stood in the Big Ten standings. Now he’s free to look at them as much as he wants. \n“Honestly, I haven’t yet. But yes, I will,” Smith said Saturday after his team swept Michigan State in four games to make their first Big Ten Tournament appearance since 2003. The Hoosiers (28-28, 15-17) defeated the Spartans 9-2, 7-6, 7-3 and 14-5 in their most successful conference series of the year, just when they needed it most.\nThe Hoosiers entered the weekend needing either three or four wins plus some help from Michigan against Northwestern to make the tournament. The Wolverines won their first two games at home against the Wildcats while the Hoosiers took care of the rest. \nThe series started with a strong performance from sophomore right-hander Eric Arnett, who threw eight innings of two-run baseball. The Hoosiers backed him up with nine runs, and Chris Squires struck out the side in the ninth for the win. \nJunior left fielder Chris Hervey, who had three hits – including a home run – and four RBIs in game one, characterized the game-one win as “huge.”\n“Winning that game gave us a little wiggle room,” Hervey said. \nGame two marked the fourth straight decision won by sophomore southpaw Matt Bashore, who pitched his fifth complete game of the year in the 7-6 win. \n“We’ve been preaching all along, it’s about what happens on the hill,” Smith said of his pitching staff’s performance over the weekend. “I think the guys are starting to get a little bit more confidence on the mound.”\nIn game three, senior Chris McCombs and sophomore Matt Carr, both right-handers, combined to shut the Michigan State offense down in a 7-3 victory. Carr was especially solid, pitching scoreless innings in relief.\nAt the plate, freshman first baseman Jerrud Sabourin continued his hot hitting this year, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.\nThe Hoosiers entered game four needing just one win or one Northwestern loss to advance into the Big \nTen Tournament. \nHervey said the Hoosiers adopted an attitude of “let’s take care of business ourselves,” which he said made winning all the more sweet.\n“It’s so much better because it shows we did it ourselves,” said Hervey, who also set an IU record of his own this weekend: most times hit by a pitch in a single season. “I think it helps with momentum. We’re playing our best baseball of the year right now.”\nThe Hoosiers took matters into their own hands, scoring seven runs in the first two innings en route to a resounding 14-5 victory that ended the five-year drought. \nPitcher Tyler Tufts forced Michigan State into six double plays in a game the Spartans were never really in, as the Hoosiers staked Tufts to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first. \nSophomore catcher Josh Phegley closed out one of the best hitting seasons in the program’s history, banging his 13th home run of the season and plating three RBIs. Those three gave Phegley 43 RBIs in Big Ten play this year, besting by three the previous record for RBIs in a conference season set by Illinois’ Mike Klimek in 1996.\nSmith said after the game that he was most impressed with his team’s approach to their critical four-game road trip. He said they never seemed tense or looked like they were putting too much pressure on themselves. \nSmith also said he’s pleased with the way his team has reacted so far to their first postseason appearance as IU baseball players, calling their overall demeanor “businesslike.”\nPhegley said his coach had it right in terms of their attitude, and he exuded the confidence the Hoosiers used to score 37 runs in their first conference series sweep since 1999.\n“We’re gonna be a tough team to beat if our offense and pitching are on at the same time,” said Phegley of the team’s tournament chances. They open conference play at 3:35 p.m. Wednesday against Penn State, a team that swept IU in College Park, Penn., earlier this year. \nFor IU senior shortstop David Trager, one of just four players in their last year at IU, making the Big Ten Tournament is a sweet end to a mostly bitter career at IU. He and his three fellow seniors – McCombs, shortstop Tyler Cox and right-handed pitcher Doug Fleenor – all stated throughout the year their desire to close out their IU careers with a conference tournament appearance. To hear it from Trager, three years of rebuilding have been worth a last year of success. \n“It’s great that it is our senior year and we’re making the turn in the program,” Trager said. “All this hard work is finally paid out.”