Baseball looks to bounce back after 1st loss in a month

After suffering its first loss since the opening weekend of spring break Sunday, IU will travel to the bottom left corner of Indiana to try and start a new streak.

No. 17 IU (25-4, 8-1 Big Ten) will face off against the Evansville Purple Aces (14-18, 5-4 Missouri Valley Conference) at 7 p.m. today in Evansville.

Last year, IU defeated Evansville 5-4 but had to score two runs in the bottom on the ninth to get past the Purple Aces.

Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber will probably not play in the game on Tuesday, IU Coach Tracy Smith said.

“We’ll probably give him a little time during the week,” Smith said. “But speaking briefly with the doctors today, he’ll be ready to roll on Friday.”

The team’s usual two-hole hitter, who leads his team in batting average, hits, home runs and slugging percentage, was held out of Sunday’s game due to a sprained knee he suffered in Saturday’s game against Illinois.

IU suffered its first loss since March 9 against Illinois on Sunday, and freshmen pitcher Scott Effross stressed the importance of staying focused on what is coming up next.

“It’s definitely disappointing, it’s tough right now,” Effross said. “But definitely got to learn from that game, come back against Evansville this week and come back against Michigan State this weekend.”

Evansville has three players hitting above .300 this season, led by Kevin Kaczmarski’s .338 clip.

In comparison, IU has seven batters hitting above .300 this year. Schwarber leads the team with a .420 average.

Even though Evansville has played three more games and has more at-bats this season then IU has, the Hoosiers still have more runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs and RBI’s, and have a higher team batting average.

However, the Purple Aces do have less fielding errors than the Hoosiers this year. IU had three errors in their loss against Illinois on Sunday, but Smith said he does not see that as a recurring problem.

“Baseball’s a sport where they create a column on the scoreboard for errors, so they’re probably going to happen,” Smith said. “But no, I’m not worried about that.”