No. 29 IU sweeps Penn State in 3-game set

Though the new Bart Kaufman Field has lights, IU’s starting pitchers were lights out in the No. 29 Hoosiers’ (18-3, 3-0) conference-opening series against Penn State.

Junior Joey DeNato, sophomore Kyle Hart and sophomore Aaron Slegers combined to allow two runs — one earned on 11 hits in 20 and one-third innings — as the Hoosiers swept the Nittany Lions to increase their winning streak to 11 games and continue the program’s best start in 14 years.

In game two of Saturday’s doubleheader, IU Coach Tracy Smith said Slegers was on a pitch count due to his start Wednesday against Miami (Ohio). Despite scoring two runs in game one of the doubleheader Saturday, IU’s offense rebounded to score 11 runs in game two, giving the Hoosiers double-digit runs for the fourth time in their last six games.

“It’s always good to have a close game in there,” junior infielder Dustin DeMuth said.

In that span, the Hoosiers have enjoyed the same hitters in the top six of the order. Sophomore catcher and infielder Chad Clark said that constructs confidence.

“We build off each individual player,” said Clark, who himself started in the eighth slot in the batting order in each of the last six games. “Each guy in the lineup has their own role. We know each guy will produce, and the guy behind him will produce. Basically, we just build trust in each other throughout the lineup.”

Smith said he is following a decision he and his staff made before the season began.

“The more comfortable we can make these guys feel, and there’s not a lot of surprises when these guys show up at the yard, I think it’s going to help in their play,” Smith said. “That’s one of the things we talked about as a staff prior to the year. We were going to make decisions early and go with it for a while so that we could try to get the guys comfortable and settled in to their positions.”

The Hoosiers were quite comfortable once they got into PSU’s bullpen in the sixth inning in game two, hanging a crooked number on the scoreboard in the sixth, including four runs — three earned — against Jack Anderson, a freshman pitcher with a submarine delivery. Clark said some of the veterans on the team have experience facing ex-Hoosier pitcher Jonny Hoffman, who featured a submarine delivery. More importantly, though, Anderson was leaving the ball up in the zone.

“You’ve just got to stay back on those guys and let the ball travel deep,” DeMuth said. “See it deep, see it up. If he puts it up, it’s going to be pretty easy to hit. If he’s down in the zone, it’s going to be a little tough.”

The Hoosiers’ staff, in contrast, was sharp. DeMuth said his teammates build off their pitching staff.

They will enter Tuesday night’s contest against the No. 13 Cardinals with momentum. Louisville, however, lost their series at home against Rutgers. Smith said his team did not panic in his team’s 2-0 win Saturday.

“Our challenge is going to be to keep that same type of focus, intensity,” he said.