A rough day for most of IU’s mid-week pitchers and a sluggish offensive performance contributed to a blowout loss for IU baseball at the hands of an in-state foe and left the Hoosiers’ head coach displeased with the current competitiveness of his squad.
The Hoosiers look to bounce back after losing two games to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, with a non-conference home game against Indiana State (25-12) at 3 p.m.
Heading into the weekend Big Ten series at Minnesota, IU coach Tracy Smith noted the conference schedule was entering a pivotal phase for each club in the 10-team league.
Last season, outfielder Alex Dickerson had no trouble contributing with the bat in his hand.
The freshman fielder’s glove, though, was a whole other story.
The Hoosiers' four-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday night after surrendering an early lead to Miami (OH).
As the team watched the movie “61*” on the way back from last week’s game at Valparaiso, IU sophomore Josh Lyon jokingly compared himself to baseball legend and the film’s central character, Roger Maris.
The first Big Ten conference series sweep is in the books for the Hoosiers baseball team, as they took all three games from Iowa this weekend to improve to 19-15 and 5-4 in the Big Ten.
IU returns home for a three-game, in-conference series Friday afternoon at Sembower Field with a new face in the bullpen.
Alex Zerman, an IU junior who began the 2010 season playing for the
University’s club baseball team, joined the Hoosiers officially Monday
before making his first appearance on the mound in Tuesday’s contest at
Valparaiso.
IU coach Tracy Smith typically has a few more important things to think
about during a game than what his players have chosen as their at-bat
or pitching introduction music.
But in between decisions about pitching changes, double switches or
pinch hitters, Smith admits a select few of those songs booming through
the Sembower Field public address system still manage to grab his
attention.
In between Big Ten series, the Hoosiers easily beat the Valparaiso Crusaders on the road.
The IU baseball team faces an early mid-week non conference test as it
travels to Gary to face Valparaiso (11-18). The Hoosiers (15-15) were
only able to take one of three from Ohio State, the preseason Big Ten
favorites, last weekend. Valparaiso is coming off a weekend in which it
took two out of three on the road against Youngstown State.
At this point in the 2010 season, the IU baseball team hoped to have
its anticipated preseason pitching ace on the mound, winning games and
leading an undermanned pitching staff.
Instead, sophomore Blake Monar hasn’t started on the rubber since the
season’s first game in February at San Diego due to a strained rotator
cuff. He’s played sparingly since as a pinch hitter for the Hoosiers.
Two of the IU baseball team's best batters cooled off slightly from their blistering pace during the weekend in a losing series at Ohio State.
The Hoosiers had an opportunity to win the series on the road against Ohio State this weekend, even with the reigning co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Year on the mound for the Buckeyes.
IU coach Tracy Smith tweeted early Thursday morning that he couldn’t sleep, but he didn’t blame it on the fact that his team would take the field against one of the nation’s best collegiate pitchers Friday at Ohio State.
Two years ago, sophomore outfielder Alex Dickerson and sophomore pitcher Drew Leininger were playing for Poway High School in San Diego, Calif., a team that has produced eight Division-I players in the last two years.
Battling 25 to 30 mph gusts of wind that were blowing out to center field all day, the Hoosiers (14-13) offensive attack was not as powerful as Sunday’s, but they did hit five home runs in a 12-6 victory against Ball State (11-16) on Tuesday.
Two days removed from driving in 26 runs to avoid a Michigan sweep and open the Big Ten last weekend, the Hoosiers (13-13) look to keep the offense rolling in a 3 p.m. matchup at Sembower Field against in-state rival Ball State Cardinals (11-15).
Hoosier fans at Sembower Field saw a little bit of everything in the Big Ten Conference Opener this weekend.
Crediting the mental toughness of his players, IU coach Tracy Smith said he’s plenty proud of his squad as it heads into its first series of the Big Ten schedule this weekend at Sembower Field.
Solutions by The State News