When IU left Florida with a .500 record this weekend, it was largely due to the presence the freshmen brought to the plate.
Freshmen catcher Ryan Fineman and utility man Luke Miller led the Hoosiers in hitting during the weekend as they racked up eight and seven hits respectively. Their performance in the Snowbird Classic added to a successful start to the season for these two freshmen.
Miller was highly praised heading into the regular season. He entered as the No. 3 high school recruit in Indiana and saw his name appear on multiple preseason freshman of the year award watch lists.
After being penciled into the lineup in the five or six hole for the majority of the season, Miller has batted in the third spot in the order the last three games.
Due to the wrist injury of sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers, junior outfielder Craig Dedelow has been moved down in the order as he is batting clean to produce more runs for the Hoosiers.
“It’s definitely an honor being in the three hole,” Miller said. “You can’t do anything different, just gotta stay with what you were doing and go with it.”
IU Coach Chris Lemonis said the sustainability of Miller at the plate has given him confidence inserting the freshman into the three hole.
Starting in all 10 games of the season, Miller has six starts as designated hitter, three at third base, one at first base and has played half a game in the outfield.
Miller’s ability to play various positions on the diamond is extremely valuable for the Hoosiers because it makes him an option at almost any position if an injury occurs or a starter begins to go cold at the plate.
“His versatility has been huge right now with all the little nicks and things that we’ve had so far,” Lemonis said. “He’s just a very well rounded player, very good base runner, hitter, and I think before his career is done we’ll see him on the mound too.”
The Hoosiers entered the season unsure who would start at catcher, but just 10 games into the season, it seems Fineman could become the starter. The young catcher has appeared in all 10 games this season while earning six starts — splitting time with sophomore catcher Demetrius Webb.
Although the California native has nearly 20 fewer at-bats than the team leader Dedelow, he’s made the most of them this season.
Racking up 11 hits, Fineman currently leads the Hoosiers in batting average with a .423 clip with one home run to his credit. He’s even shown his potential off the bench by batting .500 in pinch-hit situations.
“The approach is to stay oppo,” Fineman said. “Not being able to pop up, not pulling off the ball and just staying on low change-ups, our whole team did a great job. We made some key adjustments last weekend.”
The only times Fineman has found himself on the pine has been when senior pitcher Evan Bell toes the rubber due to his familiarity with Webb behind the plate and the one start for junior right-hander Luke Stephenson.
“From a catching side, they’re both pretty strong, so we’re just catching one every other day,” Lemonis said. “Fineman is a little more advanced offensively, so usually when Bell comes out we’ll make a switch in there with an extra hitter and try and get him an extra at-bat.”
Providing a surprising spark off the bench for IU has been freshman infielder Scotty Bradley. The six-foot-two, 220-pound freshman has gone 3-for-6 in pinch-hit opportunities on the young season while owning a .375 average at the dish.
In his first collegiate at-bat, Bradley peppered a ball to the right center gap en route to a two RBI double.
Since then, Bradley has driven in one run in each of his successful pinch-hit appearances. Executing at the plate in the late innings is an asset Bradley can bring to this team that could be a factor between a win and a loss.
“Our pitching staff has done a great job all year long to keep us in the game,” Fineman said. “We’ve just got to get that one key hit, which I think we’re going to do. We really are going to pull things together.”
