Baseball expands conference lead

Coming into the weekend series, IU and Illinois were first and second in the Big Ten, respectively.

After taking 2-of-3 from Illinois (23-17, 10-5) IU (28-12, 13-2) left Champaign, Ill. with a three-game lead over both Illinois and Nebraska — who are tied for second in the Big Ten.

“That’s what we had to do at a minimum to stay where we’re at in the Big Ten,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said.

Though the Hoosiers have hopes of going back to Omaha, Neb., to play in its second straight College World Series, the team hasn’t lost focus on winning the Big Ten.

“It is important to us,” junior outfielder and catcher Brad Hartong said. “We represent the Big Ten. So we want to make sure we win it.”

Last season, IU won the outright Big Ten regular season crown for the first time in 81 years. This year, the Hoosiers are trying to win consecutive Big Ten regular season titles for the first time in school history.

The Illini and Huskers are both 10-5 in the Big Ten. IU, Nebraska and Illinois, who are the top three teams in the Big Ten, each have nine conference games remaining.

“Obviously we’d love to win the conference,” Smith said. “It’s something they can never take away from you. But our eyes are set on bigger things.”

IU won games one and three of the series 9-3 and 11-3, respectively. The two IU wins sandwiched a 2-1 Illinois victory, which halted IU’s 10-game conference winning streak.

IU senior starting pitcher Joey DeNato threw eight innings and gave up three runs, leading the Hoosiers to the win Friday. Despite giving up 11 hits, DeNato said he thought he pitched well.

“I think they were getting some hits on some pretty good pitches,” DeNato said.
With the win, DeNato stands at 9-1 on the year. No Big Ten pitcher has more than six wins.

Another standout was left fielder Brad Hartong, who made his best case for Big Ten Player of the Week. Hartong — usually the team’s six-hole hitter — hit .529 and recorded 10 RBI in the four games the Hoosiers had this week. Hartong accounted for almost a third of the runs IU scored during the four-game stretch.

“It always seems like some people come up big with the bases empty,” Smith said. “But (Hartong) always puts together good at-bats with guys on base. He’s a competitive kid.”

Hartong, a 6-foot-5 junior college transfer, has been valuable in spelling junior preseason All-American Kyle Schwarber at catcher this year, to give Schwarber some rest. But this week, the offense finally came through for the Long Beach, Calif. native.

“It’s nice to have a week like this,” he said. “Definitely was. Feeling good about myself and we got another big week coming up, hopefully it continues.”