184 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/09/09 3:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior pitcher Chris Squires came out of the bullpen firing his irregular delivery and emotions all over Sembower Field in IU’s 9-5 win against Valparaiso.After striking out the first batter he faced, Squires laid an emphatic tag on Valparaiso left-fielder Steven Scoby to get IU out of a seventh-inning jam. Scoby reacted with a push that sent tempers flaring from each side of the field. Freshman designated hitter Alex Dickerson spoke with his bat, sending his 10th home run of the season sailing over the left-field wall to give IU an 8-5 lead. Squires said he thought Dickerson’s home run was revenge-driven. “Anytime you’re jawing back and forth with a team, you take anything good after that as a victory,” he said. “Not necessarily fighting, but showing them, ‘Hey, we’re winning this game.’” Squires didn’t expect the escalation Scoby added to the routine play at first base. He said he was simply trying to make an out when the small spat erupted. “I didn’t feel like I did anything dirty,” he said. “But if it would have gotten a little out of hand, I’m sure some of my teammates would have had my back.” IU coach Tracy Smith applauded Squires’ enthusiastic stay on the mound, where fist-pumping and chest-pounding were not at a premium. “He’s a fiery competitor,” he said. “I wish more guys would compete like that. If you got the entire dugout on the opposing side cursing you out, it means you’re probably doing something right. I love it. We needed that today.” While Squires registered his first save with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Ranko Ivetic to end the game, sophomore pitcher Matt Carr set him up in registering the win. He went three innings, where he only allowed one earned run. Sophomore pitcher Joey O’Gara also pitched, but gave up four runs in only three innings. Freshman pitcher Marshall Gorham also made a brief stint on the mound in which he rendered the Crusaders scoreless and allowed a mere two hits. Hurlers excelled on from their incline thanks to a scoring cushion provided by the offense of Dickerson, junior outfielder Evan Crawford and second baseman Tyler Rogers. The three accounted for all of IU’s nine runs, either batting in or scoring a run themselves. Dickerson said his often, yet timely, hitting came to counter Valparaiso’s competitiveness. “They were scoring runs, and that team wasn’t going to sit back and quit,” he said. “I knew we had to find a pitch to hit. I got fooled on a changeup, but stuck with it and happened to get it out of the park.”The game didn’t always lean in IU’s favor. The Hoosiers were down early, after O’Gara allowed four runs on only seven hits. However, consistent defense and resilient stints within the batter’s box ultimately opened the door for IU to widen the scoring margin beyond Valparaiso’s reach. While IU bats drove in nine runs on 15 hits and the pitchers collectively struck out six and only gave up five runs, Smith said he wasn’t satisfied. “Even though we won, we have to do a better job of having every guy into the game,” he said. “In conference, everyone seems to turn it up a notch, but I’d like to see us getting after whether it’s midweek or not.”
(04/07/09 4:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fresh from its first Big Ten series win, IU (12-16, 3-2) will travel to Louisville (20-9, 5-4) for the first of four contests in a game-filled week.The Hoosiers will take Jim Patterson Stadium at 4 p.m. today in Louisville having won five of their last six games. IU and Louisville have faced off four times in the past two seasons, with the Cardinals walking away with three wins. Junior catcher Josh Phegley said the two teams have competed fiercely.“We’ve gone back and forth with them in the past years,” Phegley said. “We’re going to have to show up to play. They have a great team, so there won’t be any slouches on the mound for midweek pitching.”IU coach Tracy Smith’s club has a much-improved defense and pitching staff, which will have to perform valiantly for IU to pull an upset against one of the Big East’s best teams.A key to that will be junior shortstop Jake Dunning, who has fortified a once-struggling infield still slightly prone to committing errors. The infield is a work in process, but the major difference has come in the win column. Smith said Dunning made an immediate impact at shortstop.“He has settled in really nicely,” Smith said. “But that’s what we got him for, and we expected him to be successful.”In the third or fourth inning of many games, IU often allows a big hit or commits a damaging error. That has not been the case in its most impressive stint of the season. The team has consistently scored early in contests and kept leads, a feat it once failed to accomplish.“We’re going to score if guys come out with confidence and get that momentum flowing,” junior pitcher Matt Bashore said. “Every day, we feel like we’re going to get runs.”IU gained as many runs as it has all season against Illinois, putting up 14 runs in its game one win in Champaign, Ill. But IU reverted to its old ways and then allowed Illinois to come back for a 5-4 win. The loss ended IU’s longest streak of the year. After the game, junior pitcher Eric Arnett said his team will focus on the task at hand.“We lost a tough one (Saturday),” he said. “But I don’t think we’ll look into this loss too hard. I think we’ll go into Louisville and continue what we have been doing.”Smith said his team won’t take the field with a black-and-white, win-or-lose mentality. Rather, it will collectively place its energy on being as poised as possible.“The one thing we’ve been lacking is a little bit of swagger and confidence,” Smith said. “We don’t want to be too concerned about win or lose. We want to play as well as we can that day.”
(04/06/09 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a cold and rainy day last week, IU coach Tracy Smith paced back and forth on the diamond as his players looked on, eagerly awaiting the game-3 start of their first Big Ten series against Minnesota.The opposing dugout was empty. The umpire’s hands fought the wind as he announced the cancelation of the March 29 game.“We handled Minnesota pretty well on Saturday,” junior catcher Josh Phegley said. “But the fact that they didn’t even seem like they wanted to play the next day showed us that we could play in the Big Ten.”Whether Minnesota was scared off or not, the cancellation gave IU a much-needed push to its 2-1 series win against Illinois. Heading into Champaign, Ill., the Hoosiers had reeled off an uncharacteristic three games for their longest winning streak of the season. They have now won five of six games since Minnesota chose a heated bus instead of the muddy confines of Sembower Field.IU junior pitcher Eric Arnett said his team had no qualms about its ability.“We always knew we could play within the Big Ten,” Arnett said. “The losing streak got us down, but the Minnesota split got our confidence up.”Any early season streak would have been unexpected. With nothing but its mentality in the way, IU struggled through the premature stages of a supposed breakthrough year. The Hoosiers played unevenly, winning one game only to be blown out in the next.They finally found consistency as Phegley and freshman DH Alex Dickerson each delivered two home runs in the series. Their hitting secured wins in IU’s first two games against Illinois and extended a five-game winning streak.Phegley was 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI and accounted for more than half of their runs for an already astronomical 14-4 game 1 total. Dickerson followed with heroics of his own, blasting a 10th-inning home run for a 2-1 game 2 win.Quiet as it’s kept, Smith anticipated such a performance from Phegley.“We were waiting for him to put us on his back,” he said. “When he’s doing well, we’re usually doing well.”Arnett (6-1) became the first Hoosier ever to go 10 straight innings on the mound. He won a game 2 pitcher’s duel with Illinois’ Ben Reeser in striking out six and allowing only one earned run. Freshman Blake Monar (3-2) also managed to recover from a tough outing in his last start. He got a game 1 win after pitching seven innings, striking out seven batters and allowing three earned runs.Although Dickerson homered again in game 3, IU lost 5-4 in its last contest of the series.Phegley said IU used to play with a tightness that hampered them late in games.“We’re playing looser,” he said. “The pitching has really come around, and we all know that we’re going to put up runs every game.”Sporting a sincere tone, Smith said the series showed the team’s potential.“We’re playing better baseball,” he said. “We’re doing a good job of getting outs, and we’re making teams earn everything they get against us.”
(04/01/09 4:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU baseball team had two marquee names on its roster to begin the 2009 season: Josh Phegley and Matt Bashore.Phegley has hit .400 on the season, while Bashore has been banished from the No. 1 pitching position he once held with a firm grip. IU’s 11-4 Tuesday victory against Chicago State, which was called after the fifth inning began, saw the re-emergence of IU’s one-time ace. Bashore (1-3) gained his first win of the season. He was backed by an offense that put up two home runs and scored 11 earned runs.Although he gained his lone win of the season, Bashore was still critical of his performance this season.“It’s all about giving the team a chance to win,” he said. “And I feel like I haven’t been doing that to my best abilities.”He pitched three innings, where he allowed only two hits and left Chicago State scoreless. Pegged as the Big Ten preseason pitcher of the year, he got off to a surprising 0-3 to begin the season. No competitor wants to be demoted, but Bashore said IU coach Tracy Smith’s decision to make him the Sunday pitcher in the rotation was justified.“Obviously the other two guys have been pitching better than I have,” he said. “I’m just glad to still be pitching on the weekend. As long as I’m pitching, I’m happy.”He had no lack of run support, as IU took advantage of the weather. Sophomore outfielder Kipp Schutz sent a routine fly ball lofting over the left-field wall for a home run in the first inning.“I was just trying to stay back and go up the middle because the pitcher wasn’t throwing that hard,” Schutz said.IU was also aided by the pitching of Chicago State’s James Tucker, who couldn’t have been more generous in his one and two-thirds innings pitched. The freshman gave up nine earned runs and seven hits and hit five batters.Junior outfielder Evan Crawford and shortstop Jake Dunning took advantage of Chicago State pitcher Scott Balcer in the third inning. Crawford tallied a 2 RBI single and Dunning shot a ball to right field for a 2 RBI double. Both scored in the third inning, and Dunning later hit an RBI double. Second baseman Tyler Rogers added to IU’s scoring route with a home run to center field.While Bashore performed well, Marshall Gorham also struggled for IU, giving up six hits and four runs in two innings. He gave up all four runs in the fourth inning, none bigger than center fielder Albert Carpen’s three-run homer to give Chicago State four runs on the day.“He’s got to make better pitches,” Smith said. “You’re probably not as focused as you should be because you’re trying to get the game in. If you leave some pitches up guys are going to make you pay for it.”Bashore was only on the mound for three innings, but said the performance can be integral in his realignment among the Big Ten’s best.“Every chance you get to have a game like that is good for you to get your confidence going,” he said. “I’ve been struggling with the off-speed pitch, but I found it again today.”Smith said his pitcher still struggled in the early innings but found a rhythm he can parlay into future success.“In the first couple, the pace at which he was going was not great,” Smith said. “The third inning was more like him. He picked up his tempo a little bit, so it’s good to finish on that going into the Big Ten.”
(03/30/09 3:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Eric Arnett lunged from a soggy mound, sending every inch of his slender, 6-foot-5 frame flailing toward the wet grass in his last heave of Saturday’s 3-2 win against No. 25 Minnesota.With a full ball-to-strike count, he was only one pitch away from finishing a complete game and propelling IU (8-15, 1-1) to its first win against a ranked opponent this season. The “payoff pitch” went Arnett’s way. Minnesota left fielder Justin Gominsky struck out swinging to end the game. IU was 1-1 in the three-game series, but Sunday’s game was canceled due to poor field conditions.Minnesota (14-7, 1-1) left IU suspended in similar fashion in its 12-5 win Friday. The Hoosiers had lingering questions regarding their ever-changing infield and pitching staff, as freshman Blake Monar (2-2) allowed 10 hits, walked five batters and surrendered seven earned runs. He was helped by a number of fielding miscues in the fourth inning, when IU gave up six runs and tallied an error.After Friday’s defeat, junior catcher Josh Phegley said IU’s mistake-filled fourth inning personified IU’s uncanny season in a nutshell.“I feel like something strange happens every game,” he said. “It’s hard to fight through when almost every game seems like you’re fighting more than the other team.”Freshman designated hitter Alex Dickerson supplied Arnett with the run support Monar lacked in IU’s game 1 loss. He was 2-for-3 in the game, with two RBI and a home run. The left-hander took advantage of westward prevailing winds and hit an opposite-field, two-run homer in the sixth inning. Second baseman Derek McCallum, who also hits left-handed, had already crushed a home run to left field in the first inning.IU coach Tracy Smith played prophet from the sidelines as Dickerson came up to bat.“I had just said to one of the guys in the dugout, ‘He’s going to muscle one out of here today’ – which he did,” Smith said. “We needed something positive to happen to get on a roll here and start playing the way we’re supposed to be.”While Alexander gave IU its 3-2 lead, Arnett and the defense kept it. The Hoosiers have seen many changes in the infield because of injury and struggled to consistently finish routine outs on Friday. Juniors Evan Crawford and Jake Dunning were moved to the outfield and shortstop Saturday, helping IU turn double plays and run down nearly unplayable hits.IU displayed its improvement in the third inning of game two. Arnett was in a jam with the bases loaded and the Hoosiers got out of the inning. Rather than faltering like they did in Friday’s fourth inning, IU rallied and only allowed one run. Minnesota never scored again.After a slight third-inning stall, Arnett got in a rhythm and exercised a commanding fast ball and off-speed pitch. The pitcher threw 10 strikeouts and consistently retired Minnesota’s 1-2-3 batters. Dickerson said Arnett carried the Hoosiers throughout the extremely contentious game.“Key all the way through was Eric Arnett – just dealing,” he said. “The runs he did give up weren’t even half his fault. The entire game he never let down and keep pounding it down their throat.”Although it was only one win, Smith hopes IU’s 3-2 defeat of Minnesota will provide a wake-up call for a team that was once highly touted.“Minnesota’s going to be sitting up there at the top of those standings,” Smith said. “You got to beat good teams in close baseball games. Hopefully, this will be a jump start to us realizing we are good.”
(03/28/09 3:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU and Minnesota went play for play through three innings, as each pitcher retired almost every batter they faced. That changed in the fourth inning of the Hoosiers’ 12-5 loss.Freshman pitcher Blake Monar (2-2) had only allowed one run through three innings, before a series of walks, hit batters and infield errors caused IU to allow six points. Monar allowed 10 hits, seven earned runs, walked five batters and hit two in six innings. He struck out five in the loss, and Minnesota pitcher Chauncey Handran (4-1) picked up his fourth win of the season.Handran was dominant throughout, pitching eight innings, allowing six hits and only two runs. He consistently took down IU’s first three batters, keeping his pitch count low. While Handran only threw 91 pitches, Monar hurled 117 in two less innings.The fourth inning put the Hoosiers in a common position, as they were once again forced to play catch-up. IU coach Tracy Smith said he was still confident in IU’s chances following the fourth-inning run that gave Minnesota a 6-0 lead.“We have to do a better job of still making quality pitches,” he said. “If you hold that thing down, with our offense, you’re still going to have a chance to do it.” IU’s infield only tallied one official error, but miscues deepened its jam in Monar’s worst-pitched inning. Many ground balls found gaps in the defense, which put players on base in situations that usually end with routine outs. Their performance can be partially credited to injuries and recent movements in the lineup.Both teams took a different approach to the batter’s box. IU hit the first pitch it saw on several occasions and grounded into successive outs, while Minnesota was more methodical, making Monar work for outs.Notable hitters from the game were Evan Crawford (1-4, 1 Run, 1 RBI), Kipp Schutz (2-4, 1 Run), Chris Hervey (1-4, 1 RBI) and Jake Dunning (2-4, 2 RBI). Alex Dickerson also tallied a run.Pitchers Wyatt Hoff and Drew Leininger also worked on the mound. Hoff’s outing came to an abrupt end when he immediately allowed two hits and two runs. He only lasted 1/3 of an inning, after relieving Monar.Leininger followed Hoff, pitching for 2 2/3 innings. He started well, but gave up a two-run homer to pinch hitter Jon Hummell. He allowed three runs, three hits and struck out one.
(03/27/09 4:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As a freshman, Josh Phegley spent nights running wind sprints, long after his teammates had left the field.Whether it was a missed class or team meeting, IU coach Tracy Smith always had a reason to punish the freshman who dared to violate team rules. Counseling the talented youngster was a 24-hour job that caused Smith to stray from his usually calm demeanor on multiple occasions.“I can’t remember too many days that I wasn’t in trouble for something,” Phegley said. “The legs are a little fresher, too, after you don’t have to run so many times.”Smith’s daily drill-sergeant technique has made a difference. The 2009 baseball season began with the junior catcher’s name plastered on every All-American or player-of-the-year listing. He had batted .438, posted 80 RBI and smashed 15 home runs the year before. Senior Chris Hervey has played with Phegley for three years and says he has seen an ultimate transformation.“He’s never an issue. He’s never in trouble,” he said. “He’s the team captain, so that shows you the type of progression he’s made and the type of person he’s become.”Possessing ability within the diamond, even his teammates rave about him, dubbing him “Mr. Hands.” However, it will take more than one man to win games in the Big Ten. No one knows that more than Phegley heading into IU’s 3 p.m. Friday conference opener against Minnesota.“Growing up, I had my father as a coach basically every year I ever played,” he said. “He wasn’t a guy that was going to let me go out there and be the privileged one because I was coach’s son.”Phegley said his father made it a point to be harder on him, which instilled a desire to work harder than everyone on the dirt. Smith said every coach wants his best player to be last to leave the practice field. But an ideal leader also performs on game day.“It adds definite credibility,” Smith said. “Sometimes players will look at a guy funny if he’s getting on them, and he’s not playing. You don’t have to be talented to be a leader, but if you have your chops about you, players can look up to you.”Freshman Blake Monar said Phegley plays the most important position in the game as he protects the ball on defense, bats and works with pitchers.“Catcher’s the biggest position on the field,” he said. “Everything works around him. He touches the ball on every play. Our success is definitely keyed on him.”Believing in others is something in which Phegley takes pride. IU pitching has a 6.44 ERA, second-to-last in the Big Ten, but yet he says poise is the key to success.”Ninety percent of the battle is being confident in the pitcher about to throw,” he said. “I want them to know they can shake me and throw what they want to throw.”Hervey echoed Monar’s sentiment, saying: “As he goes, we go.”“When you catch, you can affect the game offensively, defensively and with the pitching staff,” he said. “As well as he plays is as well as we’re going to play as a team.”Regardless of all the hype surrounding him, Phegley said he simply plays for his teammates.“I enjoy coming out and playing for these guys,” Phegley said. “It’s just what I love to do.”
(03/25/09 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Any 7-13 team would be prone to panic – losing six of your last eight games can only further deplete an already anxiety-filled, partly shattered psyche. IU junior catcher Josh Phegley said his team’s mental approach helped develop an early-season hole in what was supposed to be a breakout year. “We started going into games thinking we might win, we might not,” he said. “We’d fall behind early, and we started going into panic mode instead of just sitting back and knowing what we had offensively and defensively.”IU is relatively calm heading into its 3 p.m. game today against Xavier (10-6), despite the contest’s weight. As the final opportunity for improvement before the Big Ten season, which starts Friday against Minnesota, Xavier is the only remaining springboard to set the Hoosiers on the pace many expected.One comforting factor might be the familiarity IU coach Tracy Smith has with Xavier coach Scott Googins. Both wore cream and crimson during one of IU baseball’s finest hours. In 1996, Smith and Googins were assistants under former IU coach Bob Morgan for a team that brought the only Big Ten championship and NCAA regional appearance of the last decade.Smith had a good laugh at the thought of losing to Googins, who was also his understudy at Miami of Ohio, but said IU will attempt to make the bout a facilitator of future wins.“It’ll be fun to go at him head-to-head,” he said. “But we’re going to use that game to start preparing for the weekend and get on the right track and playing some good baseball.”While optimistic, Smith is also a realist. Several flukey games and oddball scores make up IU’s schedule results. Many of the listed losses have come in wild games, but Smith didn’t allow excuses to seep into his speech even though his team has composite .338 batting and .500 slugging averages.“You make your breaks,” Smith said. “You have to create your own luck, and we found multiple ways to beat ourselves, whether it was the bullpen that let us down or the defense that let us down.”Rarely taking the mound in his first two years, junior pitcher Chris Squires (1-1) is now in his most pertinent position. Squires will post his third start of the season against Xavier. The right-hander has come on for IU as a capable yet scrappy fourth-day pitcher. The ultimate team player, Squires said a win in Cincinnati could mold his team into a more cohesive unit.“After a slightly disappointing spring trip, I think this game is huge in terms of morale and chemistry,” he said.The last three innings have indicated IU’s collapse in several landslide losses that were winnable going into their latter stages. With the value of each victory at a premium, Squires said IU has to close games in order to add to the coveted column. “We really need, as a team, to kind of step up in those innings. That’s crunch time,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you do in the beginning of the game if you can’t finish from seven to nine.”Filled with hope, Phegley said IU has the tools needed to compete with Xavier and improve as the season progresses.“A good win against Xavier will get us rolling for the weekend,” he said. “If we get a win this weekend, there’s no telling what we can do.”
(03/25/09 4:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Any 7-13 team would be prone to panic – losing six of your last eight games can only further deplete an already anxiety-filled, partly shattered psyche. IU junior catcher Josh Phegley said his team’s mental approach helped develop an early-season hole in what was supposed to be a breakout year. “We started going into games thinking we might win, we might not,” he said. “We’d fall behind early, and we started going into panic mode instead of just sitting back and knowing what we had offensively and defensively.”IU is relatively calm heading into its 3 p.m. game today against Xavier (10-6), despite the contest’s weight. As the final opportunity for improvement before the Big Ten season, which starts Friday against Minnesota, Xavier is the only remaining springboard to set the Hoosiers on the pace many expected.One comforting factor might be the familiarity IU coach Tracy Smith has with Xavier coach Scott Googins. Both wore cream and crimson during one of IU baseball’s finest hours. In 1996, Smith and Googins were assistants under former IU coach Bob Morgan for a team that brought the only Big Ten championship and NCAA regional appearance of the last decade.Smith had a good laugh at the thought of losing to Googins, who was also his understudy at Miami of Ohio, but said IU will attempt to make the bout a facilitator of future wins.“It’ll be fun to go at him head-to-head,” he said. “But we’re going to use that game to start preparing for the weekend and get on the right track and playing some good baseball.”While optimistic, Smith is also a realist. Several flukey games and oddball scores make up IU’s schedule results. Many of the listed losses have come in wild games, but Smith didn’t allow excuses to seep into his speech even though his team has composite .338 batting and .500 slugging averages.“You make your breaks,” Smith said. “You have to create your own luck, and we found multiple ways to beat ourselves, whether it was the bullpen that let us down or the defense that let us down.”Rarely taking the mound in his first two years, junior pitcher Chris Squires (1-1) is now in his most pertinent position. Squires will post his third start of the season against Xavier. The right-hander has come on for IU as a capable yet scrappy fourth-day pitcher. The ultimate team player, Squires said a win in Cincinnati could mold his team into a more cohesive unit.“After a slightly disappointing spring trip, I think this game is huge in terms of morale and chemistry,” he said.The last three innings have indicated IU’s collapse in several landslide losses that were winnable going into their latter stages. With the value of each victory at a premium, Squires said IU has to close games in order to add to the coveted column. “We really need, as a team, to kind of step up in those innings. That’s crunch time,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you do in the beginning of the game if you can’t finish from seven to nine.”Filled with hope, Phegley said IU has the tools needed to compete with Xavier and improve as the season progresses.“A good win against Xavier will get us rolling for the weekend,” he said. “If we get a win this weekend, there’s no telling what we can do.”
(03/13/09 4:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a tough 8-7 loss to Kentucky, IU (5-7) will head to Florida for a spring trip where it will play eight teams.The Hoosiers will play their first game Saturday against Bowling Green at Chain O’Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Fla. They will then compete in a string of contests, which will lead IU into conference play and its toughest portion of the season. After the team’s Wednesday loss, IU coach Tracy Smith said the Hoosiers have played well enough to win yet continue to falter in two integral phases: defense and timely hitting. Junior pitcher Matt Bashore (0-3) only allowed four hits March 11 but still gave up eight runs to the Wildcats. Smith said Bashore pitched a good game but didn’t get much help from the defense behind him. “You could say he pitched well enough to win,” he said. “If we take care of the ball, we may have a better chance.”The one constant on the Hoosiers stat sheet has been errors. Smith said they will have to correct their most glaring blemish to be successful.“Our team is going to have to take better care of the ball if we expect to win,” he said.– By DeAntae Prince
(03/12/09 3:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>By all accounts, IU (8-7) had the right man in its batter’s box with two hitters on base in the eighth inning of its 8-7 loss to Kentucky on Wednesday.All-American IU catcher Josh Phegley batted with just as much fervor as he has all season Wednesday when he faced Kentucky pitcher Logan Darnell. Phegley worked Darnell up to a full count before flying a single out to left field that scored junior outfielder Evan Crawford and brought IU within one point. With IU sophomore Matt Carr dismissing nearly every batter that stepped within the diamond, the Hoosiers had one last shot in the ninth inning – three consecutive outs ended any opportunity for a win.IU coach Tracy Smith said his team couldn’t have asked for a better setup to end the game.“He’s been a guy that we’ve leaned on for a couple seasons,” he said of Phegley. “We had the right guy in the right position.”The Hoosiers doubled the Wildcats in hits with 14 but left nine batters stranded. Their inability to get timely hitting allowed Kentucky to post four uncountered runs in the sixth inning. But the game was ultimately decided by mistakes on the defensive side. Smith blamed four errors for IU’s loss.“If you look at the statistical sheet, it doesn’t make sense,” Smith said. “If you double the team’s amount of hits, get 12 strikeouts and score seven runs, you’d think that’d be good enough to win. The one statistic that seems to be rearing its ugly head for us is our errors, and it cost us.” The Hoosiers have underachieved all season but finally seemed to play up to their potential against Kentucky, a power in the Southeastern Conference, widely considered the best conference in college baseball. IU’s pitching was on par with Kentucky’s until the sixth inning. From then on, Carr separated himself from any other player to touch the mound. He threw for two innings, facing 11 batters and striking out six. Even in defeat, Carr said he was proud of his team’s performance.“We kept fighting after we were down four, and that says a lot about this team,” he said. Sophomore first baseman Jerrud Sabourin, who went 3-for-5 on the day, said IU was capable of scoring against heightened competition but simply faltered in the ninth inning.“We tried to get guys to put balls in the gaps,” he said. “Their closer was a pretty good pitcher, and we just couldn’t get it done.”
(03/10/09 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU coach Tracy Smith wasn’t happy with his team Sunday night, to say the least.After the Hoosiers’ last game at the Eagle Invitational, an 8-3 win against Le Moyne, Smith was brutally honest when discussing their performance.“Right now we’re playing terribly on defense,” Smith said. “We gotta do a much better job of taking care of the baseball if we expect to win.”IU (4-6) will get that opportunity for improvement when it faces Morehead State at 3 p.m. today. The Hoosiers will confront the Eagles at Sembower Field after ending a four-game losing streak Sunday. The game is only the second home contest of the season for IU, which lost its last game in Bloomington 10-6 against Eastern Michigan.While the Hoosiers gained a win at the Eagle Invitational, Smith didn’t believe his team had done enough this weekend or this season, stating the team needs to be more assertive.“It’s about hard work,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll wake up and see that they can’t just show up.”— By DeAntae Prince
(03/04/09 10:17pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers (3-3) suffered their second-worst loss of the season as Indiana State defeated them, 11-2. IU had one opportunity to close in on the Sycamores when freshman third baseman Cody Webber and junior shortstop Jake Dunning both stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded in the second inning. Their teammates lingered on the bases, waiting for a hit to shrink Indiana State’s 8-2 lead – but it never came. Webber went down swinging first, and Dunning followed suit to end the inning. The Hoosiers never recovered from the missed opportunity and failed to post another point in their 2-11 loss in Terre Haute. IU coach Tracy Smith said the contest was tough to describe.“It’s a hard game to even evaluate because we made so many mistakes,” he said. “We made mistakes in the infield, we made mistakes on the mound and we made mistakes on the bases.”The Sycamores jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings, as freshman pitcher Drew Leininger gave up seven hits and five earned runs, which totaled eight in his first start. Smith said he pitched like a freshman, adding: “We’re too good, we’ve got too many arms to be pitching what I call mid-week performances.” Junior Chris Squires pitched two scoreless innings before freshman pitcher Matt Igel came in to give up the last three runs of the game.The IU offense was relatively quiet, producing only nine hits in comparison to ISU’s 15. The three errors committed in the game also did nothing to help the Hoosier cause.A quick turnaround awaits IU when it hits the field today to face Eastern Michigan 3p.m. at Sembower Field. Since a previously scheduled bout in Bloomington was canceled due to the weather, it will be the first official home game of the season.
(03/03/09 5:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three years ago IU baseball coach Tracy Smith had the perfect job. The Hoosiers’ skipper was at Miami University of Ohio in a position fixed with all the trimmings head coaches covet – a new stadium, great players, squash courts and a secretary in his office. He elevated the RedHawks from 12-40 to being a perennial power in the Mid-American Conference. Smith had it rolling at Miami. “I felt like I could put my feet up on my desk over there,” he said, pointing his Adidas tennis shoes toward the ceiling. “But it was like, ‘Is that where I want to be at 39, 40 years old? To now just kick back and put my feet up on my desk?’” Smith instead dropped his feet to the ground and decided to coach a stagnant IU team that went 26-30 in the 2005 season and 10th in the Big Ten. This transition was anything but seamless. Smith had to uproot his family and face a host of puzzled looks that begged one question: “Are you nuts?” “All of my coaching buddies were like, ‘What are you doing?’” Smith said. “Personally, I said, ‘Tracy Smith, if you are that good, then go do it again.’ And that was one of the big reasons I wanted to come here.”The questions have since ceased, and Smith’s Hoosiers are near a breakthrough season. Although heavily touted, IU (3-2) has gotten off to an up-and-down start it will attempt to rewrite when it travels to Terre Haute. Indiana State’s Sycamore Field will play host to IU’s first in-state contest, which will begin at 3 p.m. The game provides an IU team, which has had multiple games canceled, an opportunity to head into a game-heavy March with a win. A strong finish to 2008, which saw IU win 11 of its last 15 conference games, has the Hoosiers projected as Big Ten champions. Smith has not shied away from expectations. Instead, he ingrained this notion in his players’ heads: “The College World Series comes through Bloomington.” “At the core, I don’t care what people say about us,” Smith said. “But I think there’s value in it for these kids at this point, if you’ve got magazines saying ‘first place.’ It’s been a long time since publications, or something in print, has had ‘Indiana’ and ‘first place’ in the same sentence.” It hasn’t happened by coincidence. Nameless freshmen and career-long losers highlighted the 2006 roster. Smith’s first two seasons produced career lows as IU posted 22-34 and 19-35 records. Well-versed in restoring programs, Smith continued to approach baseball with an unmatched fervor for the game, resulting in improvement on Sembower Field. In three seasons, a major transformation ensued within IU’s players, especially in everyone’s All-American junior catcher Josh Phegley. “My entire freshman year, he knew the potential that I had,” Phegley said. “I just wasn’t living up to the expectations. He was there, on me constantly. It just showed that he knew what I was capable of, and he cares.” Assistant IU baseball coach Ty Neal played and coached under Smith at Miami and said he was in awe of Smith’s accomplishments. “He’s a master at turning programs around,” he said. “He’s done it once before, and he’s in the process of doing it again here at Indiana.” While reflecting on the past three years, Smith assessed his tenure at IU thus far. “I just find a lot of satisfaction in building,” he said. “If I were to leave, I’d feel that I left IU in better shape than I found it. I’m proud to say I think we’ve made some progress here.”
(01/13/09 5:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU students were full of praise for Tony Dungy after hearing the seven-year Colts coach was retiring from football. “Just following the NFL for a long time, he’s one of the class-act guys,” IU junior Ben Heisler said. “When you think of him, you think of a person who is a very religious man, a person who really contributes to a lot of people – both his players and the community. He’ll be missed in the league.”IU first-year graduate student David Hughes was also impressed by Dungy, calling him the best Colts coach ever.“I don’t think we’ve ever had as good of a coach as Tony Dungy,” Hughes said. “He was a major step up from anyone in the past. It’s just nice to see him, as a Colts fan, have that calm demeanor, but still win a lot of games. Tony Dungy meant a lot, and he did a lot for the community.”Dungy also meant a lot to the black community.In a historic NFL moment, he and Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who is also black, shared the ultimate football stage when they faced off in Super Bowl XLI. IU junior Curtis Gilbert vividly recalled the meeting. Never before had a black man coached in the Super Bowl.“It was a great game and a great moment,” Gilbert said. “To see the first black coach to win a Super Bowl was a great day in history. In relation to that, Dungy has done everything there is to possibly do. I’d say go out while you still have your stats up and everything. You don’t want to be like these old players and coaches who think they still have it in them.”IU junior Faith Sherrill said Dungy’s heritage made the Colts’ win more personal.“It meant a lot because people take black coaches for granted,” she said. “To see that they actually won under him made it that much better.”Some fans questioned whether Dungy’s heart was still in his job.“I thought he was gone last year,” first-year graduate student Michael Hughes said. “I didn’t even think he’d be here this season. Considering the disappointing season, I think it was about time for him to go if he needed to.”Hughes said Dungy would have left a more successful legacy had he retired following the 2006 season.“Judging by the losses in the playoffs, maybe he should have retired earlier.”In two postseason trips since his Super Bowl win in 2007, Dungy’s teams have not won a game. “He came back to win another Super Bowl, not to lose in the playoffs,” Hughes said. Although Dungy is leaving, Heisler said Indianapolis is a veteran team with many constant pieces that will keep the team relevant.“They’re fine because Jim Caldwell is going to take over,” Heisler said. “He’s got a lot of experience. He’s a 20-year veteran, and the Colts are a pretty well-run organization. I think the transition is going to be fine. The players love Caldwell, and Dungy’s going to leave them in good hands.”
(01/17/08 5:00am)
Critics often classify Marah's work as "roots rock," but Angels Of Destruction!, the Philadelphia veterans' latest album, travels far beyond that label. Indeed, with Angels Marah does nothing short of condensing 50 years of rock history into less than 50 minutes. And the album feels even more concise, given there isn't one weak track to disrupt its momentum. \nGranted, the price of this reverence for the past is a certain lack of originality. All bands have their influences -- but Marah's practically smack the listener around. Throughout Angels one cannot help but think "OK, this song sounds like Springsteen … And this next song is Elvis Costello … And now Dylan … And now the Beatles," etc. But it's hard to hate mimicry when it's so well-done and so much fun to listen to. \nFurthermore, Marah manages to dodge the deadly track-to-track uniformity that plagues many of its fellow retro-rockers. Terrific though they may be, revivalists such as The Black Keys and The Greenhornes are often hemmed in by their faithfulness to the sounds they're recreating, making everything on their albums a bit washed-out. Marah, on the other hand, leaps from cold-blooded blues-rockers such as "Coughing Up Blood" and swooning stadium-fodder such as "Angels On A Passing Train" and "Santos De Madera," to the slow-dance crooner "Blue But Cool," the barroom piano-driven "Jesus In The Temple," the New Orleans jazz-inflected "Can't Take It With You … " and -- well, you get the idea. When the final track "Wilderness" starts off with grunts reminiscent of Lee Dorsey's song "Working In A Coal Mine," goes into a furious bass-heavy stomper and somehow ends in a traditional bagpipe reel, you simply accept it for what it is: very cool.\nBy the way, of special interest to you Hoosiers: hidden at the end of "Wilderness" is a terrific little acoustic sing-along dedicated to dissing Lafayette, Ind.
(01/17/08 5:00am)
This single-camera show follows a group of people living in a star-studded Hollywood apartment complex. From an acupuncturist to an accountant, these individuals have little in common besides their residence. Jeffrey Tambor from "Arrested Development," for example, plays Uncle Saul, a former "Three's Company" writer who boasts of his knowledge on "The Captain," the nickname of the apartment. As if channeling reality house shows, the camera uncovers the wacky antics of the apartment's inhabitants.
(11/29/07 5:21am)
The whole season of two teams rested upon the shoulders of two goalkeepers as the NCAA tournament game between IU and Bradley came down to penalty kicks. The shoulders of Bradley goalkeeper Mike Haynes’ proved to be a bit broader as the Braves squeaked a win by the Hoosiers 5-4 on PKs. \nThe Braves and Hoosiers played to a 1-1 tie in regulation, which led to double overtime and an eventual win for Bradley. \nThis scenario might seem like one that doesn’t happen often, but a defeat due to penalty kicks is not new to the Hoosiers. IU lost in their previous contest to Ohio State on penalty kicks, which was for the Big Ten Championship. Santa Clara also defeated the Hoosiers last year on penalty kicks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. \nIU coach Mike Freitag said penalty kicks are not the way they wanted to go down.\n“Soccer is a cruel game,” Freitag said. “Penalty kicks is a sad way to lose. I don’t think anybody in the world likes penalty kicks.”\nGoalkeeper Chay Cain shared his coach’s opinion of penalty kicks.\n“Penalty kicks are a cruel way to lose a game,” Cain said. “You go in with the best expectation possible, and you don’t always come out on the upside.”\nIt didn’t seem as if the Hoosiers would have to resort to penalty kicks with a goal just 1:37 into the game. IU freshman midfielder Rich Balchan straddled the right sideline before sending a strike to the middle of the field for waiting junior midfielder John Mellencamp, which led to his first goal on the season. \nCain and Haynes both weathered the storm in a game that was sloppy at best. Cain tallied four saves on the game, while Haynes tallied eight. \nAfter regulation, both goalkeepers tallied eight total saves in the two overtimes.\nIn what was their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first taste of play past the first round of the tournament, Bradley came out on top after the final kick. Braves coach head coach Jim DeRose summed up what the experience was like for his team.\n“For us everything was new,” DeRose said. “Being down a goal was new. Being here (in the second round) was new. And it sounds cliche, but at halftime we just said there’s 45 minutes left in our season. We can take losing 1-0, but we couldn’t take going out and saying we didn’t work as hard as we could.”
(11/28/07 5:55am)
When the IU men’s soccer team was awarded the No. 4 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, it was given a major opportunity. \nThe 25th anniversary of IU’s first national championship has given the Hoosiers the prospect of paying tribute to the 1982 team, which began IU’s historic run of seven national championships under the guidance of Hall of Fame coach Jerry Yeagley and current coach Mike Freitag. \nIU will begin its trek to follow the 1982 team at 7 p.m. today at Bill Armstrong Stadium against Bradley in the second round of the NCAA tournament. \nThe Hoosiers enter the game after a first-round bye to face the Braves, who notched their first-ever NCAA tournament win in their 2-0 triumph against DePaul.\nThe Braves’ history is starkly different from the Hoosiers,’ who have one of the most storied college soccer programs in the nation. IU players understand the history that their school has, and defender Ofori Sarkodie said this opportunity means a lot.\n“The tradition is very special to us,” Sarkodie said. “We take a lot of pride in the success that the program has had over the past 25 years, and now we want to make sure we continue that tradition.”\nGoalkeeper Chay Cain said it’s great to step on the field and represent IU with the prospect of adding to an already impressive legacy.\n“It’s wonderful,” Cain said. “Every time you step on the field, you have the seven stars on (your jersey), and you represent the history. It’s really an honor to play here.”\nFreitag knows this tradition like no other. He has been with the IU soccer program from its infancy.\nHe began his first of 22 years with the Hoosiers in 1976, playing for a team that gained varsity status only three years before his arrival. \nFreitag helped lead them to the national championship game as a freshman defender. Though he garnered All-American status as a senior in 1979 and played professionally, a national championship eluded Freitag. His IU squad was defeated in the title game by the University of San Francisco in 1976 and 1978. \nDespite those early losses, IU now leads the nation with seven national titles, 17 College Cup appearances and 74 NCAA Tournament victories since its inception 34 years ago. \nFreitag said he’s pleased with the success the program has sustained.\n“It feels great to continue trying to chase championships 25 years later,” Freitag said. “I think that’s the thing that me and coach Yeagley are most proud of. We’re proud of seven national championships, but we’re also proud of consistently being one of the best teams in the country.” \nFreitag led his 2004 team to a national title in his first year as IU’s head coach. But he said the journey is a better way to measure a season than the end result, and he’d be ecstatic if this year’s journey ended with a national championship on the 25th anniversary of his mentor’s first taste of College Cup success.\n“It’d be outstanding,” Freitag said. “That’s what you work for, that’s why you put in all the hours and spend time away from home working so hard, hopefully just to guide these young men to success. And we’ll see if we can do it.”
(11/09/07 5:06am)
This year’s Big Ten Tournament might be a little bit different for the IU men’s soccer team, which enters the competition as the defending tournament champion and Big Ten regular season champion for a second straight year. \nIU will play at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Old College Field in East Lansing, Mich., against host Michigan State, which advanced to the semifinals after defeating Penn State on penalty kicks. The No. 1 seed Hoosiers received a first-round bye and are regarded as the favorite to repeat as tournament champions. \nThough there is some added pressure on the Hoosiers to repeat as tournament champions IU players know they’re the team to beat.\n“Being the defending champions puts more pressure on us to win,” junior midfielder Billy Weaver said. “But, we’re not afraid of anyone. We know that if we play to our potential, no one in the Big Ten can beat us.”\nThe Hoosiers defeated Michigan State 2-0 on Oct. 6 in Bloomington. Despite the earlier result, junior forward Kevin Noschang said it won’t affect their play.\n“We have a lot of confidence coming into this tournament,” Noschang said. “But we’re taking it one game at a time, and we’re not looking anyone over.”\nOne factor Michigan State has on its side is being the home team who will have a crowd behind them. But Michigan State is also coming off of a hard-fought, double-overtime game. Freitag said he hopes the tough game and extra 20 minutes of play for the Spartans will help his team come game time. \nThe odds seem to be stacked in the Hoosiers’ favor, but the same could be said about their season finale at Wisconsin: The Badgers entered the Nov. 4 game with a winless conference record against the undefeated Hoosiers, but the resulting tie left the Hoosiers in jeopardy of losing their spot as outright Big Ten champions.\nThis has been the Hoosiers’ staple all season – the squad has been walking a fine line between greatness and mediocrity, with great showings against some of the best teams in the nation and letdowns against lesser foes. Losses to teams like the University of Alabama at Birmingham and wins against the likes of UCLA, Michigan and others illustrate the Jekyll-and-Hyde persona this team has assumed at times.\nThe Hoosiers are embarking on a trek that could expose their true identity. The Big Ten Tournament will be full of top talent that gave the Hoosiers a run for their money en route to their undefeated Big Ten season. Noschang said the regular season means nothing at this point, and his team is focused squarely on the task in front of them.\nThough he knows IU has been tagged as one of the best teams in the Big Ten, IU coach Mike Freitag said his team is simply focused on completing the goals they set at the beginning of the season.\n“We’re out to win,” Freitag said. “We hope to win the Michigan State game tomorrow, the tournament, and then get ready for the NCAA. Winning the Big Ten and the tournament were some of our goals, and we’re 1-for-1, and hopefully we can go 2-for-2 tomorrow.”