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(05/26/13 8:16pm)
A day after suffering a walk-off loss in the 11th inning, the IU baseball team returned the favor Sunday at Target Field.
It just so-happened this walk-off would give IU its second Big Ten title in a week.
Scott Donley hit a walk-off single to left-center with the bases loaded to beat Nebraska 4-3, giving IU its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2009.
The title comes eight days after the Hoosiers (43-14) captured their first outright Big Ten regular season title since 1932.
Will Nolden led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to the gap in right-center off Nebraska righty Jeff Chestnut, who then issued an intentional walk to sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber.
IU Coach Tracy Smith then asked sophomore first baseman Sam Travis, who was 2-for-4 in the game with a pair of doubles and finished with a tournament-high eight RBI, to sacrifice the runners to second and third.
Travis twice failed to get down the bunt but drew a walk to load the bases and draw the Cornhuserks' infield in, setting up Donley's heroics.
The Cornhuskers (29-30) staged yet another late rally, this time scoring a run each in the seventh and eighth innings.
With IU up 3-1, Tanner Lubach doubled to left-center to lead off the seventh but was caught off third two batters later when Bryan Peters hit a chopper back to the mound.
(05/26/13 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>MINNEAPOLIS --- The IU baseball team looked poised to capture a Big Ten Tournament championship before a slip-up by its bullpen spoiled the celebration. Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach ended a wild back-and-forth affair with an 11th inning walk-off homer that propelled Nebraska to a 7-6 win against the Hoosiers Saturday at Target Field.Lubach rocked a fastball from Hoosier closer Ryan Halstead four rows deep into the left-field bleachers for his first hit of the tournament, keeping the one-loss Cornhuskers alive for the conference tournament crown.No. 1-seeded IU and No. 3-seeded Nebraska will play in a winner-take-all game at 1:05 p.m. ET Sunday with the Big Ten Tournament championship on the line.“It’s one loss, we’re not out of it all, and we still have our goal right in front of us,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said. “That was a hard fought game, ball bounced their way today but we still have a chance to do exactly what we want to.”The Hoosiers had a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth before the Cornhuskers put together back-to-back two-run innings in the sixth and seventh. In all, Nebraska scored five runs off four IU relievers, a rarity considering the Hoosiers came into the tournament with nation’s 5th-best ERA. “That was probably the one thing I was a little upset with today is if we got a lead in the seventh inning, the game should be over,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We did a good job of getting to two strikes and then we’d leave stuff out over the plate.”At 29-29, Nebraska has little-to-no shot at earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and would need to beat the Hoosiers Sunday to get the Big Ten’s automatic bid and make the postseason. IU (42-14), on the other hand, is well-positioned to earn an at-large bid and is projected to host a regional regardless of the outcome Sunday because of its No. 14 RPI. With that said, Smith said he plans to use his pitchers carefully on Sunday to preserve them for the NCAA Tournament. “Mark my words, we want to win this championship,” he said. “In fairness to being a competitor, in fairness to Hoosier fans all over, we didn’t come up here to lose, we came up here to win. “But I think at the same time, we need to be smart about our pitching. I believe we’re in. We feel like we’ve got a lot of season left to play and I think that we have to manage that right.” Nebraska Coach Darin Erstad said he plans to start left-handed sophomore Kyle Kubat on three-days’ rest. Kubat tossed seven inning of one-hit ball in Nebraska’s first tournament game, an 11-2 win against Michigan on Wednesday. Erstad said only three pitchers would be off limits tomorrow: Dylan Vogt, who allowed five runs in seven innings against IU tonight, Christian DeLeon, who started Nebraska’s win over Ohio State earlier Saturday, and senior righty Ryan Hander. With two outs in the 9th and IU down a run, Pinch hitter Ricky Alfonso delivered a clutch RBI-double that landed just fair down the right field line, scoring Dustin DeMuth from second to tie the game at 6-6.“We hoped that we’d carry that momentum through, but seeing Ricky do that is not surprising to us,” Basil said. “Ricky’s been clutch in pinch-hit situations all year.”IU took a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth on a three-run homer to left by Sam Travis, a mammoth shot that made it to the second deck.Nebraska then started its two-inning rally. Michael Pritchard led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Nick Ramos. Two batters later, Kash Kalkowski doubled home Pritchard and Blake Headley followed with an RBI single to center to cut the lead to 5-4.One inning later, another error cost the Hoosiers.Bryan Peters and Pat Kelly led off the bottom of the 7th with back-to-back singles off freshman right-hander Scott Effross. Michael Pritchard then flew out to shallow center, keeping the runners at first and third. Chad Christensen followed with a chopper to third that scored Kelly, but DeMuth booted it, allowing Christensen to reach first safely.Kash Kalkowski took advantage of the extra out, serving a single to center that gave the Huskers a 6-5 lead.Halstead (3-4) worked the final two innings, allowing the game-winning run on three hits.Luke Bublitz (4-1) pitched the top of the 11th for the Cornhuskers, pitching through an error to lead off the inning to strand Michael Basil at second.Nebraska got on the board first on a two-run homer to left-center by Kalkowski in the bottom of the first. Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber tied the game at 2-2 in the third with his Big Ten-leading 16th homer of the year, a ball that barely cleared the fence in left and stayed fair.
(05/26/13 3:34am)
MINNEAPOLIS --- Tanner Lubach ended a back-and-forth affair with a walk-off homer to left field in the bottom of the 11th that gave Nebraska a 7-6 win over IU Saturday at Target Field.
(05/25/13 2:01pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>MINNEAPOLIS — Give a good team extra outs, and it will make you pay.What had been a back-and-forth, deadlocked contest turned into a rout thanks to a crucial fielding miscue by the Buckeyes.The IU baseball team scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth, all coming after a throwing error by Ohio State starter Brian King, to beat the Buckeyes 11-3 Friday at Target Field.The win puts the No. 1-seeded Hoosiers in the driver’s seat for a Big Ten Tournament championship as the only undefeated team remaining. Ohio State will face Nebraska in an elimination game, and the winner of that game would have to beat IU twice to win the tournament.The Hoosiers will play either Ohio State or Nebraska at approximately 8:05 p.m. ET Saturday. A win secures their first conference tournament championship since 2009. “This is the game that’s kind of the pivotal game where it can send you the long road to the championship or much shorter, so I think we’re very fortunate to get the win,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We’ve certainly been on the other side of that, so we’ll expect, whether it be Ohio State or Nebraska, a good ball game (Saturday).”IU was down 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth. Senior center fielder Justin Cureton led off with a single to left, and moved to second after sophomore outfielder Chris Sujka bunted to the mound and King’s throw pulled Buckeyes shortstop Kirby Pellant off the second base bag.From there, the Hoosiers (42-13) didn’t have to necessarily hit the ball all that hard to keep the line moving.After a flyout, sophomore first baseman Sam Travis sac fly, infield single by sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley and RBI single by senior shortstop Michael Basil, junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth got down a perfectly placed bunt to the left side, scoring Donley and giving IU a 5-3 lead. On the next two plays, it became clear it was IU’s inning.Casey Smith followed with a soft single to right that scored Basil, but got caught rounding to far off first. Smith looked dead to rights in the rundown, but limboed underneath an attempted tag by Pellant and reached second, allowing DeMuth to score.Chad Clark then hit a nubber past the mound that first baseman Brad Hallberg charged and flipped to a covering King, who tried to barehand the feed but dropped it and slipped to his knees. Meanwhile, Smith hustled around from second and scored, sliding in just ahead of King’s throw.“Yea it was a wacky inning, but we make our own luck,” Cureton said. “When you put the ball in play, good things happen.”IU junior starter Joey DeNato (8-2) went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.DeNato, who limited Ohio State to two runs over eight innings on May 16, said he changed his approach against the Buckeyes this time around to keep them off-balance. “The first time I faced them, I was mostly working fastballs away,” he said. “So this time around I kind of tried to flip it around a little bit, throw more fastballs inside and start off with more offspeed pitches, so that kind of helped me out a little bit.”The Hoosiers added a run in the sixth when Travis cranked a fastball to left that clanged off the eighth row of the left-field bleachers for his seventh home run, chasing King. Travis finished 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, including the home run and a double. Travis, last year’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, had been slumping badly toward the end of the season. After hitting over .300 for most of the year, his average fell to as low as .285. He is 6-for-11 (.545) with three extra-base hits, four runs and six RBI over his last three games, raising his average to .298.“If we can get him going again like he’s capable, I think this team can be as good of team as there is the country offensively,” Smith said. “And hopefully tonight’s gonna jumpstart him.”King (7-6) gave up eight runs (two earned) on 12 hits with three strikeouts and no walks for the Buckeyes (35-22). Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber got IU on the board in the first, cranking his conference-leading 15th home-run of the year to an estimated feet to right. The Hoosiers might have had more if not for highlight-reel catches against the wall by Tim Wetzel on a drive by Sujka to left and by Joe Ciamacco on a shot to center by Travis. “Maybe the baseball gods were looking out for us when it kind of evened up and we got some cheepy runs,” Smith said. “But again, we’ll put this one to rest, refocus and not think it’s going to be that easy offensively whomever we play tomorrow.”
(05/25/13 3:06am)
MINNEAPOLIS --- Give a good team extra outs, and it will make you pay.
(05/24/13 3:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>MINNEAPOLIS — Things got tense in the late innings, but Ryan Halstead allowed Hoosier fans to breathe the ultimate sigh of relief.Halstead closed out Minnesota in the ninth for the school-record 21st save of his career, preserving IU’s 4-2 win over Minnesota in game five of the 2013 Big Ten baseball Tournament at Target Field.The junior right-hander picked up his 11th save of the season, a school record for saves in a single season.And yet it was Halstead’s unselfishness that IU Coach Tracy Smith was raving about. Smith said that Halstead never complained when freshman Scott Effross, who has five saves, was called on to close out a game. “This guy probably could have shattered the record by now if we had not given the ball to Effross as much as we did in close situations,” Smith said. "So he’s a consummate team guy, but very, very rewarding, very deserving for him to get that because he probably could have had more.”The top-seeded Hoosiers will play No. 2-seeded Ohio State at 8:05 ET Friday. The Buckeyes beat Nebraska 3-2 earlier Thursday in their first game of the tournament.Minnesota closed the gap to 4-2 in the eighth on an RBI groundout by Andy Henkemeyer. The Gophers then mounted one last threat in the ninth with two outs. Dan Olinger hit a ball off the fists that cued down the third base line. Junior third basemen Dustin DeMuth letting it roll in the hope it would go foul, but the ball instead kicked the third-base bag for a base hit. Michael Handel followed with a bloop single to right-center, putting the tying run on base, but Halstead shut the door by striking out Troy Larson looking. ?For the first time, Aaron Slegers started the first game of a series for IU, taking over the slot normally filled by experienced ace Joey DeNato.Slegers (9-1) did not disappoint, tossing seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts and no walks.The plan to start Slegers — normally the team’s No. 3 starter — at the beginning of the series had been in the works for two weeks, however. Smith said the team planned to go with whichever starter had been pitching well on the most consistent basis for IU’s first game of the tournament. “I’d say it had more to do with what Aaron was doing, not with what (DeNato and left-hander Kyle Hart) weren’t doing,” Smith said. “But I think his numbers speaks for themselves. He’s a legitimate force out there.”The Hoosiers (41-13) jumped on Minnesota left-handed starter DJ Snelten in the first, hitting three doubles. Chris Sujka doubled off the wall in left-center field to lead things off. Three batters later, Scott Donley hit a ground-rule double to left that plated Sujka. Michael Basil added a sac-fly to right and Dustin DeMuth an RBI-double that hit the warning track in center and one-hopped the wall, giving IU a 3-0 lead.“It’s just huge to get kick-started and we knew if we jumped to a lead right away, Slegers is gonna come out and do what he’s been doing all year,” Donley said. Sujka’s and DeMuth’s double may have been a home-run in other ballparks, as Target Field’s dimensions (339 feet to left, 403 to center) are larger than the typical major league park. Slegers said he was more than happy to get the early run support. “That’s big for confidence, throwing strikes and just getting after hitters,” Slegers said “You don’t need to kind of pitch around anyone. When you got a lead to work with you can just let ‘em put the ball in play and pitch with some confidence.”IU added a run in the 5th on an RBI single to center by Donley, who finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.Snelton (5-2) took the loss for Minnesota (31-21). He gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
(05/24/13 3:33am)
MINNEAPOLIS --- Things got tense in the late innings, but there's no reason to worry with a bullpen like IU's.
(05/23/13 12:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On May 19, the IU baseball team won its fifth Big Ten regular season championship. This weekend it will try to win its third Big Ten Tournament title.The team has never won both championships in the same season. It won the tournament in 1996 and 2009, but hadn’t won the regular season title since 1949.IU will take on Minnesota at 8:05 ET May 23 at Target Field in Minneapolis in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, have a bye and will play the lowest remaining seed that advances.“The No. 1 seed, the biggest part about it is having a bye and getting to save your pitching so that, hopefully, best-case scenario, you win three games, you get to use all of your weekend starters and you don’t have to go into your other starters that much, which is a big advantage,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said. “Getting the one or two-seed is huge for the reason of the bye, but the one-seed, meaning you won the Big Ten regular season is the best feeling about it.”After having clinched the regular season title and remaining in the national rankings for most of the season, IU Coach Tracy Smith said he remains confident in the team’s chances of receiving an at-large bid. He said this allows his team the chance to play relaxed baseball, the brand of baseball he believes his team plays best. “I remember the streak that we put together in the middle of the season, the 18-game winning streak, it was like the guys didn’t think about it, didn’t talk about it,” he said. “They’d show up to the park every day just kind of casually going about their business, and the next thing you know, you rip off 18 straight. It’s like anything else. I think sometimes the harder you try, the more it inhibits your performance. I think this team, when they’re relaxed, actually play their best baseball.”In last weekend’s series at Ohio State, Smith said the team felt pressure to perform. He said he believes that is the reason behind the 2-1 defeat May 16 in Columbus, Ohio, and the team being unable to plate any runs until the ninth inning May 17, when it came back to tie the game at 2 before winning it in the 10th to capture a share of the crown.“I think you look at our play on Friday night, and we were very tense. I don’t want to say for whatever reason, I think guys knew the historical perspective of what they could accomplish had yet to be accomplished,” Smith said. “I think once we got that piece of that championship out of the way so we could stop hearing about all the regular season and all that stuff, I think you saw us come out relaxed on that last day and play Indiana baseball.”Basil was no small part of that run.On Friday, Basil ripped a double in the top of the ninth that scored the first run for the Hoosiers. He then stole third, and scored the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly. In the 10th, he laid down the sacrifice squeeze bunt to give the Hoosiers a 3-2 advantage.“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a performance from a kid who just flat-out literally put a team on his (back), and not hitting a three-run homer to do it, but just the will, the determination that he would show in his face, his actions in the dugout, his words in the dugout and then what he did out on the field of stealing third, getting the big double and all that,” Smith said. “That kid single-handedly put the team on his back to win that second game at Ohio State. I honestly in my heart of hearts feel that if we didn’t have Michael Basil that series, we would not be talking about all this cool stuff and outright championships. That dude made it happen.”Smith said that pending matchups, either sophomore Aaron Slegers or junior Joey DeNato will start the first game for the Hoosiers. Both have been prepared. He also added that the team will not throw pitchers on short rest in the tournament.“You probably fear more the pitching matchup than you do the offensive matchup because I don’t care who we’re throwing against,” Smith said. “Our guys are going to, I think, do a good job of keeping it a game.”
(05/21/13 5:09pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Big Ten conference announced IU Coach Tracy Smith as Coach of the Year and sophomore Aaron Slegers as Pitcher of the Year Monday afternoon.It is just the second time IU has won each of the honors.Slegers pitched in 14 games, finishing with an 8-1 record, tied for the most wins in the conference, with a 1.98 earned run average. He surrendered just one home run in a team-high 81.2 innings of work.Bob Morgan took home Coach of the Year honors in 1998, and Eric Arnett won Pitcher of the Year in 2009.Slegers was also an All-Big Ten First Team unanimous selection. The Hoosiers had a record nine players named to an All-Big Ten team.Joining Slegers on the first team is sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber, sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley and junior Dustin DeMuth.Schwarber led the conference with 14 home runs 125 total bases, and was in the top three in the conference in average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored and RBI. Last year, he was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team.DeMuth topped the team in average with a .398, the second highest in the conference. He finished third in the conference in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and hits.Donley had a team-high 49 RBI, good for second in the Big Ten.Sophomore first baseman Sam Travis, junior pitcher Joey DeNato and freshman pitcher Scott Effross were named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Travis won the same honor last season. DeNato was a third team selection last year.Senior shortstop Michael Basil and junior pitcher Ryan Halstead were named to the third team.Freshman second baseman Nick Ramos and freshman pitcher Will Coursen-Carr, as well as Effross, were also named to the All-Freshman Team.Basil also took home IU's sportsmanship award. He was also named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, the first time he has won the award during his career.
(05/19/13 11:39pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>COLUMBUS, Ohio — People are taught to share, but sometimes it’s better to have something all to yourself.After staging a late-inning comeback to beat Ohio State and capture a share of the Big Ten regular season title on Friday, the IU baseball team wanted to leave no doubt about who the best team in the conference was.The Hoosiers captured their first outright Big Ten regular season title since 1932 with an 8-1 victory Saturday at Bill Davis Stadium’s Nick Swisher Field by scoring six runs through the first three innings. “That was unreal,” sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s been too long before we actually had that, and the head coach says, ‘This group of guys, you deserve it,’ and I feel like we do. “We’ve worked hard all year and we’ve been to hell and back sometimes.”IU’s “hell” was a 1-5 stretch in mid-April that included being swept at Michigan State and a loss at home to MAC squad Ball State. Now the team is in Hoosier heaven. The Hoosiers (40-13, 17-7 Big Ten) were predicted by most national publications to win the Big Ten, and they took care of business in a resounding fashion a day after securing their first shared conference title since 1949. That takes two monkeys off IU’s back: the 64 years since the last shared title and the 81 years since the last outright title, at the same time winning its 40th game against Division-I opponents, a school single-season record.“I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t proud but it’s really it’s everybody, what we’ve all put in,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “It’s still shocking when you think about the context of not having done this in however many years at such a great institution.”Winning the outright regular season conference crown and reaching the 40-win mark also positions IU to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and the right to host a regional at Bart Kaufman Field. Trailing 2-0 in the ninth inning of Friday’s game, IU rallied for an improbable 7-2 win against the Buckeyes and one of the Big Ten’s best closers in Ohio State’s Trace Dempsey, highlighted by freshman second baseman Nick Ramos’ 10th-inning grand slam. On Saturday, IU didn’t wait so late in the game to score.Senior shortstop Michael Basil continued his hot hitting in the first inning, ripping a double into the left center field gap that scored sophomore first baseman Sam Travis and sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley, who both singled with two outs.The Hoosiers added three runs in the second, capped by a two-run double from Travis that sliced into the right field corner. Sophomore starter Kyle Hart did the rest, firing 8.1 innings of one-run ball on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Hart started shaky, though.He walked Joe Ciamacco to lead off the bottom of the first and promptly allowed an RBI double to Kirby Pellant. The rocky start brought back memories of Hart’s previous start against Northwestern in which he lasted just 1+ innings and allowed six earned runs. This time, Hart buckled down. “The rest of my time here I might not get a chance to pitch in something like that,” Hart said, “so I kind of just grabbed the reigns and said, ‘I’m not going to let this happen again,’ and worked out of it.” Hart (8-2) settled into a grove after allowing two hits and two walks through the first couple of innings, at one point retiring 12 consecutive Buckeyes and pitching 10 ground-ball outs. Ohio State (34-21, 15-9) threatened with back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth, but Hart induced a ground out to get out of it.“I feel fortunate to be the one chosen,” Hart said. “I didn’t pitch well last week. (Smith) could have easily put someone else in there. He came to me in the third inning and said, ‘You’re my guy, I want you out there, and settle in, you can do this,’ and shook my hand, and I didn’t look back. “It meant a lot for him to put our season in my hands.”When Ramos flipped pinch-hitter Aaron Gretz’s grounder to first to end the game, the Hoosiers stormed the field. Smith stuck with his recent theme: the Big Ten championship is just one more accomplishment, and there are even loftier goals ahead. “We’ll celebrate with a nice meal on the way home, and then unload on the bus there in Bloomington and get back to work tomorrow and focus on that first game of the tournament on Thursday,” he said.A lot has changed since the baseball team’s last outright Big Ten championship in 1932
(05/18/13 10:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>COLUMBUS, Ohio — A night after needing a late-inning comeback to beat Ohio State and capture a share of the Big Ten regular season title, the IU baseball team wanted to leave no doubt who the best team in the conference was.The normally-potent Hoosier offense looked vulnerable through the first 17 innings of the series, scoring just one run, but broke out in a big way Saturday to help IU to do something it hadn’t done in more than eight decades.IU jumped all over Buckeye starter Jaron Long, scoring six runs through the first three innings to beat Ohio State 8-1 and capture its first outright Big Ten regular season title since 1932 Saturday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.Senior shortstop Michael Basil continued his hot hitting in the first, ripping a double into the left center field gap that scored Sam Travis and Scott Donley, who both singled with two outs.The Hoosiers (40-13, 17-7 in the Big Ten) added three runs in the second. Kyle Schwarber knocked a base hit up the middle to score Justin Cureton. Following a Will Nolden walk, Sam Travis sliced a ball down deep the right field line that rattled around in the corner, plating Nolden and Travis.Casey Smith got IU’s sixth run in the third with a single through the right side that scored Basil, who led off the inning with a walk.Sophomore left-hander starter Kyle Hart did the rest, his only blemish an RBI double by Kirby Pellant that knocked in Joe Ciumacco, who led off the bottom of the first with a walk.Hart (8-2) did look a little shaky at the start, allowing two hits and two walks through the first two innings, along with some hard-hit outs.He settled into a grove after that, though, retiring 12 straight Buckeyes. Ohio State (34-21, 15-9) threatened with back-to-back two out singles in the sixth, but Jacob Bosiokovic hit a chopper to DeMuth. DeMuth’s throw was low but Travis made a beautiful pick at first to save his third basemen and end the inning.Hart got the first out in the ninth before being pulled in favor of freshman righty Scott Effross. Hart allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 8.1 innings pitched.Schwarber added his Big-Ten leading 14th home run in the ninth, an opposite-field shot to left with one out that made it 8-1 IU.Long (6-6) last eight innings, allowing eight runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts and three walks.The Hoosiers will head to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time. Ohio State, who was trying to capture a share of the Big Ten title, is the No. 2 seed.
(05/18/13 10:16pm)
COLUMBUS, Ohio --- A night after needing a late-inning comeback to beat Ohio State and capture a share of the Big Ten regular season title, the IU baseball team wanted to leave no doubt who the best team in the conference was.
(05/18/13 1:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the first time since 1949, the Indiana baseball team has secured at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title with a 7-2 come-from-behind win against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Friday night.It didn't come easily for the Hoosiers.Trailing 2-0 in the top of the ninth, sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley hit a shot up the middle to get on base against Trace Dempsey, who was going for a school-record and Big Ten record-tying 16th save.Senior third baseman Michael Basil followed that with a double down the left field line that scored Donley. IU hadn't scored the night before, making that its first run in 17 innings in Columbus.Basil would steal third, and, after a strikeout for the first out in the inning, freshman second baseman Nick Ramos hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field to score Basil. The Hoosiers had tied the game. It was Ramos' first at-bat of the game, as he pinch hit for sophomore second baseman Chad Clark.In the 10th, Ramos would once again do the damage that would drive the Hoosiers to victory.Sophomore first baseman Sam Travis walked, and Donley once again recorded a single, which advanced Travis to third. With one-out, Basil put down a sacrifice squeeze bunt to plate Travis.IU had come back to take a 3-2 lead, its first of the series, after it appeared as if the game was almost out-of-reach.When Travis slid across the plate, he quickly rose to his feet, yelling and pumping his fist in joy. The team almost flood the field to join him.But Ramos wanted to make sure that lead would be enough for a Hoosier victory.After a hit-by-pitch and a walk to load the bases, Ramos drove a ball over the right field fence for a grand slam, his fifth home run of the season, to put the Hoosiers up 7-2.From there, junior pitcher Ryan Halstead took care of the shell-shocked Buckeyes in the 10th, allowing just one hit and striking out the final two batters, to deliver the win for the Hoosiers.Sophomore pitcher Aaron Slegers went 8.1 innings for the Hoosiers, surrendering two runs on nine hits. Ramos finished with five RBI. Basil ended up three-for-four with two RBI, including the game-winner, and one run scored.The Hoosiers will have a chance to win the Big Ten title outright Saturday at 4:05 when it finishes the three-game series with Ohio State in Columbus.
(05/16/13 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber has been named to USA Baseball’s 2013 Collegiate National Team, IU baseball announced in a press release Wednesday.“I just think that speaks to how good that guy is,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “We talk about all the players across the country and the many great players across the country — that he has the honor of wearing the stars and stripes across his chest is something I think he’ll never forget.”Schwarber is the fourth Hoosier to be selected by Team USA, and the second since Smith took over in 2006. Alex Dickerson earned a spot via a tryout in 2010.“The best part about it him is our best players are our hardest workers,” Smith said. “When you have that you have something special, and he truly is something special — not just talent-wise but the type of person he is and his work ethic.”Schwarber is hitting .384 with 13 home runs, 41 RBIs and 48 runs scored. The 13 homers lead the Big Ten while his runs and RBIs rank second and third in the Big Ten, respectively. Schwarber also leads the conference in slugging (.680) and is second in on base percentage (.474).“Seeing some of these wonderful opportunities he gets — playing on a good baseball team and being a big part of that but playing on Team USA this summer — I think his confidence level coming back next year is even gonna be greater because these are some of the best players in the country, and I think he’s going to fit in very, very well with that group,” Smith said.— Joe Popely
(05/15/13 11:59pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The baseball field was located where the IMU is now, IU Coach Tracy Smith wouldn’t be born for more than twenty years, and IU’s now-vacant Sembower Field was still two years from construction. It’s been quite a while since the IU baseball team won its last Big Ten regular season title — 64 years to be exact — but the Hoosiers are staring down a chance at championship No. 5. “Everything in the past in the season doesn’t really matter,” senior shortstop Michael Basil said. “We have everything in front of us that we want to accomplish. We haven’t been in this situation since I’ve been here and being in the driver’s seat going into the last weekend is unbelievable.” The Hoosiers (38-12, 15-6 Big Ten) head into a three-game set with Ohio State in first place in the Big Ten to conclude the regular season. With a sweep of the Buckeyes, IU would clinch its first Big Ten title since 1949 and first outright title since 1932. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Thursday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus, Ohio as junior Joey DeNato (7-1, 2.67 ERA) will go for IU opposite senior right-hander Brad Goldberg (6-1, 3.41).Inside the IU clubhouse stands a large board detailing 10 team goals. Quite a few have already been checked off the list — maintain a team ERA under 4.0, secure a top-25 ranking, beat Louisville two out of three times, for example — but the one at the top of the list still remains: “Win Big Ten Championship.” “It’s nice to accomplish those goals but as competitive athletes we always want that next one. We always want them all,” sophomore pitcher Aaron Slegers said. “If we don’t achieve one goal, we feel like it’s not good enough.” IU doesn’t necessarily have to sweep the Buckeyes to capture the conference crown. If the Hoosiers take two-of-three from Ohio State and Minnesota loses one game to Illinois in its three game series, IU would clinch a share of the regular season title.If all of those things happen and Nebraska loses one game in its three-game series with Michigan, IU clinches the outright title. The Buckeyes (33-19, 14-7) sit one game back of the Hoosiers while Minnesota, at 12-6 in conference, trails in winning percentage points and is in third. Nebraska is 14-7 in the conference and tied for third with Minnesota. The Cornhuskers have a three game set with Michigan starting Thursday. “I’m not stupid … Everybody knows what’s at stake this weekend,” Smith said. “You can call those trap games, call them whatever — we weren’t sharp (Tuesday at Kentucky). As a coach, I’m striving for these guys to play no matter what the circumstances are. “If these guys aren’t ready to play this weekend and focus this weekend then they don’t deserve to play baseball.” Smith acknowledged the media hype surrounding this year’s team, calling the extra attention “inevitable.” Should the Hoosiers take care of business against Ohio State, they are also in line to capture an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament — goal No. 2 on the board — and host a NCAA regional at Bart Kaufman Field. “To think that you can totally block that stuff out is not realistic,” he said. “To me the best thing you can do is just take it head on and just make sure they’re professional about it and understand they’re just words. It’s just stuff on paper. You still gotta go do it out on the field. “It’s just like this whole hosting thing — if we don’t play well down the stretch, kiss this whole hosting thing goodbye.”
(05/15/13 9:08pm)
Sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber has been named to USA Baseball's 2013 Collegiate National Team, IU baseball announced in a press release today.
(05/13/13 12:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After two consecutive games in which an IU starting pitcher failed to make it through the third inning, sophomore pitcher Aaron Slegers reminded Hooiser fans what a strong outing looks like. Slegers (8-1) registered his team-high eighth win of the year, scattering nine hits in 6.2 innings, allowing two runs (both earned) with four strikeouts and no walks in IU’s 9-2 win against Northwestern Sunday at Bart Kaufman Field. “I think when you look at that he probably had as much to do with the way this game goes because the first two games we didn’t get quality starts, and we always say it starts on the mound,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “The way we expended ourselves the last couple days, we needed him to go deep and he did, so good job by him.” Sleger’s win didn’t come without some drama in the top of the sixth, though. Pinch-hitter Jack Livingston led off the inning with a single to left. Trevor Stevens followed with a single to center to put runners on first and second for Kyle Ruchim. Ruchim hit a one-hop liner to short that senior Michael Basil tried to backhand. The ball instead caromed off Basil and into left field, scoring Livingston.Pitcher Zach Morton then singled to left to make it 6-2 IU, sending Ruchim to third. After a popout, catcher Scott Heelan hit a chopper back to the mound. Ruchim broke for the plate, and Slegers tossed it to sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber to cut down Ruchim at the plate. Slegers got out of the jam by getting Jack Mitchell to pop out in the infield. “This deep in the season it gives you confidence, you know,” Slegers said of pitching with runners on base. “I’ve sort of been there, and sit back and trust your stuff and keep doing what kind of got me here. It does help with all this experience, being the middle of May to just take a deep breath on the mound and continue to throw strikes and let the defense work.” IU got the scoring started in the second. After the first two hitters reached with singles and Casey Smith sacrificed them to second and third, freshman second basemen Nick Ramos singled the opposite way to left to drive in two and give the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead. All of the Hoosiers’ 16 hits were singles, led by junior third baseman Dustin DeMuth’s 4-for-4, two-runs-scored day. The four hits raised DeMuth’s team-best batting average to .417. “Everyone had quality AB’s and was waiting on that slider and just being patient with it and putting good wood on it,” DeMuth said. “You don’t always have to have the big hits, they’re always nice, but you can string singles together and have timely hitting to put some runs on the board.”The Hoosiers (38-11, 15-6 Big Ten) added four runs in the fourth on an RBI bunt single by senior centerfielder Justin Cureton and a two-run single to left by sophomore first baseman Sam Travis. After Northwestern’s mini-rally in the top of the sixth, IU responded with three runs in the bottom half. Morton (3-5) lasted just four innings, allowing six earned runs on 11 hits with one strikeout and one walk. With the win, IU took two of three from Northwestern (22-23, 9-15) for the fourth-consecutive year. Before the game, IU honored its four seniors, Basil, Cureton, infielder Trace Knoblauch and right-handed pitcher Walker Stadler. “This is a special year, probably one of the best in Indiana’s history,” he said. “And for those guys to be a part of it, not just be a part of it but be a big part of the reason why is something I hope they don’t forget because we’re certainly not going to. Certainly going to miss those guys when the season’s over but we hope it’s not for a while.”
(05/12/13 7:39pm)
After two consecutive games in which an IU starting pitcher failed to make it through the third inning, Aaron Slegers reminded Hooiser fans what a strong outing looked like.
(05/09/13 2:24pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Danny Rosenbaum hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Cole Sturgeon from third as No. 10 Louisville beat the No. 16 IU baseball team 4-3 in walk-off fashion Wednesday night in Louisville.Sturgeon led off the bottom of the ninth with a double off the wall in right-center field. Catcher Kyle Gibson sacrificed Sturgeon to third for the first out, drawing the Hoosiers’ infield in and setting up Rosenbaum’s heroics.Rosenbaum, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh, took a fastball up and on the outside corner from IU right-hander Ryan Halstead (2-3) and lined it deep enough to right for Rosenbaum to tag up and score. Sophomore Tim O’Connor gave it a desperation heave, but it was well late and off the mark.IU (36-10) led 3-1 with two outs in the seventh inning when things started to fall apart. Gibson singled to center field. Rosenbaum then hit a slow grounder to second that would have ended the inning, but freshman Nick Ramos charged and mishandled it for IU’s second error of the game.With runners on first and second, shortstop Sutton Whiting then tied the game at 3-3 with a double down the right field line. Both runs were unearned but spelled the end of the day for IU freshman starter Will Coursen-Carr.With the win, Louisville (39-10) salvaged the season series after losing the first two games to IU.
(05/09/13 1:06am)
Danny Rosenbaum hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Cole Sturgeon from third as No. 10 Louisville beat the No. 16 IU baseball team 4-3 in walk-off fashion Wednesday night in Louisville.