Hoosiers starting 2 top pitchers in effort to get above .500

The IU baseball team will travel to Millington, Tenn., this weekend to compete in the Service Academy Classic tournament at USA Stadium. \nThe Hoosiers will play Murray State Friday, Kentucky Saturday and end the road trip with Navy Sunday. The players emphasized that every game is important but whenever Kentucky is the opponent there is extra incentive.\n"I am excited to play Kentucky, with them being a border rival," freshman pitcher Doug Fleenor said. "We are also excited to play a team from such a good baseball conference like the SEC."\nThe Wildcats have already played six games and have compiled a 4-2 record in the still young season. \nIn the first game against Murray State, the Hoosiers will start sophomore Josh Lewis.\nLewis started the first game of the season for IU against Southeastern Louisiana. The Mt. Airy, Md., native went four strong innings, giving up only two earned runs but ended up getting the loss as the Hoosiers fell 4-2. \nLewis had a strong freshman season a year ago, in which he went 5-2 and was selected to the Big Ten All-Tournament team. He will be looked upon this year to be a consistent No. 1 or No. 2 starter.\nIn the second game against Kentucky, fifth year senior Nick Vitielliss will most likely take the mound for the Hoosiers. Vitiellis sat out the 2003 season after having arm surgery. The Waldorf, Md., native started the third game of last weekend's road trip and gave up two earned runs in two innings, but he picked up the loss in IU's 9-1 defeat. \nAlthough two of the Hoosiers' top pitchers are taking the mound to start the tournament, the relief staff knows they still have to be ready at all times.\n"Being a relief pitcher, you never know when you are going to come in," senior reliever Adam Pegg said. "Being a reliever, I have to be on the bench and always be ready to go, knowing that I could come in at any time."\nIn the first four games of the season, the Hoosier starters have not gone very deep into games. Lewis has gone the furthest, pitching four innings. \nSenior catcher Cody Wargo said some of the guys are on pitch counts and it being so early in the season, they didn't want to overdo it and hurt anyone's arm. \nBut Pegg also emphasized the need for the starters to go deep into games for the team to be successful. In addition to wanting to help the team, he also has an extra incentive to win the last game against Navy.\nPegg's older brother is in the Army and is stationed over in Iraq.\n"I really want to beat Navy so I can give my brother some bragging rights," Pegg said. \nThe Hoosiers will look to use their first victory of the season Wednesday against Depauw to give them confidence heading into the weekend. After a winning performance against the Tigers, the IU players are still not satisfied and know they have to improve on some things to come out of Tennessee with three wins. \n"It's always good to get the first win of the season, but we still didn't play the way we were capable of," Wargo said. "We didn't hit when we needed to in some situations, but we'll get better."\nThe first pitch against Murray State is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday as the Hoosiers look to go over .500 this weekend in Tennessee. \n-- Contact staff writer Alex Witteveld at pawittev@indiana.edu.