He watched his team ground into double plays, ending potential scoring chances.
He watched potential RBI base hits go just foul. He watched Hoosiers strike out and pop up with runners in scoring position.
He watched IU lose 8-4 Tuesday at Evansville, and he watched many IU hitters fail to have quality at-bats.
Lemonis has tried to get IU to focus on having quality at-bats, selfless at-bats.
“Maybe not as much doubles, or triples or home runs,” IU senior infielder Casey Rodrigue said. “Just trying to grind out and get on base.”
Rodrigue was one of the few Hoosiers who did this Tuesday night. He went 3-for-5, with one run scored and another run driven in.
The first of Rodrigue’s hits, a double, led off the game.
He then watched the next three IU hitters try and fail to drive him home for the first run of the game.
The batter after Rodrigue, sophomore outfielder Craig Dedelow, grounded out to second and moved Rodrigue to third base with less than two outs. A quality at bat.
But the next two hitters, seniors Brad Hartong and Scott Donley, each popped out in the infield and Rodrigue was stranded. IU had a chance to score in the first inning and didn’t. Evansville scored in the bottom half of the first and never trailed Tuesday.
“We just didn’t get the run in in the first inning,” Lemonis said. “That’s really been our Achilles heel.”
Another area in which Rodrigue led IU was on the base paths, where he stole second base twice.
Lemonis has been trying to instill a renewed sense of aggressiveness in his team.
This aggressiveness helped IU score its first run. After a two-out single by Rodrigue, Lemonis gave IU’s leading base stealer the sign to steal.
He slid in successfully, knocking the ball of the Evansville shortstop Stewart Nelson’s glove in the ?process.
Then, a batter later, sophomore outfielder Craig Dedelow grounded a ball back up the middle. The ball was bobbled by Nelson, allowing Dedelow to reach safely, but then Lemonis made a choice.
Rodrigue was running hard from second base as soon as the ball was hit since there were two outs.
Lemonis could have made the safe and obvious decision and held Rodrigue at third base. But instead, despite the ball bouncing only a foot or two from Nelson, Lemonis sent Rodrigue home in an attempt the tie the game.
Rodrigue scored, despite the throw to the plate beating him, by sliding around Evansville catcher Billy ?Lipari.
“We were just trying to get something going there,” Lemonis said.
Other than that instance in the third inning, IU was unable to do much. Rodrigue was the only Hoosier who attempted a stolen base.
Many IU baserunners watched as their teammates failed to drive them home.
Individually, these moments aren’t much. But put together, they represented multiple missed chances for IU to score. They represented multiple opportunities for IU to beat Evansville on Tuesday.
“Taking the little momentum pieces during the game and keeping ourselves feeling good, and we haven’t been able to do that,” ?Lemonis said.
