IU locks eyes on Big Ten title

The baseball field was located where the IMU is now, IU Coach Tracy Smith wouldn’t be born for more than twenty years, and IU’s now-vacant Sembower Field was still two years from construction.

It’s been quite a while since the IU baseball team won its last Big Ten regular season title — 64 years to be exact — but the Hoosiers are staring down a chance at championship No. 5.

“Everything in the past in the season doesn’t really matter,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said. “We have everything in front of us that we want to accomplish. We haven’t been in this situation since I’ve been here and being in the driver’s seat going into the last weekend is unbelievable.”

The Hoosiers (38-12, 15-6 Big Ten) head into a three-game set with Ohio State in first place in the Big Ten to conclude the regular season. With a sweep of the Buckeyes, IU would clinch its first Big Ten title since 1949 and first outright title since 1932.

First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Thursday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus, Ohio as junior Joey DeNato (7-1, 2.67 ERA) will go for IU opposite senior right-hander Brad Goldberg (6-1, 3.41).

Inside the IU clubhouse stands a large board detailing 10 team goals. Quite a few have already been checked off the list — maintain a team ERA under 4.0, secure a top-25 ranking, beat Louisville two out of three times, for example — but the one at the top of the list still remains: “Win Big Ten Championship.”

“It’s nice to accomplish those goals but as competitive athletes we always want that next one. We always want them all,” sophomore pitcher Aaron Slegers said. “If we don’t achieve one goal, we feel like it’s not good enough.”

IU doesn’t necessarily have to sweep the Buckeyes to capture the conference crown. If the Hoosiers take two-of-three from Ohio State and Minnesota loses one game to Illinois in its three game series, IU would clinch a share of the regular season title.

If all of those things happen and Nebraska loses one game in its three-game series with Michigan, IU clinches the outright title.

The Buckeyes (33-19, 14-7) sit one game back of the Hoosiers while Minnesota, at 12-6 in conference, trails in winning percentage points and is in third. Nebraska is 14-7 in the conference and tied for third with Minnesota. The Cornhuskers have a three game set with Michigan starting Thursday.

“I’m not stupid … Everybody knows what’s at stake this weekend,” Smith said. “You can call those trap games, call them whatever — we weren’t sharp (Tuesday at Kentucky). As a coach, I’m striving for these guys to play no matter what the circumstances are.

“If these guys aren’t ready to play this weekend and focus this weekend then they don’t deserve to play baseball.”

Smith acknowledged the media hype surrounding this year’s team, calling the extra attention “inevitable.” Should the Hoosiers take care of business against Ohio State, they are also in line to capture an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament — goal No. 2 on the board — and host a NCAA regional at Bart Kaufman Field.

“To think that you can totally block that stuff out is not realistic,” he said. “To me the best thing you can do is just take it head on and just make sure they’re professional about it and understand they’re just words. It’s just stuff on paper. You still gotta go do it out on the field.

“It’s just like this whole hosting thing — if we don’t play well down the stretch, kiss this whole hosting thing goodbye.”