Baseball Travels to Cincinnati on Wednesday

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Setting the Scene
• Indiana opens a week of four games beginning with a midweek contest with the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday night (6:05 p.m.) at Marge Schott Stadium.
• This will be the second matchup between the Hoosiers and the Bearcats. Cincinnati won the first of two contests last week, a 5-0 shutout of the Hoosiers at Bart Kaufman Field.
• Following this Wednesday, IU will begin a stretch of seven consecutive home games, starting with a three-game series with the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday. Following Purdue, the Hoosiers will host in-state foe Ball State on April 13 before welcoming the Iowa Hawkeyes to town next weekend.

The Coaches
• Chris Lemonis is in his second season as Indiana's head coach, posting an overall record of 48-37 thus far. Lemonis took over an IU program in 2015 that had gone 93-31 the previous two seasons, including its first-ever College World Series appearance in 2013 and the No. 4 overall seed in the 2014 NCAA Baseball Championship. With a new look roster, his program immediately lived up to the expectations, posting a 35-24 overall record and earning a berth into a third-straight NCAA Regional in 2015.
• As an assistant coach, Lemonis' imprint in elevating the Louisville program to new heights was evident. The former Cardinals' recruiting coordinator aided Louisville to three College World Series appearances (2007, 2013, 2014) and a 359-159 (.693) record during the past eight seasons, including back-to-back 50-win seasons in 2013 and 2014.
• Ty Neal, who was regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in college baseball, was named the University of Cincinnati's 27th baseball head coach on June 7, 2013. Neal, a native of Southwest Ohio, spent the previous eight seasons at IU under Tracy Smith as the program's top assistant and recruiting coordinator. Neal helped direct the Hoosiers to their first appearance at the College World Series in 2013.

Notables
• Entering the week, Indiana pitching ranks second in the Big Ten in fewest walks allowed (68), second in team ERA (2.61), third in opponent batting average (.232), third in batters struck out (212), second in fewest earned runs allowed (69), third in fewest runs allowed (98) and fourth in fewest hits allowed (207).
• Indiana's pitching staff entered this week ranked ninth nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (2.6), 12th in strikeout to walk ratio (3.12), 12th in team ERA (2.57), 18th in WHIP (1.15) and 34th in hits allowed per nine innings (7.8).
• Hoosier pitchers have given up one earned run or less eight times this season, all of which have happened in an 18-game span.
• Indiana pitching has posted double-figure strikeouts in 10 games this season.
• The Hoosiers have given up two walks or less in 15 games this season, including six of the last 11 games.
• Entering this week, IU is ranked tied for second in the Big Ten in triples (7) and fourth in home runs (21).
• Senior Brian Wilhite is tied for fourth in the Big Ten in RBI (24) and tied for sixth in home runs (5).
• Junior Craig Dedelow stands tied for fifth in the conference in triples (2), tied for ninth in doubles (8), and tied for 10th in RBI (21).
• Before Tony Butler's walk-off home run against Indiana State on March 27, the last extra-inning walk off home run for the Hoosiers dates back to the 2013 NCAA Regional when Chad Clark hit one against Valparaiso in NCAA Regionals.
• The Hoosiers strung together 27 runs on 23 hits and five home runs to earn a 27-1 victory over the Butler Bulldogs on March 23 at Bart Kaufman Field. The 27 runs for the Hoosiers are a Bart Kaufman Field record and the most since March 24, 2004 when IU scored 29 against Chicago State.
• The 26-run margin of victory is the largest in NCAA Division I Baseball this season, while the 27 runs scored are currently the fourth most in the nation this year.
• Bart Kaufman Field enters its fourth season of baseball since opening during the 2013 campaign. Indiana has a 63-20 (.772) record at "The Bart".
• The 2016 roster features a total of 19 returnees and 14 newcomers. Of the 14 newcomers, four are transfers and 10 are freshmen.
• The Hoosiers' 2016 schedule includes 27 home games, five NCAA Tournament teams from 2015, and a 2015 College World Series participant.

Go Hoosiers!

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2016/4/5/baseball-travels-to-cincinnati-on-wednesday.aspx

 

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Missed this in the IDS, but it is a nice read with some good quotes. GBR!

Hoosiers trying to spark offense in rematch with Bearcats

by Zain Pyarali

Just as the Hoosiers thought their fortunes had turned for the better, a three-game losing skid, including a conference series loss to Rutgers, has kept IU at .500 approaching the halfway point of the regular season.

Going 3-for-28 during the three-game losing streak with runners in scoring position hindered the Hoosiers’ ability to push runs across the plate. Even with the offensive struggles, IU was able to break out with three home runs and nine runs to take the final game of the series against Rutgers.

“We just need to be getting the big hits,” sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers said. “We’ve been rolling whenever everyone is hitting well, but when we’re struggling to get hits early on. We just need those guys to spark the lineup and get it going for us.”

The Hoosiers’ losing streak started last Tuesday at home against Cincinnati when they were shut out for the first time all season. IU Coach Chris Lemonis and sophomore outfielder Laren Eustace attributed the loss to being lackadaisical and not focused in the field.

On Wednesday, the Hoosiers will travel to Cincinnati to play the Bearcats once again, a team the Hoosiers believe they stack up well against.

“They’re ready to play and that motivates you,” Lemonis said. “We didn’t play well collectively, just the whole group, so we want to redeem ourselves a little bit.”

Freshman Jonathan Stiever will grab the starting nod for the Hoosiers against the Bearcats for his second start of the season. The freshman has already logged 16 innings in his first season in Bloomington while sporting a 1.69 ERA.

In Stiever’s first start of the season against Butler, he was efficient on the hill. He allowed only one hit through four innings on 38 pitches. Lemonis said it’ll be a very split game pitching-wise, like the majority of the midweek games have been because of the big weekend series coming up against Purdue.

The biggest thing Lemonis said he believes the team needs moving forward is consistency. The talent is there but for one reason or another, the few dependable players in the Hoosiers’ lineup can’t seem to get things going on a daily basis.

“We’ve got some guys in there, and you see it in the second game that Logan Sowers hits a jack and Craig Dedelow has the chance to be one of the best players in the league,” Lemonis said. “We’re trying to be very accountable to ourselves and each other and just try to get it moving in the right direction.”

Another contributing factor to the Hoosier struggles at the plate has been the decline of production coming from a freshman bat that was very dependable early in the season.

Freshman utility man Luke Miller has watched his batting average tank from around .320 down to .263. Lemonis said he isn’t too worried about his freshman slugger, though, and attributed that to nothing more than hitting a wall after having to come out and play 60 games in a season.

As for now, the Hoosiers are looking to grab consistent at-bats from the middle of the order so they are capable of competing with anyone every time they step between the white lines.

“When we play a midweek game it’s usually going to lead into us having a strong weekend series just from how we play,” junior relief pitcher Jake Kelzer said. “When you come off a weekday game and play solid, you’re going to have a good next practice which is going to lead into a good next weekend.”

Go Hoosiers!

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2016/04/hoosiers-trying-to-spark-offense-in-rematch-with-bearcats