IU baseball heads South

As Mother Nature continues to reign supreme in the Midwest, the IU baseball team decided to seek sunnier skies following the cancellation of this weekend's Governor's Cup tournament in Evansville. Coach Bob Morgan's 20th Hoosier squad will finally start its season in Bradenton, Fla., playing four games in four days.\nIU planned to open its season with a three-game series at Morehead State on Feb. 21, and then open its home season on Tuesday against DePauw. But snowy conditions cancelled the Morehead State series and the DePauw game was postponed. Morgan said after the cancellations and postponements, it's critical for the Hoosiers to take the diamond.\n"We just need to play," Morgan said, "and we're able to go to Bradenton and get in four games down there."\n2003's first pitch will be at 6 p.m. tonight against the University of Findlay at Manatee Community College. Saturday morning the Hoosiers play Valparaiso at 10:30 a.m. at the IMG Academy, and return to Manatee at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon to face Holy Cross. IU concludes its weekend with Monday's 10:30 a.m. showdown against Boston College. \nThe Hoosiers have been practicing inside at Mellencamp Pavilion since starting workouts on Jan. 23. Mellencamp has artificial turf limiting the effectiveness of practice.\nMorgan said the indoor practices have hurt his team, but IU will finally be able to don its spikes and swing for the fences in Florida. \n"Usually by this time we've played a few games," Morgan said. "There's no question it has put a hamper on the team. We haven't had a groundball in the dirt yet."\nThe pitchers delivering those groundballs remain to be seen. One surely missing in this season's rotation is senior Nick Vitielliss. Vitielliss was IU's top returning hurler with an 8-1 record in 2002 and a 3.58 ERA, but the Waldorf, Md., native was lost for the season after being forced to undergo "Tommy John" surgery on his right elbow.\nAfter losing Vitielliss as well as junior college transfer John Matlick for the season, Morgan will look for his entire staff to step up this weekend.\n"We're gonna pitch a little bit of everybody," Morgan said. "We've lost some depth, but that just means that other guys have to step up." \nHoping to step up is senior pitcher Jacob Cary. The 6-3, 175-pound right hander compiled a 6-6 record in '02 with 74.1 innings pitched. Cary has worked over the off-season in hopes of improving those numbers this season.\n"I've been working on getting ahead in the count," Cary said, "and on pitches that will put guys away. I've also been working on getting my curveball over."\nLast season, IU was the nation's No. 12 hitting team batting .330, scoring 420 runs and hitting 49 home runs while finishing fourth in the Big Ten with a 35-20 record.\nThis season, senior designated hitter Nick Evans is one veteran who will be counted on in the middle of the lineup to try to improve on last season's totals. Evans batted .333 last season while knocking in 27. Evans said the veterans combined with the new guys have what it takes to make it happen. But it all starts with this weekend in The Sunshine State.\n"There's no question we're prepared in terms of baseball stuff," Evans said. "The big thing is getting outdoors with live pitching. Just getting in game mentality will be a challenge, but we're looking forward to it"