IU hopes to move on after winning streak with matchup against Purple Aces

The IU baseball team had spent approximately 60 percent of its season on the nation’s longest winning streak.

No. 17 Hoosiers’ 18-game winning streak snapped Sunday when Illinois took down IU, 3-2.

“We had the longest (streak) in the country this season,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said. “That’s something to be proud of. We just let one get away and didn’t play our best baseball, but we got to get right back to it and can’t let one loss affect us here on out.”

The streak hadn’t just been the longest active streak in the nation. It was the longest streak the NCAA has seen at any point during this season.

“Other teams have been losing throughout the streak the entire time,” Basil said. “And we just have to keep playing good baseball and get back to winning.”

Even though the streak was snapped, IU is still in first place in the Big Ten. They are currently one game ahead of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who sit at 7-2 in conference play.

“You know, it’s like we were unbeatable, but now it puts us on the level of getting back to baseball,” freshman infielder Nick Ramos said.

IU hasn’t won a Big Ten championship since 1949, but if the team keeps up its high level of play, they will be taking home the conference crown come May.

The Hoosiers lead the league in several offense categories, including batting average, hits, runs, doubles, home runs, RBI’s, total bases, slugging percentage, walks and on-base percentage. They also have the lowest team ERA in the conference at 2.34.

The stranglehold on the conference statistics is unlike any other in college baseball. The fact that IU has had such strong pitching performances as well as a potent offense is unlike any other team in the country.

In the five of the other biggest conferences in the nation — the SEC, Pac 12, ACC, Sun Belt and Big 12 — there is no team that leads the league in batting average while also boasting the lowest team ERA.

“It’s just so steady,” junior outfielder Casey Smith said. “You don’t have any guys to worry about in the lineup, everyone can put the ball in play. Defensively, everyone’s steady and we’re so deep off the bench, it just gives you so much confidence.

“It doesn’t have to be one guy, it doesn’t have to be (sophomore infielder) Sam (Travis) or (sophomore catcher Kyle) Schwarber. It can be different people every night.”

During the streak, Smith said that the team didn’t care what the number of consecutive wins was and that the Hoosiers just took each game individually. That’s what they’ll continue to do now that the streak is broken, he said.

“Let’s just say we’re not superstitious,” Smith said. “We honestly think we can win every single game. And we might be stubborn, but hey, we really think we’re going to win every single game.”