Indiana will play the second-toughest non-conference schedule in the Big Ten. They won two of three games in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge in the first weekend of their season. They're now 5-4 all-time in the three years they've participated in the challenge.
UConn defeated Indiana in the Hoosiers' season opener. The Huskies' sophomore southpaw Brian Ward held IU scoreless in 7 1/3 innings, allowing only four hits.
"You don't make too much out of it," Head Coach Tracy Smith told me in a telephone interview Sunday night. "Against a really good pitcher, you're going to have limited scoring opportunities. We had a few opportunities in that game.
"We struck some balls pretty hard. It was right at the guys, which is going to happen. The guy (Ward) was good. We had chances to do it. We didn't. It wasn't anything necessarily anything we weren't doing. It was more that that guy really controlled what we did."
Follow the jump for some stats.
Freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber threw out all three UConn runners who attempted to steal a base.
"We've had to put him behind the plate a little quicker than we wanted to, but he's been doing a good job, improving everyday," Smith said. "As far as a hitter, the kid is a very, very accomplished hitter."
Redshirt freshman right fielder Tim O'Conner leads the Hoosiers in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS ) at 1.170. O'Conner leads the team with a .375 batting average and an on-base percent (OBP) of .545.
My colleague Michael Norman asked junior center fielder Justin Cureton what the team looked to improve upon this weekend against Tulane.
"As a team, cutting down on strikeouts," Cureton said, "putting the ball in play. No excuse, but it was the first game outside.
"We'll make the adjustments as we did over (last) weekend. I think we're fine."
Though the team has 17 strikeouts, they hit 10-18 with runners in scoring position in their two wins last weekend.
IU also has hit two home runs. Opponents have not hit one against the IU pitching staff.
While my preview story talked about cutting down on errors, as a team, IU's fielding percentage is .943.
