After an encouraging come-from-behind win in Game 1 of the Big Ten/Big East Challenge, the Hoosiers dropped their second consecutive contest with a 9-5 loss at the hands of the Connecticut Huskies on Sunday. Matt Igel had his second consecutive poor start of the young season as he failed to record an out in the second inning before exiting with 6 earned runs to his credit. The sophomore left-hander's final line read 1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB and 1 K, and he is now 0-2 with a 33.00 ERA, 11 walks and just 1 strikeout for the year. Needless to say, the Hoosiers were expecting and really need a lot more out of Igel this season.
Offensively, Micah Johnson, Josh Lyon and Tyler Rogers each recorded 2 hits, and Rogers drove in 2 and Lyon knocked home another. Strikeouts plagued the Hoosiers in this one as the team struck out a combined 11 times on Sunday, including 2 each for the top three hitters in the order (Brian Lambert, Micah Johnson and Jerrud Sabourin).
IU trailed 9-2 at one point, so it was at least encouraging to see the guys battle back to a certain extent. More than anything, the team needs to get more innings and stronger performances out of its starting pitchers. It's still very early in the season, though, so hopefully they can get things turned around.
Go Hoosiers!
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Starting Pitchers - I know coach Smith has emphasized this already - but let me allow another perspective on throwing strikes early in the count...first of all it's 9 against 1...even Kobe or Lebron would struggle percentage wise against that...the point?? Every time you throw a strike and they hammer it - it's still 9 guys trying to get one guy out - the odds are in your favor!
ReplyDeleteAlso - a little nugget from a pretty good pitcher - Sandy Kofax (for those that don't know much about MLB history...he's worth a Google) "The difference is when I stopped trying to make them "miss" their pitch...and instead made them "hit" mine..."
No charge for any of that...
C U in Nashvegas!!!
Throwing strikes was only part of the problem. Why haven't we seen some of the other guys like freshman on the mound? It is because of the smaller travel roster?
ReplyDeleteActually, 4 freshman have already seen time on the mound, and they've pitched a total of 27.1 innings (out of 59 possible) on the year, which equates to nearly half of IU's total innings pitched on the year. Although not freshmen, guys like Ethan Wilson and Matt Ernest had also never logged innings for the Hoosiers before this season. With Igel struggling and Monar hurt, the cupboard is pretty bare, and freshmen have seen a lot of innings as a result.
ReplyDeleteScott your analogy of pitching 9 versus 1 sounds like Coach Morgan who was one of the best coaches in the country when it comes to fundamentals, discipline, organization and intensity.Too bad Skip and him aren't on the same staff as one can really coach and the other can really recruit.What a combination that would be! I know I played for both. Go Hoosiers!Might make it to Nashville this weekend.
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