Seniors will miss graduation for baseball

For more than 6,900 seniors Saturday, "Pomp and Circumstance" will be the most important song of the day. However, for the five seniors on the IU baseball squad, it's "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as the Hoosiers face off against Michigan State 3 p.m. Saturday at Sembower Field.\nThough the seniors were given the opportunity to join the rest of their graduating class and walk, there is only one thing on this group's mind -- winning.\n"Graduation is pretty important, but winning is pretty important too," said senior pitcher Brian Lortz. "So we are trying to put an emphasis on that."\nWhile the weekend has big implications for most seniors, so does the Hoosiers' series with the Spartans (17-22, Big Ten 6-10).\nIU (22-22, Big Ten 5-15) is currently residing in last place in the conference standings. The only way the Hoosiers can ensure a spot in the Big Ten Tournament is to make it into the top six.\nBecause the team is looking at must-win games down the stretch every game has added significance, said senior first baseman Corby Heckman.\n"We know right now we have to get close to .500 to get into the Big Ten to get into the tournament," Heckman said. "Being 10 games under with 12 games left we pretty much have to win every one of them. So it is huge to win a series or sweep a series."\nIn order to get the wins the team needs and move out of the cellar, the Hoosiers will have to do something they have failed to do all season long -- play a complete series.\nFinding a rhythm before the season is over could pay big dividends as the last three conference series opponents for the Hoosiers have a combined conference record of three games under .500.\n"It is either we hit good and we don't pitch or we pitch well and don't hit," Lortz said. "If we can put both of those together and play some defense, I don't think we would have a problem beating anybody."\nGetting a bat on the ball could be the best strategy for IU, as the Spartans boast a .300 batting average, but are the worst pitching team in the conference with a 5.53 earned run average. Since MSU is known more for its hitting than pitching, right fielder Joe Kemp said the team could be in for a slugfest. \n"They are usually a pretty good hitting ball club," said Kemp, who leads the team with eight home runs. "We know we've got to score some runs."\nEven though it might be tough to deal with all the graduation activities surrounding campus this weekend, the team is concentrating on one thing, Heckman said.\n"I'm not really worried about the graduation thing. I don't really feel like I'm graduating until baseball is over," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to be caught up in that all day long and you want to keep your focus on baseball right now"