Although the Hoosiers couldn’t complete the series sweep against Iowa last weekend, their level of play has increased significantly as of late.
Riding an eight-game win streak before losing the series finale has the Hoosiers in contention for a Big Ten regular season championship. After a bleak beginning to the year, IU has gotten back on track to where they need to be.
“We know that we can pitch the ball, and I think if you consistently pitch and defend you can win a lot of games just off that,” senior pitcher Kyle Hart said. “Our offense over this past win streak has come alive and that just makes it easier.”
The Hoosiers will start a major road swing Wednesday when they head to Xavier for a nonconference battle. IU will then play one of the better teams in the conference on the road at Michigan State before playing in-state rival Notre Dame next week in Indianapolis.
Xavier has struggled this season but has thrived on its home field winning six of nine at Hayden Field this year. The Musketeers are coming off a road matchup at Northern Kentucky on Tuesday. For IU to be successful, they must take advantage of inefficient Musketeer mid-week pitching and the worn down arms playing on back-to-back days.
Junior right-hander Luke Stephenson will earn his second consecutive mid-week start on Wednesday. He allowed three earned runs over three innings of work in the victory last week over Ball State. With a 4.50 ERA it will be his fourth start of the season.
“I consider Luke one of our hardest workers so we feel confident when he goes out,” IU pitching coach Kyle Bunn said. “He’s put the time and effort in and at some point in time the game is going to reward him back for the effort he’s given us.”
The Hoosier bullpen has produced quality young arms that have helped the team even the workload in the midweek games. Freshmen pitchers Pauly Milto and Jonathan Stiever have earned praise from the older members of the staff saying that they’re completely different pitchers compared to where they were in the fall.
At the plate, the Hoosiers had found a power surge over the course of their win streak, knocking out 11 of their 29 home runs of the season in those eight games. Sophomore Logan Sowers hit three long balls while sophomore outfielder Craig Dedelow, junior second baseman Tony Butler and freshman catcher Ryan Fineman each had two apiece.
Junior outfielder Alex Krupa has been the everyday starting left fielder and leadoff hitter since sophomore outfielder Laren Eustace went down with a hamstring injury April 10 against Purdue. Since taking over he’s just 4-for-15 with one stolen base in four games.
As a group the Hoosiers have earned quality pitching and hope that they can ride out the power streak that they’ve had at the dish.
“We have a pretty important midweek game at Xavier to start off and then we go up against the No.1 team in the Big Ten,” Dedelow said. “To win the series at least would really help us and get us on top of the Big Ten like we want to be.”
