Hoosiers to open 2013 season in Florida

IU baseball will open its season at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge 7 p.m. Friday in Dunedin, Fla., against a team that IU Coach Tracy Smith said had IU’s number quite a bit: No. 19 Louisville. The Cardinals defeated the Hoosiers by a combined 34-8 margin in two games last season.

Friday’s matchup will be the first of three games played between the two teams in 2013.

“We asked the guys to identify important goals for the season,” Smith said. “One of the goals is, we want to take, minimum, two out of three from Louisville. Unless they were lying to me, I think they’re going to be pretty jacked up to play them.”

To give them the best opportunity to achieve that objective, IU will have to take care of the baseball. Last season, IU led the conference with 109 errors. Then-junior infielder Michael Basil led the team with 23 miscues.

Smith said he’s never seen one of his teams commit as many errors as they did last season. However, he said the Hoosiers have improved in this area.

“I remember saying to the coaches about Basil in particular,” Smith said. “‘Look how much better he’s gotten just because he doesn’t want to stand out in a negative way amongst some pretty talented, slick-fielding freshmen.’ I think depth has helped us big time.”

Smith said alumni in the professional ranks have stopped by practice and noticed how much better the Hoosiers execute their pregame infield routine.

“‘You’ve never taken infield like this,’” Smith recalled visitors saying. “‘That stuff looks good.’ I think a lot of it is because of the competition.”

Junior left-handed ace Joey DeNato will start against UL, followed by sophomore right-hander Aaron Slegers on Saturday night against Connecticut. Sophomore Kyle Hart will start Sunday afternoon against South Florida.

Slegers has pitched for the Hoosiers for two seasons. However, due to injury, he has made only six appearances in his entire career.

DeNato said contributions from Slegers, who is 6-feet-10-inches, would greatly help the team.

“It would be huge if he could have a lot of success this year,” DeNato said. “He’s really improved over the years. He’s been pitching great all fall and all winter. If we can have him on the mound, I think it would be a great asset.”

Despite what each pitcher offers, sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said there are no guarantees.

“We got a lot of competition for our starting slots,” he said. “Everything is subject to change after the first weekend.”

The Hoosiers’ offense, fifth in the Big Ten last season with a .272 average, will be without the services of freshman second baseman Nick Ramos, Smith said.

“We have expectations in the program,” Smith said. “Within any family, you have little screw-ups or guys that are gonna challenge those expectations. It may limit your opportunities on the field. I always dole out my team punishments the first series of the year. Ramos positioned himself to get a lot of time at second base this year. He’s not going to be starting at second base for the first weekend ... We’re going to run Chad Clark out there.”