IU faces important conference series to stay in title hunt

While the Little 500 may grab the headlines this weekend, the baseball team also has some tough competition to take care of as it hosts first-place Minnesota in a four-game series that kicks off today at Sembower Field.\nThe Hoosiers come into the game with an overall mark of 26-12 and 9-7 in the Big Ten, trailing the league leading Gophers by four games.\nIU will host Minnesota (24-13, 12-2) on the heels of a disappointing non-conference loss to Miami (Ohio) earlier this week. \n"(Wednesday) I was disappointed in our performance," coach Bob Morgan said. "Midweek games are hard to get back up for, but we only have 18 or 19 games left."\nThe Redhawks put IU in a hole early, scoring all eight of their runs in the first three innings. The Hoosiers mounted a small comeback, but it wasn't enough to escape the 8-5 road defeat.\n"We need a little more energy and enthusiasm," Morgan said. "We got behind and I don't think we really battled as hard as you need to try and get back and maybe win the ball game. I was disappointed from that standpoint."\nOne bright spot of the game was senior Kenny Marrs' continued success from the lead-off slot. When senior Mark Calkins went down with a pulled hamstring before last weekend's Ohio State series, Morgan inserted Marrs at the top of his lineup. The senior has responded with a 7 for 15 spurt that has included a home run, five RBIs and five runs scored. \nMarrs attributes his success to hard work and to IU hitting coach Tony Kestranek.\n"Coach (Kestranek) has been working with me a lot to shorten my swing down. For some reason, this off-season or in the beginning of the year my swing had gotten long," Marrs said. "Coach K has gotten me to get my swing more compact and a lot quicker to try and put the ball in play rather than hit it out of the park."\nThe Hoosiers will need Marrs' hot bat again this weekend against a first-place Minnesota club that leads the league in batting average (.333), hits (419), and on-base percentage (.419).\nAfter facing a bear of a non-conference schedule that included games against Notre Dame and Nebraska (both College World Series participants in 2002), the Gophers have mopped up in conference play. They opened league play with a 10 game winning streak and currently own a 12-2 conference mark that places them three games in front of Ohio State and four in front of the third place Hoosiers. \n"The focus is on the weekend. We've got Minnesota, a first-place team coming into town so we're going to have to play well," Morgan said. "We need some good performances pitching-wise."\nOne pitcher looking for a good performance will be senior Jacob Cary. After opening the season with a perfect 7-0 mark and five straight complete games, Cary faltered last Friday against the Buckeyes, surrendering 11 hits and nine runs in 5.1 innings.\nBut the senior knows what he needs to do differently this time out.\n"Keep the ball down. Try to keep it in the park," Cary said. "They really don't have a lot of power so I just have to throw ground balls. They're a quick team. They like to steal and that's what I like to throw against."\nCary will get the nod this afternoon on the mound. The Hoosiers will then probably follow with juniors Chris Behrens and Adam Pegg, with the other start going to freshman Josh Lewis.\nMorgan said that he thinks it is possible for his team to take three of four from the Gophers.\n"Sure it's feasible, but the goal is really to play as well as we can possibly play with good energy, enthusiasm and focus for the whole weekend," Morgan said. "That will give us a chance to be successful against a good ball club"