Indiana University Athletics
Baseball Practices for First Time Under Lemonis
9/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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|  IU Opens Fall Practice
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana baseball is back.
Exactly 14 weeks after the door closed on IU's spectacular 2014 season, one that saw the Hoosiers win 44 games and their second consecutive Big Ten regular season and tournament championships, Indiana gathered at Bart Kaufman Field for its first fall practice and first workout ever under the direction of new head coach Chris Lemonis.
"We're just excited to get on the field. It has been a long two months," Lemonis said of his time at Indiana since being hired to lead the program on July 2. "It feels like a year ago. We have a great group and we're just really trying to be organized and trying to start putting our system in (Monday)."
With its sights on replicating success of the last two years in 2015, Indiana was itching to get back on the field together.
"I can see it right now, they're in the bullpen already doing bunts out here 30 minutes before practice," redshirt junior pitcher Kyle Hart said prior to Monday's session. "We had guys here two hours (ago) eating just kind of bonding together getting ready for the fall."
The Hoosiers have been working with their individual coaches throughout the last two weeks, but met on the field for the first time as a team Monday.
"We're trying to do three fundamental practices a week," Lemonis said. "We'll do a couple of those and then scrimmage on the weekends. We're also trying to put the weight program in there also so that's a big adjustment for our young players."
All practices and scrimmages are open to the public and an official fall schedule will be released this week on IUHoosiers.com, a six-week period that should provide a sneak peek at what's to come for IU baseball.
"We're really wanting to figure out our new offensive philosophy and how we're going to play the game," senior catcher Brad Hartong said. "We're going to play hard, obviously, but I think our main goal is to really see what we have this fall, know what we have going into spring and really start earning positions from day one."
