Indiana University Athletics
IUBaseBlog: Close Calls
2/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By: Greg Murray (@g_murray)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. --
After a shaky first two games in Greenville, it was big for the Hoosiers to pull out a win against Xavier on Sunday. In my opinion, the Musketeers were the most talented opposition Indiana played last weekend and IU was able to bring some momentum back to Bloomington. Defensive errors (five on Friday) and missed offensive chances (14 L.O.B. on Saturday) didn’t help the cause early in the weekend, but the Hoosiers will continue to gain experience and confidence in the non-conference season. Here are some other things I noticed from the first two weekends:
CLOSE CALLS
Limiting errors is always important, especially in close games. Of the six contests played this season, four have been decided by one run. Five errors made things tough for Indiana on Friday, and a ninth inning throwing error from Xavier on Sunday brought home Indiana’s final run for a walk-off win.
NEW FACES
While I haven’t yet had a chance to see the 2015 Hoosiers in person, I’ve heard some nice things about some guys that weren’t around last season. Laren Eustace hit a single in his first career start on Sunday and Logan Sowers is finding a nice home in right field. Three pitchers have made their Indiana debuts this year (Austin Foote, Caleb Baragar, Brian Hobbie), and they have combined for five shutout appearances.
RADIO INTERVIEW
I spoke with head coach Chris Lemonis about his second weekend as head coach of the Hoosiers and what's next for his team. Take a listen:CLICK HERE
Scott Donley
Scott Donley has more pressure on him to produce in the lineup than in previous years and is rising to the task through six games. Donley leads the Hoosiers with a .391 batting average, and tops the team in runs scored (five) and on-base percentage (.461).
WHAT’S NEXT
The College of Charleston is the second of four teams on the IU schedule that made it into last year’s Super Regionals (Stanford, Louisville, Maryland). After sweeping through the Gainesville Regional as a four-seed last year, CofC lost consecutive 1-0 games to Texas Tech to end its NCAA run. The Cougars have returned a good core of their squad from 2014 and have floated in-and-out of the top-25 in the first few national polls.
College of Charleston started the season in a road series against South Carolina, and swept The Citadel in three straight games last weekend. Despite losing preseason All-American Bailey Ober on the mound due to injury, the Cougars boast a proven pitching staff with Taylor Clarke (10-4, 2.51 ERA in 2014) among others in the starting rotation. Offensively, the Cougars are led have been led by Morgan Phillips (.435 batting average) and Nick Pappas (5 doubles, 6 RBI).
BROADCASTING NOTE
Sean Nash is handling the play-by-play duties this weekend in Charleston. All three games can be heard live at bit.ly/iubaseradio.
