Baseball opens the year 1-3

On the first pitch of the season, leadoff hitter Will Nolden hit a double that took one hop before hitting the right field wall.

Kyle Schwarber then grounded out to the shortstop but advanced Nolden to third. The next batter, Sam Travis, hit a high fly ball to center field.

It allowed Nolden to tag up and when he crossed home on the sac fly to give IU the 1-0 lead in the first inning.

It was the only scoring that took place.

IU won the season opener 1-0 against Texas Tech.

The next 27 innings were very different.

IU was outscored 23-7 in the final three games. The Red Raiders took three of four from the Hoosiers to open up the year.

“I kind of thought this team needed a little bit of a reality check,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We’re had a long offseason of everybody telling us of how good we are.”

Last year IU never dipped below .500.

This year the Hoosiers will have to dig themselves out of an early hole as they start the year 1-3.

“There’s no excuses,” Smith said. “We got beat. We got beat in every facet of the game ... I hope this serves as a wakeup call for all of us that it’s not going to be easy.”

Both the offense and the pitching struggled in Lubbock, Texas. Senior ace Joey DeNato was the lone Hoosier starting pitcher to slow down the Red Raider attack.

DeNato went six innings Friday, giving up three hits and no runs.

The rest of the starting pitchers struggled. Junior Kyle Hart, along with sophomores Christian Morris and Will Coursen-Carr, recorded the three losses.

They combined to give up 16 hits, 12 earned runs and nine walks in 12 innings pitched.

Hart, who went 8-2 last year with a 3.01 ERA, gave up a grand slam in game two of the series. Because of his poor first start, Hart’s ERA stands at 15.0 on the year.
“That was an unusual outing for him,” Smith said.

Because it’s still early in the season, Smith said the starting rotation will be revisited and evaluated often.

The Hoosier offense wasn’t much better.

The much-ballyhooed unit scored just eight runs in 36 innings, averaging only two a game.

“We had some immature at-bats,” Smith said.

He said since it was one of the first times playing outside, players tend to get out in front of the ball and never make adjustments.

“Guys are a little jumpy,” he added.

Next weekend IU will participate in the PAC-12 challenge, which includes playing No. 2 Oregon State. The Beavers ended the Hoosiers season last year in the College World Series.

“Next week it’s not going to get any easier,” Smith said.

Follow reporter Evan Hoopfer on Twitter @EvanHoopfer.