Game Notes: Hoosiers Host Purdue in Big Ten Home Opener

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Setting the Scene
• Indiana begins 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.
• Indiana has a 63-20 (.772) record at Bart Kaufman Field since the stadium opened in 2013.
•Since openeing Bart Kaufman Field in 2013, the Hoosiers have posted an astounding record of 29-7 record in their own ballpark in Big Ten games.

The Coaches
• Chris Lemonis is in his second season as Indiana's head coach, posting an overall record of 49-37 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.
• Doug Schreiber, enters his 18th season as head coach at Purdue. During its historic 2012 season, Purdue won a program-record 45 games, captured a pair of Big Ten titles, earned the right to host an NCAA Regional and closed out Lambert Field in thrilling fashion. Schreiber was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading the Boilers to the most wins by a Big Ten team since 2008.

Notables
• Entering this weekend, Indiana pitching ranks first in the Big Ten in fewest walks allowed (69), second in team ERA (2.58), third in opponent batting average (.231), third in batters struck out (217), second in fewest earned runs allowed (71), third in fewest runs allowed (101) and fourth in fewest hits allowed (213).
• 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 19-game span.
• Indiana's starting pitching has been strong through the first six weekends of action. In 21 combined starts from LHP Kyle Hart, RHP Evan Bell and LHP Caleb Baragar, the trio has posted a 2.30 ERA, allowing just 103 hits over 129.1 innings of work, striking out 99 batters while walking only 30. Teams are hitting a combined .218 off Hart, Bell and Baragar so far.
• Over the last nine games, Indiana's pitching staff has allowed 31 runs (18 earned), while surrendering just 67 hits in 100 innings.
• 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 seven of the last 12 games.
• Entering this weekend, IU is ranked tied for second in the Big Ten in triples (7) and fourth in home runs (21).
• 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 second largest in NCAA Division I Baseball this season, while the 27 runs scored are currently the seventh 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".

Player Notes
• Junior Craig Dedelow stands tied for fifth in the conference in triples (2), tied for 13th in doubles (8), and tied for 10th in RBI (22).
• Dedelow has driven in at least one run in his last four games.
• Dedelow's three doubles against Butler on March 23 are tied for a Big Ten season-high. His five RBI against the Bulldogs were a career high.
• Dedelow reached base safely in his first 17 games this season, and dating back to last year, his last 22 games. That streak came to a halt on March 20 against Toledo.
• Dedelow, for the second-straight year, was the overall individual champion of IU's annual Omaha
Challenge, logging 253 total points.
• Senior Brian Wilhite is tied for fourth in the Big Ten in RBI (24) and tied for eighth in home runs (5).
• On March 23 against Butler, Wilhite had a career-high six RBI and two home runs, which included a grand slam. He followed that performance up with another grand slam in a second consecutive game on March 25 at Indiana State.
• For his efforts against Butler and Indiana State, Wilhite earned Big Ten Player of the Week for the week of March 28, marking his first career conference honor.
• Wilhite hit .562 on the week with three home runs, while driving in 10 and scoring seven runs on nine hits.
• Junior second baseman Tony Butler has yet to make an error this season. Butler has started 24 games at the position and has appeared in all 27 games. Butler has a total of 106 chances this season, including 68 assists and 38 putouts. He has helped turn 17 double plays this year as well.
• Butlers's 68 assists rank 11th in the Big Ten.
• Butler hit a walk-off home run on March 27 at Bart Kaufman Field, giving the Hoosiers a 5-3 victory over the Indiana State Sycamores.
• Before Butler's walk-off homer, 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.
• Sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers ranks tied for eighth in the Big Ten in home runs with five. Sowers' five long balls have come in just 15 games, as he missed 12 games due to injury.
• Sowers, entering the weekend hitting .288, has 15 hits on the season with six of them coming for extra-bases. He currently has posted a 1.009 OPS.
• After striking out 14 times in his first 11 games, Sowers has struck out just twice in his last four games.
• Freshman catcher Ryan Fineman leads Indiana hitters with a .321 batting average in 25 games and 21 starts.
• Fineman enthers the weekend having reached base in 13-straight games while also carrying an eight-game hitting streak, both career highs.
• Junior RHP and Indiana closer Jake Kelzer has struck out 26 batters in 22 innings while allowing just 14 hits, as opposing batters are hitting just .179 off him.
• In his last seven appearances, Kelzer has allowed just one run but hasn't allowed an earned run in those last seven outings. The last earned run Kelzer surrendered was March 5 against Seton Hall.
• For his career in Big Ten games, Kelzer has posted a 2.42 ERA, which ranks fifth in school history.
• Serving as Kelzer's set-up man, junior Thomas Belcher has not allowed a run in his last six appearances. Over those last six appearances, Belcher has tossed 10.0 innings, surrendering just two hits, walking three and striking out eight.

Weekend Rotation
SENIOR RHP KYLE HART
• Indiana's Friday night starter, LHP Kyle Hart will be making his 52nd career start on the mound in his Hoosier career on Friday.
• Hart enters this week ranked first in the Big Ten and 22nd nationally in victories (5).
• Coming into the weekend, Hart is first in the Big Ten in wins (5), seventh in innings pitched (44.2), ninth in ERA (2.42), ninth in batters struck out (37) and 12th in opponent batting average (.230).
• Hart's 51 career starts rank second on the nation's active career leaders list, trailing Florida State's Mike Compton by two. In addition, Hart ranks tied for fifth nationally on the active career list in wins (26), seventh in innings pitched (285.0) and 26th in strikeouts (195).
• Dating back to last season, in his last 10 starts, Hart has thrown 63.2 innings, allowing 55 hits, 12 earned runs and striking out 49 batters while walking just nine.
• Entering the weekend, the Ohio native has 26 career wins, which ranks tied for third all-time in school history. Hart trails Brian Partenheimer (1994-97) by three wins for second all-time in the IU record books.
• In addition, his 285.0 career innings currently rank fifth all-time at Indiana while the 195 career strikeouts puts him in a tie for 10th place in the school annals with Brad Edwards (1999-01).
• Hart ranks tied for third in IU history with 12 career wins in Big Ten games, while his 3.25 ERA in conference action ranks ninth and his 89 strikeouts rank tied for ninth.
• Hart put together another strong starting performance on the mound against Toledo on March 18, going eight innings allowing one earned run while surrendering four hits, improving to 4-1 on the season.
• The senior captain tossed a complete game, six-strikeout effort in a 3-2 victory over Western Carolina on March 11, marking his second career complete game.
• Hart was named the Big Ten's Co-Pitcher of the Week for his outing against Illinois State on March 4. He allowed three hits and no runs over six innings in a 14-1 victory over the Redbirds to improve to 2-1 on the year. The senior captain struck out a career-high 10 batters while walking none.
• In the season opener at Middle Tennessee, Hart put together a five-inning start where he struck out seven, walked one, and allowed just one hit in the early stages. Hart retired the final 15 batters he faced.
• Hart had a streak of 30.0 innings without allowing an earned run snapped on February 26 at Cal State Fullerton. Entering that start, the last time Hart had surrendered an earned run was May 9, 2015 in the first inning against Long Beach State in Bloomington.

SENIOR LHP CALEB BARAGAR
• Senior LHP Caleb Baragar has served as IU's Sunday starter through the first six weekends of the season and will be starting in the Saturday slot for the first time this sason. He has made 19 career starts in a Hoosier uniform, while his 12 starts in 2015 tied for the team lead.
• Baragar entered this week 23rd nationally in WHIP (0.85), 27th in hits allowed/nine innings (5.3) and 37th in ERA (1.49).
• Coming into the weekend, Baragar is third in the Big Ten in ERA (1.49), second in opposing batting average (.166), tied for 11th in innings pitched (42.1) and tied for sixth in batters struck out (41).
• In his last five combined starts, Baragar has allowed 17 hits in 31.1 innings, striking out 30 and walking eight while allowing just three earned runs, all in his start against Indiana State on March 26.
•Baragar has a streak of 27.2 innings without surrendering an earned run snapped against Indiana State on March 26.
• In an 8-0 victory over Toledo on March 18, Baragar allowed just one hit in eight innings and struck out 11 in an 8-0 victory. He took a perfect game into the seventh inning and the 11 striekouts were a career-high.
• Baragar had a strong start against Butler on March 6, going seven innings where he allowed just three hits and matched his career-high in strikeouts with with eight while walking two.
• The senior allowed five hits and two earned runs in 5.2 innings of work at Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 28. The southpaw struck out a career-high eight batters while allowing two walks.

SENIOR RHP EVAN BELL
• Indiana's Saturday starter is senior RHP Evan Bell. Bell has made 13 career starts, indluding seven this season.
• In his outing against Seton Hall on March 5, Bell went six innings, allowing seven hits, one earned run and struck out two in the no-decision.
• Bell had a strong start at Cal State Fullerton, as he went a career-high seven innings in his start, striking out six while allowing just two hits. Bell closed his final 4.1 innings of work allowing no hits and just two baserunners.
• Bell, who set career-highs with 21 appearances and 49.2 innings pitched in 2015, had an impressive outing vs. Notre Dame at Victory Field on April 21, retiring 12-straight batters with five strikeouts.
• He threw a then career-high 6.1 innings vs. Michigan on April 4, also notching a career-best eight strikeouts while limiting U-M to one run on four hits.

Go Hoosiers!

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2016/4/7...siers-host-purdue-in-big-ten-home-opener.aspx

 

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Healthy Again, Sowers’ Return Could Bode Well For IU

By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Since Logan Sowers returned to Indiana's lineup March 23 against Butler after missing 11 games with a wrist injury, IU is 5-4 overall. Look a little deeper into his statistics and there's signs of a few noteworthy trends developing.

The Hoosiers are 4-0 since Sowers' return when he scores a run. When the sophomore outfielder reaches base at least twice, Indiana is 3-1. When he leaves the yard, his team is 2-0.

The numbers aren't exactly flawless and the sample size is too small to put any real stock into, but Indiana head coach Chris Lemonis has already gone out of his way to remind Sowers what happens when he's producing in the middle of the order.

"I told him, I said, 'Man, when you hit we win. I wish you hit a little bit more,'" Lemonis said. "He's hit a lot. He's been good. He's feeling good right now."

Sowers' second season in Bloomington got off to a less-than-ideal start.

He missed the better part of month after bruising his wrist the second weekend of the season on the road against Cal State Fullerton. The pesky injury was just enough to take keep him from swinging a bat the way he normally would and kept him on the bench during games.

It was a sudden and drastic change for Sowers, who started every game his freshman season. As Indiana's active home run leader, his absence took one of the most reliable bats out of a young lineup that was in desperate need of production.

"The injury for him, that was part of our real, real slow start," Lemonis said. "He's one of the better physically looking guys in the box in the country, and the presence and stuff of having him back has helped out."

Back again, Sowers said this week that he's ready to go the remainder of the season as planned.

"Overall, my body feels good," he said. "I feel good at the plate."

Sowers—who's five home runs are tied for the team lead with senior Brian Wilhite—said his timing at the plate suffered the most from his time being away. Despite being as active as he could with the team while he couldn't play, there was no way to simulate trying to keep up with an opposing pitcher throwing 90 MPH.

With each passing at-bat, the timing became increasingly locked in. Two weeks into his return, Sowers is nearly where he was at the start of the season.

"I was talking to coach Lemo and he said with hands guys, it always affects your timing a little bit because you really can't do anything in that time that you're off with your hands," Sowers said. "So the timing probably affected a little bit, but I think I'm getting that all back now. I feel ready to go."

Junior closer Jake Kelzer, who's thrown against Sowers in practice plenty of times, said Sowers' return means Indiana gets one of its best players back in terms of bat presence. Kelzer said when Sowers steps into the box, he doesn't let the game situation impact the way he approaches the plate.

"He doesn't let the game or the at-bat get too big on him," Kelzer said. "He's more focused on that pitch and what he has to do for that pitch, so I think that's why he's so good."

Should the early trends continue, Sowers' production could bode well for Indiana's record.

Now beginning to hit the bulk of the Big Ten schedule, IU (14-13, 1-2) doesn't have much time to waste if it wants to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament with an upper-half seed and make a case for a return to the NCAA Tournament.

"I'm looking forward to him getting on a streak," Lemonis said, smiling.

The Hoosiers could use it.

Go Hoosiers!

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2016/4/7/baseball-healthy-again-sowers-return-could-bode-well-for-iu.aspx

 

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IU baseball Purdue play in Bloomington this weekend after not playing last year

by Zain Pyarali

The rivalry between IU and Purdue has been restored on the diamond after neither team played 
last year.

Both teams enter the weekend series with a handful of struggles at the plate. The Hoosiers and Boilermakers have recently had to rely on a couple of key team members in the lineup to carry the Hoosiers to victory every game. Fortunately for IU, Purdue’s offensive struggles may overshadow the ones of the Hoosiers this weekend.

“We need to get back on a winning streak here and, just the fact that it’s Purdue, it’s going to up the ante and intensity for us,” junior relief pitcher Jake Kelzer said. “I’m super excited for it. I don’t like losing to them, and it’s going to be a fun series.”

The Boilermakers (4-21, 0-6) will travel to Bloomington and depend on senior outfielders Kyle Johnson and Jack Picchiotti for a chance against the Hoosiers this weekend. Johnson and Picchiotti are responsible for all 14 Purdue home runs this year and account for 48 percent of the teams’ RBIs.

Facing Purdue will be a prime opportunity for IU to get its first series sweep of the season. Not only would a sweep separate the Hoosiers from the dreaded .500 mark that they have been flirting with all season, but it would also launch them in the right direction in terms of the Big Ten standings.

If the Hoosiers don’t want to be one of the teams left out of the field of eight teams to make the conference tournament, they’ll need to take advantage of the task at hand.

IU Coach Chris Lemonis talked earlier in the week about the consistency he wants to see from his club at the plate while zeroing in on executing with runners in scoring position. In the mid-week game at Cincinnati, IU still struggled to drive in runs from base hits and relied on three errors and eight walks in a 7-3 victory.

“We’re just trying to get it moving in the right direction,” Lemonis said. “When you get on a spurt in baseball, then you aren’t thinking about it as much anymore. Our problem is that it’s been so up and down. It’s always in your head, and we’re trying to get that out of there.”

Lemonis will line up the same three starting pitchers this weekend he’s turned to all season. The senior trio of Kyle Hart, Evan Bell and Caleb Baragar have a combined 2.29 ERA on the year and stack up favorably against the Purdue starting staff that has two starters with ERAs greater than 5.00.

Out of the three starters, Hart will be looking to get back on track the most after allowing seven earned runs in his previous two starts in 11 innings. Bell is still seeking his first win of the 
season.

The 6-foot-8 right hander hasn’t necessarily pitched poorly up to this point, but the lack of run support when he takes the mound has led IU to lose every game that he has started.

“Whenever we’re getting five, six, seven, eight hits a game we’re scoring a lot of runs,” sophomore outfielder Logan Sowers said. “Whenever we’re struggling to get hits early on we just need those guys to kind of just spark the lineup and get it going for us.”

Go Hoosiers!

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2016...gton-this-weekend-after-not-playing-last-year