IU at a crossroad in season

The IU baseball team faces a crossroad. On one road the Hoosiers, tied for second in the Big Ten, can separate themselves from the rest of the pack this weekend against Michigan State at Sembower Field. But the other road leads IU toward the pack with mediocrity accompanying. \nWhile IU (20-7, 5-3 Big Ten) has a clear advantage over the cellar dwelling Spartans (7-18, 1-5 Big Ten) record wise alone, coach Bob Morgan's club has no room for complacency. \nMorgan said anytime you play a Big Ten opponent, you better be prepared.\n"I think (Michigan State is) a solid team," Morgan said. "Everybody in the Big Ten's solid so you have to play every weekend or you're going to get beat."\nThis weekend's four game set is IU's Big Ten home opener. And after two straight weekend series on the road, defending the home diamond is instrumental for the Hoosiers' chances in separating from the field.\nMorgan said while he wants to win every game, taking three of four from the Spartans would satisfy him.\n"We've been road warriors," Morgan said. "We've played eight conference games, and they've all been on the road so we'll finally be at home and hopefully we can take advantage of being at home and at least win maybe three out of four. If you win three out of four it kind of separates you a little bit."\nStarting that separation Friday will be senior pitcher Jacob Cary. Cary (6-0) will open the series looking to continue to climb the charts in the Big Ten while providing solid pitching for the Hoosiers. Cary sports a 2.30 earned run average and has pitched four straight complete games for IU while leading the rest of the Hoosiers far and away in innings pitched with 43. \nCary takes a simplistic approach to pitching: Throw strikes and let your defense help you out. Cary plans to use that same formula this weekend, he said.\n"This weekend I need to throw the ball over the plate and make them hit it," Cary said. "Defensively we're really working well together. And it seems like whenever I struggle the offense and defense step up."\nWhile Cary has been doing his part, he has had the added responsibility of leading a young pitching staff. Of the 13 pitchers who have pitched for IU this season, only five are either junior or seniors. \nCary said he has tried to lead by his actions because he's not a real rah-rah type of guy.\n"I try to lead by example mostly," Cary said. "I'm not one for speeches or anything like that. I don't try to take anything too seriously. That was one of my things going into this year, besides innings pitched and wins, was leading this staff because we do have a lot of young faces."\nThose young faces will have to step up this weekend if IU wants to remain near the top of the Big Ten standings. But an old face around the Hoosier clubhouse will be responsible for setting the table for IU's offense. Senior leadoff hitter Mark Calkins said it's his job to cause havoc on the basepaths.\n"I'm trying to work on hitting so I need to pick it up a lot," Calkins said. "Right now he's got me hitting lead off so my job is to get on base. I need to help my team out this weekend, get on base and use my speed to steal."\nAfter a 3 p.m. Friday start, the two teams return again Saturday for a doubleheader with the first game starting at 1 p.m. The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.\nMorgan said this is their time to shine. And with third place Ohio State and Big Ten-leading Minnesota staring IU in the face the next two weekends, establishing breathing room is key for the Hoosiers on the road to success.\n"We'd like to get off to that good start because remember we've got to go to Ohio State, and we've got Minnesota coming here," Morgan said. "But you know we've got to focus and concentrate on playing as well and as hard as we can this weekend against Michigan State"