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(04/18/08 4:02am)
After dropping its last five contests, the IU baseball team (15-18) will head east Friday as it battles conference foe Penn State (11-21).\nIU coach Tracy Smith said he doesn’t know where his team ranks in the Big Ten and doesn’t want to know.\nThis is understandable as his team will carry a 4-8 conference record into the four-game series and is currently knotted with the Nittany Lions and Iowa for last place in the Big Ten.\n“We are going to turn this around and be firing on all cylinders,” Smith said. “My preference is if we are going to be playing our best baseball, I’d like it to be as we head into the Big Ten Tournament.”\nOnly the top six teams get into the conference tournament, and it starts May 21, so the Hoosiers need to break their losing streak soon.\nWith a team ERA at 6.04, many of the Hoosiers’ losses have come because of poor pitching. But after letting up 47 runs to the Hawkeyes last weekend, the Cream and Crimson allowed only five runs each in the team’s two midweek outings.\n“The staff as a whole has been struggling the last couple weeks and we really weren’t sure what was going on,” said sophomore pitcher Chris Squires, who worked two scoreless innings during Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to Ball State. “Lately, with Lousiville (Tuesday) night and Ball State (Wednesday), it seems like we are pitching a lot better.”\nThe announced starting pitcher for Friday’s game, sophomore Matt Bashore, hopes to leave the pitching woes well behind the Hoosiers for their next game.\nThe left-hander has been the team’s ace all season. After getting banged up in a hitters-friendly, windy battle against Iowa where he surrendered seven earned runs, Bashore’s ERA stands 2.72, still good for fourth in the Big Ten.\nSupporting Bashore will be one of the top-hitting offenses in the Big Ten with a conference-leading batting average at .329, the most hits at 372 and the second-most runs scored with 223.\nLately, the offense has sputtered, however, scoring only six runs in the last two games when it averages more than that a game.\n“We’ll be fine,” junior outfielder Chris Hervey said after Wednesday’s contest, a game in which the Hoosiers grounded into five double plays. “Our offense is good enough. We aren’t going to score 13 runs a game, but pitching has been coming around so six should be good enough.”\nThe Hoosiers will look to piece together both their hitting and pitching to earn a win for the first time in five games when their first of four games at Penn State starts at 6:35 p.m. Friday.
(04/17/08 4:59am)
Amazing defense from visiting Ball State subdued the IU baseball team’s normally strong offense Wednesday at Sembower Field. The Cardinals turned five double plays and held the Hoosiers to two runs on nine hits.\n“I don’t think that I have ever been in a game where we have hit into five double plays,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “You can do everything right – hit a ball hard – but once it leaves your bat, you are totally out of control of it.”\nWith the 5-2 non-conference loss, the Hoosiers fell to 15-18 on the year and now are on a five-game losing skid. \nA changeup from usual on their losing streak saw the Hoosier pitching staff, instead of their bats, excel Wednesday. The Cream and Crimson used five pitchers but kept an explosive Cardinal offense (21-11), boasting 55 home runs this season, in check.\nThe strongest performance on the mound came from sophomore Chris Squires, who allowed only one hit and struck out four in two innings of work.\n“I felt like I had nothing to lose,” said Squires, who came on in relief in the eighth. “I just used this as an opportunity today to go out there and say, ‘Hey, let’s just get these guys out, let’s go in, try and get a hit and not think about anything else.’” \nAgainst a strong Ball State team, the bullpen only allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings, a far cry from the team’s 6.04 earned run average.\nSmith says he loves baseball because “it is so unpredictable – so cruel.”\nThe cruelty he was referring to was his staff pitching well but getting no offensive help.\nLetting up five runs Wednesday and another five Tuesday against Louisville, the Hoosiers’ pitching is coming around after letting up 47 in a four game series with Iowa last weekend.\nBut the five double plays and the sudden dysfunction of his offense frustrates the third-year coach since the same bats led the Big Ten entering Wednesday’s game in batting average at .330 and runs scored at 221.\n“You hit, you hit, you hit and the pitchers don’t shut anybody down,” Smith said. “So you say, ‘Darnit pitchers, shut somebody down.’ And then when you do you don’t (hit).”\nJunior designated hitter Chris Hervey chalked up the double plays to baseball’s randomness and said he didn’t think it would happen again.\nThe Hoosiers will now travel east to Big Ten foe Penn State for a four-game series beginning Friday at 6:35 p.m. \nIU and the Nittany Lions both have 4-8 conference records and are tied with Iowa at the bottom of the division. Squires said wins on the road in the Big Ten are always hard to come by, but that his team is better and wins this weekend would be very valuable in moving out of last place.\nSmith said he refuses to check where his team’s conference record has them ranked and agrees with Squires that this weekend will be important.\n“I refuse to give up on this team, and they know they are going to win some games,” he said. “Five double plays are evidence of that, it can’t get any worse.”
(04/14/08 4:26am)
Pitching and defense again proved to be the Achilles heel of the IU baseball team as it dropped three of four games to Iowa this weekend.\nWith the losses, the Hoosiers fell to 4-8 in the Big Ten (12-18 overall), and their goal at making the Big Ten Tournament seems in jeopardy at the halfway point of the season.\nOn Friday, IU won in a dramatic ninth inning comeback in a game the team thought would set the tone for the series.\nDown 12-9 in the eighth, the Hoosiers mounted their comeback by plating two runs on two hits. \nSophomore catcher Josh Phegley singled in sophomore second baseman Evan Crawford to knot the game in the ninth, and then junior left fielder Chris Hervey drove in Phegley three batters later to give IU the 13-12 win.\n“It’s funny,” Hervey said after his hit. “Right in the beginning of the inning, I turned to (junior outfielder) Trevor McConnell and said, ‘Hey Trev, I’m going to win it this inning.’ And he said, ‘OK, OK Herv.’”\nAfter the win, Hervey said last year’s team would not have won the game, and this year’s team never thinks it is out of a game.\nIU did fight in the next three games, scoring 26 runs, but allowed a total of 35 runs and two Iowa comebacks as the team dropped its second Big Ten series in a row.\n“The positive is the resiliency offensively and how to come back and getting ourselves in a position to win,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “But it doesn’t matter if you don’t pitch or play defense. And we have hit a two-week stretch where we haven’t done that.”\nAfter IU used five pitchers in the seven- inning 13-10 loss in the cap of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Hoosiers needed some consistency on the mound Sunday.\nThat consistency came in the form of senior pitcher Doug Fleenor who allowed five runs through seven innings, keeping the contest all square before giving up two more in the eighth, a deficit the Hoosiers did not overcome.\nThough he lost, Smith was pleased with Fleenor’s performance as he completed eight innings while walking only two.\n“Doug, today, did a pretty good job,” Smith said. “He battled. He pitched. He was focused. I didn’t see any hesitation on his part, but we just didn’t make the plays behind him.”\nBehind Fleenor, IU committed five errors.\nThe Hoosiers now find themselves tied in last place in the Big Ten halfway through their season, but Smith remained optimistic, pointing out there is still plenty of time left.\n“We seem to be getting our game in bits and pieces,” he said. “We swing it, but we don’t pitch it, and if we pitch it, then we don’t play defense. But it’s like I told the guys, we have five weeks left in the Big Ten. There is still a lot of baseball.”\nIU returns to action Tuesday as the team travels to Louisville and take on the Cardinals at 6 p.m.
(04/09/08 3:27am)
The IU baseball team is hoping to settle itself defensively today against Miami (Ohio) after it allowed 18 runs against Illinois \non Monday.\nIU’s pitching staff was abysmal in the series finale against Big Ten foe Illinois. The Hoosiers sent the tandem of sophomore Eric Arnett and freshman Jarrett Casey to the mound, and the two combined to surrender 18 hits, 18 runs and six walks. They also threw three wild pitches and struck out only four in nine innings.\n“I don’t care how many runs we score or how well ... we play defensively.” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “It doesn’t matter because if we don’t pitch well, it’s going to be tough.”\nSmith used only two pitchers to try to quell the Illini bats Monday because he said he wasn’t sure what his bullpen is going to do.\n“(I have told the pitchers) they got to grow up,” he said. “It is time to realize that we brought you here for a reason: because we think you are good, and it’s time to start believing in yourself.”\nOf the 18 runs put up on the Hoosiers, 11 were earned, as the defense behind the mound did not play its best, committing seven errors. But Smith was hesitant to blame the errors on his team’s poor pitching.\n“I remember being a position player; you always wanted a guy on the mound you were confident in, who was going to get after it, get moving and be around the strike zone,” Smith said. “It’s easier to play behind a guy like that, but I don’t think it makes a difference in whether you make an error or not.” \nSenior Doug Fleenor is the pitcher who will battle Miami (Ohio).\nFleenor’s last start came April 2 against the Redhawks at Sembower Field.\nIn the contest, he threw six strong innings allowing only one earned run, one walk and recording five strikeouts in a 5-2 IU win.\nWhile pitching and defense has been slacking, IU’s offense has not, which will play in Fleenor’s favor.\nIn the four games against the Illini last weekend, the Hoosiers scored 27 runs on 47 hits. \n“I don’t think scoring runs will be our problem,” Smith said. “I like the way the guys are approaching their (at-bats) and how they are going about their business offensively.” \nInstrumental to IU’s offense and defense is junior center fielder Andrew Means, who will miss his second game in a row because of an injury to his right wrist. Means hurt his wrist while stealing home in the first game of a doubleheader against the Illini on Sunday.\n“We are going to see how he feels towards the weekend, but we aren’t going to play him (today),” Smith said.\nThe first pitch from Oxford, Ohio, is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on iuhoosiers.com.
(04/08/08 1:56pm)
Pitching and defensive woes proved fatal for the IU baseball team Monday, as they dropped the finale of a four-game series with Illinois, 18-8.\nThe Hoosier offense had another strong performance in the contest, but was trumped by the Illini’s nine-run fourth inning. \nIn the inning, the Hoosiers (14-12, 3-5) faced 15 Illinois (17-8, 6-2 Big Ten) batters, walking three, allowing two to reach on errors and throwing three wild pitches. In total, the Hoosiers finished the nine-inning game with seven errors.\n“The errors are a part of it, but when we continue to give up big inning after big inning, that’s a concern for me,” IU coach Tracy Smith said.\nPitching problems have become the theme of the first half of IU’s season. Smith equates the issues with his pitching staff’s mental toughness.\nHe said when his pitchers face adversity they need to know “it’s not the end of the world. All they have to be focusing on then is there next pitch.” \nOn Sunday, Smith pulled sophomore starting pitcher Chris Squires in the second inning of the doubleheader’s nightcap after letting the first two Illini batters reach base and letting up a run in the previous inning.On Monday, Smith let sophomore starter Eric Arnett struggle through three and two-thirds innings, allowing 11 runs with only five of them earned, before pulling him.\n“We probably stayed with our starter too long today, but that’s a result of not being consistent out of the pen,” he said. “At some point, you would like to know what it’s going to be, good or bad, so you have some idea of which way to go.” \nSophomore pitcher Jarrett Casey came in for Arnett and finished the game, letting in seven more runs, six of them earned. \n“I think we are very, very immature on the mound right now,” Smith said. “It’s not about ability, because we are throwing the ball 90-some miles an hour. I’d love to say, ‘Hey, it’s just a fluke, it’s just this game,’ but it has become a tendency here lately.”\nThe tandem of Arnett and Casey combined to walk six Illinois batters, allowing 11 earned runs. \nIf pitching struggles weren’t enough, junior center fielder Andrew Means missed his first game of the season Monday with a wrist injury. Smith said the injury was sustained in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader when Means stole home successfully in the first inning. Despite the injury, Means played through both of Sunday’s games.\nSmith said the team is running tests on Means’ wrist and does not know when he will return. Means was in the dugout Monday but not in uniform, and had a brace on his right wrist.\nThe Hoosiers return to action Wednesday in Oxford, Ohio, as they take on Miami of Ohio at 6 p.m.
(04/08/08 1:14am)
Hey baseball fans,
(04/05/08 8:56pm)
Despite a 5-hit effort by Josh Phegley and a potent Hoosier offense, IU fell to Illinois today 8-7.
(04/03/08 5:18am)
A sunny Wednesday afternoon yielded an ugly, hard-fought baseball contest at Sembower Field. \nThe IU baseball team (13-9) defeated Miami of Ohio (6-18) 5-2, calling on its defense and pitching as the afternoon air cooled the Hoosier bats.\nIU senior Doug Fleenor started and got the win for the Hoosiers, pitching six solid innings and allowing only one hit and one earned run while striking out five.\n“Things were working well today,” Fleenor said. “All of my pitches were working, and when that happens, it is going to be a pretty good day.”\nIn only his fourth appearance this season, junior left-hander Joe Vicini pitched two solid innings, allowing only one hit and surrendering one walk.\n“I give Joe a ton of credit,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “He hadn’t been out there much, and he kept his focus and pounded the strike zone.”\nSophomore Chris Squires pitched his first inning since getting roughed up in Minnesota on Sunday when he gave up four runs on five hits in only 1 2/3 innings pitched.\nSquires seemed to have put his poor performance behind him as he worked a flawless ninth, retiring the side and earning his third save of \nthe season.\n“If you followed the game at all, the Sunday game at Minnesota, Squires struggled a little,” Smith said. “But I was proud of him for getting right back out there and attacking the strike zone. I thought he was very sharp today.”\nIU broke the game open in the bottom half of the fourth. The inning saw three Hoosiers cross home and was highlighted by an RBI bunt single by senior shortstop David Trager and a hustle play by sophomore second baseman Evan Crawford that beat what would have been an inning-ending double play, allowing the last of the Hoosier runs in the frame.\nBut by game’s end, the Hoosiers had stranded 10 runners as the Miami pitching staff teamed up to walk four batters on top of beaning six Hoosier batters. \n“Today wasn’t a great offensive day for us, and I think games like that are going to happen where we won’t swing the bat well,” Trager said. “I think our pitchers really stepped up and got a good start and good relief pitching. Those are the type of games we are going to have to win to do some damage in the Big Ten.”\nHighlighting the team’s defensive effort was junior center fielder Andrew Means, who made two diving catches on the day. The first came in the seventh inning as he nearly took out a teammate, sophomore Chris Hervey, in left field. \nThen in the eighth, Means bailed out freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz who threw his hand in the air during a fly ball hit in his direction, signaling he lost the ball in the sun.\n“It was good from a coaching stand point to see us win with pitching and defense,” Smith said. “Andrew Means was phenomenal in center field, and we took care of the baseball – with the exception of a double-play. Sometimes you have to win games like that, and it was good to see.”\nThe Hoosiers have their Big Ten home opener at 3 p.m. Friday as they host Illinois in the first meeting of a four-\ngame series.
(04/02/08 7:11pm)
Here's the famed live blog.
(03/31/08 4:38am)
A ninth-inning surge on Sunday secured a Big Ten series split for the IU baseball team at Minnesota against the Golden Gophers.\nWith the split, IU’s record moves to 12-9 on the season and 2-2 in the Big Ten.\nThe Hoosiers drove in five runs in a knotted ninth inning on Sunday to put away the Golden Gophers at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.\n“They were a pretty good team and splitting on the road is good for any weekend,” sophomore catcher Josh Phegley said. “We are showing that we are not the IU of old, that we are going to compete in the Big Ten.”\nThe rally started with junior center fielder Andrew Means lacing a single to right field then swiping second for his 13th stolen base of the year. The next two batters reached base on walks, which set up a two-run double for freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz. \nThe Hoosiers tacked on three more runs to take an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth.\nThe Gophers made the game dramatic, however, as they added four runs to bring the game within one. But senior right-hander Chris McCombs took the mound and got the last batter out for the save, his second of the season.\n“I was glad to come in and be able to put the game away,” McCombs said. “It was huge for us to come back after two losses and pick up those \ntwo wins.”\nOn Friday, the Hoosiers’ four-game win streak ended abruptly after they fell to the Gophers 10-2. The majority of Minnesota’s runs came in the second as they crossed six runs in an inning that saw 14 Minnesota batters come to the plate.\nIU coach Tracy Smith did not start the team’s ace, sophomore left-hander Matt Bashore, because Bashore was sore and Smith wanted to be careful with his pitcher so early in the season.\n“We threw in some other guys and kind of got it handed to us,” he said. “But I don’t think our confidence wavered at all because we didn’t have our big gun on the mound.”\nSaturday saw the Hoosiers take the nightcap of a double-header. \nIn the first game, IU faltered once more after a four-run third inning propelled the Gophers to a 5-4 victory.\n“From our prospective it was like we gift-wrapped one for them,” Smith said. “We made some base running mistakes that ultimately cost us\nthe game.”\nThough the Hoosiers took the defeat, Phegely said looking up at a one-run loss on the scoreboard showed the team they could contend with Minnesota, who McCombs said is traditionally one of the best three teams in the Big Ten. \nDown two games to none, IU had to dig in if they were going to salvage the series. \nIt was Phegley who stepped-up for the Hoosiers as his three-run blast well into the outfield seats at the Metrodome carried IU to an 8-3 win.\n“The pitcher fell behind 3-1, so I knew he had to throw something pretty straight,” Phegley said about his home run. “He threw it right where I expected him to throw it.”\nThe 3-1 pitch landed 30 rows deep in the outfield, said IU Assistant Media Relations Director Matt Brady, who called the game over the Internet on iuhoosiers.com.\nAltogether, Smith was happy with his team’s weekend, despite dropping the first two games.\n“When you lose the first two on the road in the Metrodome, you can roll over and die and take your beating for the weekend,” he said. “But these guys didn’t do that. They battled back and played two solid games. I think we grew up over this weekend.”\nAfter the split, the Hoosiers will be back in action as they host Miami (Ohio) at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Bloomington.
(03/28/08 4:21am)
Standing Thursday in Mellencamp Pavilion, IU coach Tracy Smith recited a 3-year-old memory.\n“I remember it was in here,” Smith said. “He came in and was like, ‘Coach, I played some baseball in high school and I would like to try out.’”\nSo the coach gave the freshman a chance. The team was running 60-yard dashes, and Smith said he wanted to see if the recruit could run.\n“And then he beat Reggie Watson and Jay Brandt, who were our two really fast guys on the team,” Smith said. “So I said, ‘All right, I think we might have a spot for you.’”\nThree years later, that freshman has morphed into junior center fielder Andrew Means. \nMeans, who came to IU to play football, approached Smith in Mellencamp Pavilion after sitting out his freshman football season because of a shoulder injury he sustained in practice.\n“I had some down time to think about my freshman year and not being able to make a name for myself,” the Avon Lake, Ohio, native recalled. “I decided to approach coach Smith about playing, and here we are now. Obviously, it was a good decision.”\nIn Memorial Stadium, Means is the starting wideout for the Hoosiers. He caught 48 passes for 559 yards last season, third- and second-most on the team, respectively.\nBut on the diamond of Sembower Field, Means is an imposing center fielder and lead-off man. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, he is built for the rigors of a college football season.\n“We called him ‘the minotaur,’” Smith said. “Half man with the bull upper body. Yes, he is a minotaur.”\nFreshman outfielder Kipp Schutz said he did not think of his friend as a minotaur, but rather as something less imposing. \n“You look at him, he’s a big tough guy, but he is really just like a little teddy bear,” Schutz said. “I always tell him that because he is always singing or something in the locker room.”\nMeans said Schutz’s assessment was probably because his personality differs from his stature.\n“For those people that know me, they know I am a teddy bear on the inside,” he said. “For those that don’t know me, all they see is the big, strong, muscle pictures online. Deep down I am just a nice kid trying to lead these kids to a Big Ten championship.”\nSmith was unsure at first about Schutz’s \ndescription.\n“Kipp called him a teddy bear?” Smith asked. “I guess, I guess he is a big, muscular teddy bear.”\nSmith said Means is so aggressive that the Hoosiers’ coach is nervous for opposing teams’ catchers. The coach recalled a story about him barreling to home plate without being sent earlier this year.\n“He about (trucked a catcher) on his own out in California,” he said. “Thank God the throw was wild. They showed the replay on the news and it looked like it was going to be a violent collision. The guy taking the throw knows there is a base runner coming, because Andrew plays hard and slides hard.”\nAs of Tuesday, “the teddy bear” ranked first or second in the Big Ten in five different offensive categories, leading the conference with 30 hits, 24 runs scored and four triples. He is also a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen bases.\n“He is obviously a great athlete, but from last year to this year he has improved a lot,” Schutz said. “When I am out in right field, basically I have to cover only the balls that are right at me because he catches everything to my right. It’s easy to play out there with him.”\nMeans’ teammates named him a captain at the beginning of workouts, though he missed a majority of those workouts because of football.\nSmith said Means was named captain because he leads by example.\n“The kids respect a guy when they see a guy that eats right, sleeps right and studies right,” he said. “He does everything the right way and has a way of connecting with teammates even though he doesn’t get to see them as much.”\nMeans and his Hoosiers begin conference play Friday night in Minnesota, and with Means and the rest of the talent around the team, Smith said he was confident in his team’s ability to compete.
(03/24/08 4:56am)
IU freshman right fielder Kipp Schutz’s monstrous two-run home run yesterday in a snowy fifth inning secured going to weekend sweep for the IU baseball team (9-7) against IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne (2-13-1).\nIU now has a four-game winning streak going into a midweek contest against Xavier before starting Big Ten play against Minnesota next weekend. \nBoth games this weekend were played without IU coach Tracy Smith because he served a two-game suspension for a benches-clearing incident in Fresno, Calif., on March 12, which Smith called a “philosophical disagreement.”\nPitching coach Ty Neal took over managing duties for \nthe weekend.\n“I think me being around the game enough, (Smith) trusts me when he is away to manage the games, and it is sort of a guilty pleasure,” Neal said. “I enjoy getting to coach the games.”\nIn IPFW’s half of the fifth inning yesterday, the Hoosiers found themselves up 1-0 but saw the Mastodons threatening with men on the corners and no outs. But IU starting pitcher junior Tyler Tufts was determined to get out of the inning without a blemish. \nTufts stormed off the mound to cut off a Mastodon squeeze bunt, and instead of settling for the safe play at first, he threw home to sophomore catcher Josh Phegley who blocked the plate, holding IPFW scoreless.\n“Tufts was very good today,” Neal said. “We can’t control what happens behind us, can’t control what the hitter does or what the umpires do, but we can control what we do, and that is fielding our position.”\nNow with runners on second and first, the next IPFW batter grounded out to Tufts, who began a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the jam.\nSchutz said the great defense in the top half of the fifth enlivened the whole team, which was evident as junior center fielder Andrew Means launched a triple over the Mastodon center fielder’s head in the bottom half of the inning. Means scored on the next at-bat when sophomore second baseman Evan Crawford flew out to center field.\nPhegley laced a single, and then Schutz’s towering home run to right-center put the Hoosiers up for good as they would go on to win 4-2.\nOn Saturday, sophomore pitcher Matt Bashore turned in a solid performance, striking out nine batters and allowing only two runs while walking four.\n“Bashore was obviously good, not as good as he usually is, but did a good job battling,” Neal said. \nBut IU found itself down in the bottom half of the ninth. After a Mastodon reliever walked in the game-tying run, Means extended his hitting streak to 13 games as he drove in the game-winning run in the Hoosiers’ home opener.\n“It was a tough day at the plate for me,” Means said. “But I just wanted to get the win for this team and get us going in the right direction.”\nThe Hoosiers’ four-game win streak will be tested by Xavier, which comes to Bloomington at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
(03/23/08 11:48pm)
In response to one of our loyal readers, I talked to IU coach Tracy Smith about next year's recruiting class.
(03/21/08 4:59am)
Soon, the roar of men’s college basketball will be replaced with the sharp pings of aluminum bats reverberating around the north side of campus.\nBaseball season is coming to Bloomington.\nThe IU baseball team has already played 14 games this season, but all of them have been on the road.\nSaturday, the Hoosiers (7-7) will open up Sembower Field for their first home game of the season against the IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons (2-11-1).\nSophomore first baseman Jerrud Sabourin hadn’t heard of the Mastodons before transferring to IU this summer from the University of Arizona, but said he is looking forward to the matchup.\nThe left-handed player has been a great addition to IU’s predominantly right-handed batting order. Sabourin is hitting .388 with four doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs, which ties him for second most on the team.\nSabourin will start for the 13th time this season Saturday, but will be making his home debut at Sembower Field.\n“I’m excited for that reason,” he said. “Hopefully, we will come out playing some good baseball.”\nLately, the Hoosiers have been doing just that, winning four of their last five contests.\nWith a week’s rest after a midweek game was washed out, the Hoosiers will use their ace, sophomore hurler Matt Bashore.\nIn Bashore’s last start he struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven shutout innings. The performance earned him Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, and the right to be the first Hoosier to take the mound at home.\n“(Starting Saturday) is something I have been fighting for the whole season,” he said. “It’s a real honor.”\nBashore said being named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week was a goal he had set for himself this season. \nOther goals he said he wanted for himself were to give his team a chance to win every game he started, have an ERA under 2.00 and have a ratio of one or less walks to every five hits allowed.\nIn his four starts to date, Bashore has an ERA of 1.42 and leads the Big Ten in strikeouts with 32.\nWith Bashore on the mound and Sabourin at first, the Hoosiers will try and put the big freeze on the Mastodons at 3 p.m. Saturday. IU coach Tracy Smith said he hopes his team will focus on themselves rather than on their opponents.\n“Our contest is really against us, and coming out and playing good baseball and taking care of the baseball,” he said. \nSo far this season, the Hoosiers have committed the second most errors in the Big Ten with 30.\n“It’s no secret we have not played solid defense up this point, and I have made that a point of emphasis,” Smith said. “I hope that we continue to swing the bats the way we have, but the biggest thing is just taking care of the ball.”
(03/20/08 4:49pm)
I am in a sterling mood after getting out of class early and seeing the warm (for a Midwest boy, atleast) sun shining, so I decided to do a little blogging.
(03/19/08 4:56pm)
To those living in Southern Indiana it probably comes as no surprise that today's scheduled contest between the Hoosiers and the Evansville Purple Aces has been rained out (I figured as much when I rafted into the newsroom this morning).
(03/19/08 4:25am)
Fresh off of a third-place finish in a spring break tournament, the IU baseball team (7-7) will carry it’s momentum to Evansville today as they battle the Evansville Purple Aces.\nThe last time the two clubs met was last year on April 10. The Purple Aces tore into the Hoosier pitching as IU used six different hurlers in an 8-1 defeat.\nBut pitching is a stronger part of this year’s squad. After a tough start to the season defensively, where sophomore catcher Josh Phegley said he thought Hoosier pitchers were forcing their pitches, IU has only allowed six runs in its last two games.\n“Our pitching (has improved), just in responding to adversity after an error,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “We did a much better job of shutting down the big inning.”\nOne such pitcher who has responded to adversity is lefty sophomore Matt Bashore. \nBashore was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week yesterday. The award came on the heels of 12-strikeout performance against Portland on Friday, as IU beat the Pilots 7-0.\nBashore’s dominant shutout of Portland was not without the adversity Smith talked about.\nWith three men on-base, no outs and the Flyers’ top-three hitters coming up, Bashore turned up his game. He sent the next three batters back to the bench, all on strikeouts.\nAnother pitcher who has stepped up for IU this season is freshman Kyle Leiendecker, who will get the start against Evansville today.\nIn his last start against Pepsi/Johnny Quik tournament host Fresno State, Leiendecker moved to 3-0 on the season. He pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout baseball, only allowing three hits. \n“I just went out there and threw strikes,” he said. “I was just putting it out there in the strike zone and they were hitting it, but (not scoring).”\nWhile the Hoosiers are seeing a resurgence in their pitching, the defense has still suffered. Through its 14 games, IU has accumulated 30 errors, but Leiendecker said he has not noticed them when he starts.\n“I think the (defense is) behind me every time,” he said. “They don’t make errors when I’m on the mound.”\nSmith said the errors are attributed lapses in concentration and he now has a defensive lineup set. This is promising for the Hoosiers, because when IU has made less than two errors in a game, they are 4-1. On the flip side of that statistic, however, when they make two or more errors their record plummets to an abysmal 3-6.\nToday’s game against the Purple Aces is IU’s third attempt to put together a three-game win streak, which they have yet to do. \nThe Hoosiers’ hopes of continuing their streak could be helped by another one. Evansville is currently riding a six-game losing streak as the Purple Aces have put together a disappointing 1-15 season record. \nIU and Evansville will square off at 4 p.m today.
(03/18/08 8:20am)
IU President Michael McRobbie took the first step toward finding a new IU men’s basketball coach yesterday when he announced the appointment of a 10-member committee that will conduct a nationwide search.\nHarry Gonso, an attorney with the Indianapolis-based law firm Ice Miller, will chair the committee.\nIce Miller was the legal counsel to the University’s internal investigation of former IU coach Kelvin Sampson. The firm’s report detailed the use of three-way phone calls by the IU men’s basketball team’s coaching staff, which led to assistant coach Rob Senderoff’s resignation. Sampson and the University agreed to a buyout settlement Feb. 22 after an NCAA investigation. \nGonso is a former IU board of trustees member and chaired two presidential searches in his 18 years with the board.\nMcRobbie said in a statement yesterday that Gonso is the ideal choice to chair the committee for IU because “he has a deep appreciation for both our academic mission and our athletic traditions.”\n“Harry shares my determination to find a coach who will lead our men’s basketball program in a manner that reflects Indiana University’s tradition and values,” McRobbie said.\nGonso quarterbacked the 1968 IU football team to the Rose Bowl and was named an Academic All-American and an All-Big Ten football player.\n“I am grateful to President McRobbie for placing this trust with me,” Gonso said in the statement. “I think he has put together a very strong search committee and I am confident we will carry out this task quickly and successfully.”\nGonso will head a committee that includes Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan and former IU men’s soccer coach Jerry Yeagley, among others.\nAccording to the statement, the committee will conduct its nationwide search without public comment until a decision is announced.\nIU interim coach Dan Dakich will lead the No. 8 seeded Hoosiers this Friday when they battle No. 9 Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.\nMcRobbie declined to offer any additional comments on the timing of the announcement.
(03/15/08 6:14am)
Sorry this post took so long, but I am still disoriented by IU's other bball game tonight.
(03/14/08 10:00pm)
Hoosier fans,
