Indiana University Athletics
Baseball Opens Preseason Practice
1/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 23, 2015
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana baseball team, which opens the 2015 season in three weeks at Stanford, held its first preseason practice Friday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field.
After two weeks of individual workouts, head coach Chris Lemonis was excited to have his first team at Indiana together collectively. He also didn't mind another beautiful fall day in Bloomington.
"We're excited about to be out here, I can tell you that," Lemonis said. "It's a lot better than being indoors. We've actually had a couple good weeks since we've been back with the weather. It makes a big difference. Three weeks from today and we're playing ball. It's exciting."
That enthusiasm trickled down to the players, who are ready to defend the last two years of Big Ten championship trophies.
"Guys are hyped," redshirt junior pitcher Kyle Hart said. "There's a lot of hype around the program, especially inside the program. Bringing up these new guys has been huge, just trying to get them along and shorten the learning curve. Today was a big step for us starting the in-season practices."
Although Lemonis is entering his first season at Indiana, it hasn't taken much encouragement for his Hoosiers to be ready for this point.
"We have a mature team," Lemonis said. "When you have older players, they like to lift, they like to work and they're very self-motivated, which is one key to a great team. We had a good off-season. We're -- `knock on wood' - we're getting healthy. We have some of our guys who didn't play in the fall back. It's nice and we're ready to go."
IU will workout twice this weekend with a scrimmage Saturday (1:15 p.m. ET) and practice Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET). Fans are welcome to attend. Follow @HoosierBaseball on Twitter for the most up-to-date schedule and details.
Coach Lemonis | Kyle Hart |  Photos |
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana baseball team, which opens the 2015 season in three weeks at Stanford, held its first preseason practice Friday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field.
After two weeks of individual workouts, head coach Chris Lemonis was excited to have his first team at Indiana together collectively. He also didn't mind another beautiful fall day in Bloomington.
"We're excited about to be out here, I can tell you that," Lemonis said. "It's a lot better than being indoors. We've actually had a couple good weeks since we've been back with the weather. It makes a big difference. Three weeks from today and we're playing ball. It's exciting."
That enthusiasm trickled down to the players, who are ready to defend the last two years of Big Ten championship trophies.
"Guys are hyped," redshirt junior pitcher Kyle Hart said. "There's a lot of hype around the program, especially inside the program. Bringing up these new guys has been huge, just trying to get them along and shorten the learning curve. Today was a big step for us starting the in-season practices."
Although Lemonis is entering his first season at Indiana, it hasn't taken much encouragement for his Hoosiers to be ready for this point.
"We have a mature team," Lemonis said. "When you have older players, they like to lift, they like to work and they're very self-motivated, which is one key to a great team. We had a good off-season. We're -- `knock on wood' - we're getting healthy. We have some of our guys who didn't play in the fall back. It's nice and we're ready to go."
IU will workout twice this weekend with a scrimmage Saturday (1:15 p.m. ET) and practice Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET). Fans are welcome to attend. Follow @HoosierBaseball on Twitter for the most up-to-date schedule and details.
Jacksonville Baseball Classic - Notre Dame Press Conference
Sunday, February 22
Jacksonville Baseball Classic - UCF Press Conference
Saturday, February 21
Jacksonville Baseball Classic - LSU Press Conference
Friday, February 20
Big Ten Tournament Press Conference - vs. Rutgers
Wednesday, May 21