The Hoosiers are 1-2 in their last 3 games, but if you are a believer in "moral victories," then you have to like the effort put forth by IU against top-25 opponents Vanderbilt and Louisville in the last week. Yes, the team ended up losing both games, but the fact that this young and relatively inexperienced team competed with a pair of the nation's better teams this early in the season is a positive sign for things to come.
Beginning on Saturday, the Hoosiers will take part in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, which will include 7 games against the likes of Bowling Green (3-7), Central Michigan (4-3), Yale (4-1), Bradley (3-3), Eastern Illinois (1-9), UMBC (0-4) and Akron (5-6). While I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about any of these teams at this point in time, what jumps out at me immediately when looking at the teams IU is scheduled to play over spring break is that none of these teams hail from the NCAA's 6 power conferences. With this in mind, I would like to think that the Hoosiers can go down and win at least 4-5 games in Florida.
I know that what conference a given team competes in doesn't always matter, particularly in baseball, and I also know that the Hoosiers struggled mightily in this same invitational a season ago, but given how IU played against Louisville and Vanderbilt in its last 2 games, I see no reason why IU can't win at least 4 games next week. Seven games in eight days may present a problem from a pitching depth standpoint, but all the teams IU will play next week will likely be in the same boat. Although it is unlikely to play out this way, I honestly believe IU could go 7-0 during their spring break trip. I for one will be happy with 4-3.
Go Hoosiers!
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4-3 would be disappointing but our offense has not be strong so far this year so it seems realistic. I don't know if we can outslug the other teams like we could last year. We need to add some bats to the lineup
ReplyDeleteAdding bats to the lineup is the easy part. Finding guys to swing those bats is the challenge.
ReplyDeleteWell lets try some new ones. Ethan Wilson hasnt hit much. And, can any of the pitchers hit? We've had sucess having position players pitch, lets let pitchers hit.
ReplyDeleteHere are the pitchers whose high school batting stats I could find:
ReplyDeleteGreg Heban - .459 in high school
Blake Monar - .522 in high school
Casey Smith - .383 in high school
Chris Squires - .547 as soph in high school, .460 as senion
Walker Stadler - .360 in high school
Hoosiers are 11 games in to a 50+ game season...lost 7 players to professional baseball inlcuding 3 of the top 50 picks.
ReplyDeleteNo time to panic - we just played #25 Vandy extra Innings and #8 Louisville to the wire. In both instances - our starting pitchers were making their collegiate mound starting debut.
I like this team.
Not panicing. Just want to find more ways to win games. I don't know why Ethan is not playing more and I'd like to try some new hitters to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the status of Blake Monar? Will he be throwing over the spring break trip.
ReplyDeleteBowling Green on Saturday canceled? What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteOk...I now understand it was the rain. Blake Monar did bat today against Miami, OH.
ReplyDelete