Team heads to Daytona, looks to lap Wildcats

The IU baseball team travels to Daytona Beach, Fla., this weekend to face Bethune Cookman in a three-game series. The Wildcats are 7-4 this season and have advanced to the NCAA Regionals the past four years.\n"Bethune Cookman has played really well so far this year," Coach Bob Morgan said. "They are a veteran team with 16 seniors, and they've swept Jacksonville, Central Florida, South Florida and Florida Atlantic, all good baseball schools."\nIU is 2-0 after convincing 15-0 and 14-1 victories over Taylor University Monday at Sembower Field. In those wins, IU had great individual efforts. Senior shortstop Eric Blakeley headlined the list by going 4 for 7 with two home runs and nine RBIs.\n"I want to play consistently within myself, and hopefully this will be contagious to my teammates," Blakeley said.\nHis efforts were contagious to the Hoosiers. \nJunior Vasili Spanos went 5 for 7 with two home runs, a triple and a double. Junior Mark Calkins went 3 for 4 with a home run and two triples. The IU pitching staff held Taylor to one run on nine hits in the two games.\nThe games also marked the much anticipated debut of junior center fielder Kennard Jones. The JUCO transfer responded by going 4 for 7 with a triple, a double, six runs scored, two RBIs and a stolen base.\n"We're all pumped. This is the first time we've gone down South this year," Jones said. "It'll be all business."\nBethune Cookman will be a tough early opponent for the Hoosiers.\n"They have excellent starting pitching, and they are very good defensively," Morgan said. "Overall they have great team speed. It will be a very good test and a good measuring stick as to where we are"