Column: The beginning of a baseball dynasty?

If you were paying even the least bit of attention to IU athletics during the 2011-12 season, you were aware of Hoosier basketball’s “resurrection.”

However, something of even greater magnitude has transpired during the past week.

The Hoosier baseball team has advanced to its first College World Series appearance in school history, which is even more astonishing in the proper context.

The Hoosiers have become the first Big Ten Conference team to reach the College World Series since 1984 and did so by defeating Florida State twice during the super regional on the Seminoles’ diamond last weekend.

Keep in mind that IU entered that series as the undeniable underdog, particularly against a team that had posted one of college baseball’s most gleaming home records at 35-3.

The Seminoles also earned the No. 7 national seed from the NCAA.

The combination of those conditions forecasted what was destined to be a bitter end to the Hoosiers’ dream season, but they continued to distort the concept of fate.

Yet the one piece of information that is absolutely jaw-dropping — for lack of a more effective phrase — is the fact that prior to the current season, the Hoosiers had recorded one NCAA tournament victory through 118 seasons.

Consider that figure.

One victory in 118 seasons.

IU Coach Tracy Smith and his team have defied not only the historical odds, but all types of odds imaginable within collegiate baseball.

First and foremost, the Hoosiers have disproved the theory that teams located in the “cold” regions, specifically the Midwest, aren’t legitimate contenders once postseason play arrives.

There is some truth to that statement, though.

The Big Ten Conference is considered somewhat of a “mid-major” in baseball, meaning that it’s extremely rare to see one of its members advance deep into the NCAA Tournament.

And considering the conference’s struggle to make any noise in the tournament lately, the trajectory of the Hoosiers’ season has an air of added significance.

A cross section of the team reveals an unmistakable winning formula.

It all begins with pitching.

Of the Hoosiers’ four main starting pitchers — freshman Will Coursen-Carr, sophomore Aaron Slegers, junior Joey DeNato and sophomore Kyle Hart — not one has an earned run average higher than 3.01. The group’s combined ERA rests at a
sparkling 2.43.

The Hoosiers have also been equally as dominant at the dish, posting a team batting average of .306 that includes 197 extra base hits, 18 of which have arrived from sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber’s spectacular 18 home runs.

Don’t believe that the success the Hoosiers have enjoyed is smoke and mirrors, either.
Coursen-Carr, Slegers, DeNato and Hart each have eligibility remaining beyond the current season, although Slegers is likely to go to the MLB, where the Minnesota Twins drafted him in the fifth round.

And of the Hoosiers’ primary batters, only two — senior shortstop Michael Basil and senior center fielder Justin Cureton — will see their eligibility clocks expire at the final out of the current season, with junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth also probably departing to join Slegers, as he was selected in the eighth round by the Twins.

This may just be the beginning of a potential dynasty in Bloomington.

­— ckillore@indiana.edu