To call IU's 6-2 win over No. 15 Louisville "significant" is to sell it short. With the win, the Hoosiers' extended the nation's longest win streak against Division I competition to 12 games. They take the overall series lead with 11 wins against 10 losses. They claim the season series against the Cardinals and, as Baseball America's Aaron Fitt said in the press box, continue to help themselves in the bid to host a regional.
That said, there are many noteworthy things that did not make the game story I filed. Let's get to them ...
- Freshman reliever Scott Effross's ERA shrunk from 0.44 to 0.38.
- Sophomore Chris Sujka entered the game in the second inning in left field, and sophomore outfielder Will Nolden moved from left to right in place of starting junior right fielder Casey Smith, who suffered an injury diving to his left attempting to make a catch on a ball off third baseman's Ty Young's bat in the opening frame. He was tended to on the warning track for a couple moments, and ultimately remained in the game. The ball didn't mercilessly find him, as Cardinals' first baseman Danny Rosenbaum grounded out to sophomore second baseman Chad Clark. IU Coach Tracy Smith said after the game that he suffered a pretty good hip pointer. The eighth-year head coach said he thinks X-rays were negative.
"We'll just go day-by-day with that and see where he is," Tracy Smith said. "Chris is always the guy that is mentally ready, doesn't get frustrated and comes with a good attitude. To be a good team, and be a consistently good team, you gotta have that depth."
- IU won on a day when sophomore Kyle Schwarber and sophomore first baseman Sam Travis went 0-6. The Hoosiers' catcher reached base three times via walk, and Travis also drew a walk, his team-leading 21st of the season.
"Finding a way and grounding it out," Smith said, "speaks to the depth of this team."
- Effross committed an error in the 8th inning in which allowed a softly hit ball go between his legs to load the bases, allowing the two Cardinals' hitters that led off the inning with singles to advance to third and second, respectively. However, he recovered, as he induced a 4-6-3 twin killing that surrendered a run, but notched two outs. The Cardinals' catcher flew out to senior center fielder Justin Cureton and the Hoosiers escaped.
"That was such an immature play," Smith said of the error, the Hoosiers' only one of the contest. "At that point, you're playing six outs to go with a lead. All you're doing is playing outs. ... That's exactly what I went out and said 'Hey, settle down. We're taking outs right now. We'll trade the run for the double play.' He made a quality pitch and got the double play."
- The Hoosiers began the decisive fourth inning in a nondescript manner. Sophomore first baseman Sam Travis grounded out to third. Sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley grounded out to the pitcher. Yet senior shortstop Michael Basil said what happened next could have a noteworthy impact later in this 2013 campaign.
"Being able to get something going with two outs, you always remember those later on in the season," Basil said. "I think we have a very mature team, and I we're only going to learn more about ourselves and get even more mature as the season goes on."
- Basil said there is a recruiting battle that was (partially) won today.
"It does a lot for recruiting for Indiana, too, now that we have our new facility," he said. "They've always had better facilities than us. We're a team in the same region that's coming out and playing better than they are now. On that note"--he talked about how the Hoosiers' first game we played against UL kind of let people know that the Hoosiers were a real contender--"I think this game will give us more national recognition and kind of the respect around the nation that we think we deserve."
- Basil is not satisfied. Not by a long shot. He added he can't wait to play Louisville a third time. (He made this comment about an hour after the Hoosiers' victory Wednesday.) First pitch for that game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 8 at newly renovated Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville.
- Smith praised the defensive performance of Clark, who has started 19 of 22 games this season, including 14 games at second base. The West Hills, Calif., native made plays to end the first, fourth, sixth and seventh innings. In the first and fourth innings, his assists stranded UL base runners at third.
"He made some nice plays," Smith said. "What I like about him is that he's playing very confidently right now. He's a guy that ... last year, but he was just kind of going through that freshman stuff. Now, we've left him alone, you can see him out there spinning around, doing all kinds of stuff. But that's kind of his game. He was huge for us. He's not where we want him to be offensively, but you know you've got to be strong up the middle. He certainly is helping out"
