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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports baseball

IU looks to find relief for sophomore catcher

Freshman catcher Ryan Fineman leads off from first base during a game against Ball State on Wednesday night at Bart Kaufman field. IU beat Ball State 4-3.

Then-freshman Ryan Fineman played in 23 Big Ten games in 2016, and the 
catcher started all of them.

That is a large load for any catcher, let alone a Big Ten catcher, and IU Coach Chris Lemonis said he knows that load needs to be reduced in order for Fineman to maximize his performance at the position.

That’s why Lemonis is working sophomore catcher Eric Hansen and freshman catcher Jake Matheny into the mix as well.

“We feel like we have three really capable catchers there,” Lemonis said. “Eric and Jake have been really good.”

In 2016, Fineman started 50 of IU’s 54 games and was an All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection. After his backup, former Hoosier Demetrius Webb, left the program during the season, Fineman played every inning the rest of the way.

The catcher finished second in the Big Ten in runners caught stealing and allowed the third-fewest stolen bases. At the plate, Fineman finished top-five on the team in hits, doubles, home runs and runs batted in.

The season’s statistical success was there for Fineman, but his average dropped considerably throughout the Big Ten schedule at the tail end of a 50-plus-game season.

He entered an early-April series against Purdue with a .315 batting average and ended the regular season in late May with a .268 average. In that stretch, Fineman 
collected 24 hits in 105 at-bats.

Fineman was a pillar the Hoosiers could lean on as they finished third in the Big Ten, but Lemonis said he plans on using Matheny and Hansen to relieve Fineman before the pillar crumbles.

Matheny — son of former MLB catcher and current St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny — has come to Bloomington and impressed the coaching staff, Lemonis said.

The freshman from St. Louis was ranked 430th in the nation and 3rd in the state of Missouri, according to Perfect Game USA. He studied Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina before arriving in 
Bloomington.

Lemonis said Matheny has hit five or six home runs in the last three weekends of 
scrimmages. The freshman caught the entire game for the Black team in IU’s last open scrimmage Sunday evening, while Fineman and Hansen split the Red team’s reps.

“Jake’s had a really good spring training,” Lemonis said about Matheny. “He’s had some good swings.”

At 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Hansen is the smallest of the three catchers. His one at-bat in 2016 is the extent of his college baseball 
experience.

However, Hansen was involved in all the drills at practice before Sunday’s scrimmage and helped prepare pitchers for the game just like the other two catchers.

The Homer Glen, Illinois, native, along with Matheny, will be a significant improvement over lacking a backup catcher entirely, like the 
Hoosiers did last season.

“We’re still developing defensively all the time, like all of them,” Lemonis said about his catchers. “But we really like our catching position right now. We’ve got three really 
capable guys.”

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