There for the Taking – IU Positioned for Big Ten Title
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Josh Pyne hesitates. Two straight conference foes have been swept, a Big Ten title opportunity restored, and Indiana’s sophomore third baseman seeks perspective.
Is the Hoosiers’ late-season surge really fueled by last month’s disastrous Maryland series?
“I don’t want to say we needed to lose,” Pyne says. “I never want to lose. But we needed to realize this is what real baseball looks like.”
Real baseball means an eight-game winning streak, six against Big Ten opponents, one on the road against dangerous Xavier, one at home against Evansville.
The result -- sweep Michigan State (9-11 in the Big Ten) this week and the Hoosiers at least share the conference title with Maryland. Both enter the final weekend of the regular season with 15-6 league records. The Terrapins play at Penn State (6-14).
“It’s awesome that we put ourselves in this position,” pitcher Craig Yoho says. “It’s a credit to hard work. We still have a lot of baseball, arguably our most important baseball. We have to stay locked in. It’s one game at a time.”
A couple of weeks ago, IU was cruising at the top of the Big Ten standings with an eight-game winning streak and Bart Kaufman Field dominance. Then Maryland moved to the top by winning three straight games in Bloomington by a combined 43-12 score with a ruthless mix of hitting and pitching that served as a blueprint for success if the Hoosiers were tough enough, poised enough, and mature enough to follow it.
So far, they are, no one more than Pyne, who just won Big Ten Player of the Week honors after totaling 10 hits, nine runs scored and 14 runs batted in during last week’s four victories.
“It showed us this is what it will take to do what we want,” he says. “It will take the offense clicking. The pitching clicking. Everything firing on all cylinders.
“We bounced back and have been playing really well.”
Defeat might have fueled the latest winning streak, but togetherness was the foundation that made it possible.
“The guys stepped up huge,” Yoho says. “Our offense has been stellar all year. It’s great to be on the winning side of it. I love seeing that success from our guys.
“I almost have more joy out of watching Hunter Jessee hit two balls off the scoreboard than he does. We want success as much for everybody else as we want our own personal success.”
You’d better believe success has arrived with a 39-14 overall record. It’s because, head coach Jeff Mercer says, the players finally understand the process.
“When you tell the guys, I want you to kick (the other team’s behinds), they know what that means,” he says. “They know it means they have to be committed to the plan, execute the plan, take their walks, get hit by pitches, and have two-strike approaches. They have to be committed to the scouting report. Execute strikes on the mound.
“They understand when you tell them to kick their (behinds), it doesn’t mean play like you just watched Braveheart or Rambo and run around like crazy people.”
Understanding was personified in last weekend’s three blowout wins over Purdue.
“It’s a matter of executing our game plan a little better,” senior shortstop Phillip Glasser says. “It’s being a little more mature during our at-bats, especially early in innings. Sometimes it takes us a while to get going.
“We have to focus on one pitch at a time. Understand what the coaches are saying. Understand what the pitchers are trying to do to you. That’s maturity. We have gotten better, and I think we’ll continue to get better.
Mercer says Glasser and junior centerfielder Bobby Whalen provide much-needed experience to a youthful team.
“Glasser gives you immediate on-field presence. Bobby is the heartbeat of the group -- the attitude, the effort, the accountability.”
By showing the Hoosiers how it’s done, “they’ve helped create and shape the team culture, and show the things we value.”
Value includes a combined 112 runs scored and 73 runs batted in from the first two spots in the lineup.
“They’ve been great from a statistics standpoint,” Mercer says, “but statistics can be misleading when it comes to impact. Just because a guy hits well or has impressive numbers doesn’t mean his impact is as positive.
“For those guys, their stats are underwhelming compared to their personal impact on the program -- leadership and attitude and all the things we value behind the scenes. They raise the floor of the program by making everyone around them better.”
Mercer didn’t use the Maryland series to tear down, but to build up. Historical references, swing changes and deep thoughts combined to make a difference. The Terrapins became an example of how to do it right.
“You can’t shy away from that with what happened against Maryland,” Mercer says. “That was hard, but life is hard. It’s about perspective and how you respond. You can have your confidence shattered, or you can admit your mistakes, take what you need from it, and move forward.”
That’s where history helped.
“We gave them historical references of people who had to go through tough things,” Mercer says, “because at some point, you are going to struggle. No one goes 60 games without taking it on the chin. Now what? Move on. Grow through it.”
Again, Maryland provided the example.
“They were without emotion,” Mercer says. “They were relentless. Competitive. They executed the game plan.
“Even if you’re on the other side of it, it’s good to see. You mimic that behavior. It becomes a good thing for you.
“We needed to make adjustments. We made swing adjustments with three to four guys. They had to be willing to make those adjustments.”
The Hoosiers were willing and now it’s there for the taking.
“We’ve done the things we needed to do,” Mercer says. “We control our own destiny. We put ourselves in position to play in the (NCAA tourney).”
A pause for perspective.
“We have work to do.”
Or, as Yoho puts it, “It doesn’t matter what anybody else in the country is doing. It’s what’s happening in our clubhouse and what we put on the field. If we play hard, we have everything we want in front of us."