Baseball home opener today against Xavier

Today IU baseball  will play Xavier (5-3) in their home opener at 4:05 p.m.

The No. 17 Hoosiers improved to 4-5 this past weekend after knocking off Toledo and then-No. 20 Louisville. IU was led by junior catcher Kyle Schwarber who batted leadoff for the first time in his career.

“I liked it,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “I thought it brought a little more flexibility to our lineup.”

IU will start junior left-handed pitcher Kyle Hart against the Musketeers. Hart is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA this season. He pitched the ninth inning on Saturday against Toledo, sealing the win.

Smith said the idea behind using Hart against Toledo was just to get him in a game since there were only two games during the weekend.

“Reading all the weather reports back home, we’re not really sure if we’re going to get Wednesday’s game in,” Smith said. “So it was an opportunity to get our pitcher some work.”

Redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Eric Stiene will take the mound for Xavier. It will be his first start of the season. He has pitched six innings this year and has yet to give up a run while holding batters to a .158 average.

Xavier has also beaten Toldeo this season and has a notable win against No. 21 North Carolina. The team beat Dayton 16-1 on Saturday.

Smith said it’s important for them to get out to a lead early like they did  Saturday.
“We haven’t had that luxury,” Smith said. “We’ve been chasing most of the time, so your pitchers are going to throw differently when they have a lead.”

IU is led by Schwarber, who is batting .342 with one home run, six RBIs, three doubles and two triples. Junior first baseman Sam Travis is batting .278 with seven RBIs, three extra-base hits and three steals.

Senior third baseman Dustin DeMuth, who was drafted in the eighth round by the Minnesota Twins last summer but came back to school, was out Saturday dealing with a hamstring injury. Smith said he is day-to-day.

The Musketeers are coached by Scott Googins, who is in his ninth year at the helm. He is 235-236 at Xavier.

Xavier is led by senior left fielder Vinny Nittoli, who is batting .360 with two home runs and seven RBIs, and sophomore catcher Daniel Rizzie, who is batting .355 with two home runs and six RBIs.

The Musketeers have eight players batting more than .300, four of which are starters. They are batting .295 as a team, good for second in the Big East Conference.

Senior pitcher Joey DeNato said the Hoosiers will not overlook any opponent.

“Every game is a big game for us,” DeNato said.