Indiana University Athletics
In the Dugout
9/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 29, 2005
Two weeks into fall practice, Indiana baseball standouts Josh Richardson and Josh Lewis visited with IUHOOSIERS.com to talk about how practice has been going and the new coaching staff.
Richardson played in 53 games last year, giving the Hoosiers a solid bat and glove in the middle infield. The junior boasted a .321 batting average with 20 RBI and a .412 on-base percentage in 2004.
Lewis enters his senior season as the club's most experience starter. He led the team in wins (7), games started (13), innings (82 2/3) and strikeouts (65).
On practice:
JR: "So far, practice has been going pretty well. We have been playing a lot of intersquad games, so the coaches can evaluate each of us, see what each player can do well and the areas we need to improve upon. We are all still getting to know each other, and we are still a long way off from being the team we want to be. I think coach Smith and the rest of the coaching staff has done a very good job stressing the point that it will be a team effort that propels us to the level of performance in which we hope to be playing at. I think each of us are getting better with each day of practice."
On where he played during the summer:
JR: "This summer, I played baseball in the Valley League in Harrisonburg, Va. I played for the Harrisonburg Turks along with (IU teammate) Steve Head. For the most part, the summer was a really good experience. We faced a lot of excellent pitching and got to play a schedule that is similar to the pros, in that we played pretty much everyday. It was fun signing autographs before and after games and having people look at us and treat us like we were big leaguers."
On the coaching staff:
JL: "The new coaching staff is great. They are really working hard to see where our team is at right now. We have been playing a lot of intersquad games, so they can evaluate all of us. It looks like they are laying a foundation for us to have a very productive year. With a lot of hard work, I think that we can have that."
