CWS: Hoosiers move past loss

OMAHA, Neb. -- Sometime in the early hours of the morning, the switch flipped for the IU baseball team.

At some point after the team went to bed, the Hoosiers put Monday's 5-4 loss to Mississippi State in the College World Series behind them.

Maybe it was when the team shaved when it got back to the hotel, something the players have to do when they lose.

But by the time they showed up to the Creighton University practice field for batting practice Tuesday afternoon, Tracy Smith was cracking jokes, Chad Clark couldn't wipe a smile off of his face and the starters enjoyed making the bench players pick up all the balls in the batting cage after a friendly end of practice competition.

“You can’t take the highs too seriously, you can’t take the lows too seriously," Smith said. "We try not to. We try to continue to be who we are. I think our program, our guys, have fun.”

That philosophy has resulted in just two losing streaks of two or more games for the Hoosiers this year. The first came during a four-game losing streak April 12-17. The second was a month ago, when IU lost back-to-back games at Kentucky and Ohio State May 14 and 16.

Otherwise, the team has answered every loss with a win this season.

"Confidence has been our main tool throughout the season," Clark said. "We don’t really let losses get to us because we’re going to do whatever we can to win. As long as we play our baseball, I think we have a good chance.”

When the team arrived for practice, a 10-and-under Little League team from Bedford stood waiting for them, hoping to see their heroes.

The kids donned IU caps, and stood in the top level of the indoor batting practice facility, watching the Hoosiers hit.

At one point, Smith said the kids surprised him with a chant of "Hoo-Hoo-Hoo, Hoosiers!"

"I love it," Smith said. "That was nice of those kids to come out and support us."

Clark said the kids beat the team to the field.

The players had a chance to run around with them after practice, reminding them of the time that they were kids who just loved baseball.

Chasing down the younger kids in the infield, the IU players couldn't help but smile and laugh the entire time. The players who had hung their heads in silence in defeat 12 hours ago had moved past it. They were enjoying playing the game they've loved since they were kids.

“When we were younger, baseball was pretty much all we did," Clark said. "It’s how we made most of our friends. We’ve got a lot of friends playing D-I college baseball.”

Schwarber said he remembers when he would go to college games and ask for players' autographs. Tuesday, the kids from Bedford were asking him for autographs.

"It’s a special thing when kids come out in the field and they can join college players and kind of give them something to look up to," he said. "It’s real cool and good for them.”

Schwarber and Clark said the team thought about the loss a little bit last night, but it wasn't a thought at all during practice Tuesday.

The team knows what it has to do.

"This is win or go home," Schwarber said. "We’re not going to press. We’re not going to worry about losing. We’re not going to be afraid of the result. We’re just going to go out there and play Indiana baseball and give them our best shot.

"If we play the best baseball we possibly can and come out with a loss, it’s going to be upsetting, but we just got to know that when we leave that field, that’s the only thing we could’ve done.”