Highly touted freshman duo ready to contribute

All it took was one swing of the bat and IU coach Tracy Smith knew he had found something special in Kipp Schutz.\nThe freshman outfielder drew much interest during last year’s Major League Baseball draft, when the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the 26th round out of Harrison High School in Evansville. Knowing he needed impact players to turn his program around, Smith – following his first year as the IU baseball coach – began to pursue making Schutz a Hoosier after seeing him just once in the batting cages.\n“I could tell just through our conversations that he wanted to come,” Smith said. “Maybe the offer wasn’t right, but I give him a lot of credit for pulling the trigger and wanting to be a part of turning (the program) around. Especially with the season he had, with the draft and the money (the Orioles) were throwing at him.”\nWhile the road to making Schutz a Hoosier seemed somewhat problematic at first, Smith thought at first he blew his chance to get another Indiana baseball standout. \nAfter last season, Smith saw the catcher position as a problem he needed to address and went to visit several prospects in the Terre Haute area, including Terre Haute North catcher Josh Phegley. The first potential player he visited wasn’t too appealing.\n“He was sitting at the table, talking to his dog, petting his dog while we’re trying to make a presentation,” Smith said. “So I kind of walked out of that house angry and the next visit was Phegley’s house. I told him, – and I was with coach Ty Neal at the time – ‘You Indiana kids are making me sick because you talk about how you want to turn the program around but none of you have enough guts to be the leader.’”\nInitially, Smith felt he “blew it” after being completely honest with Phegley – an all-conference, all-state catcher who was named Indiana’s Mr. Baseball in 2006. Instead, the direct, straightforward presentation he gave won Phegley over.\n“You could tell by the tone of their voice and how they spoke to me that they were going to turn the program around and take care of business,” Phegley said.\nPhegley and Schutz head a group of 19 players in Smith’s first full recruiting class at IU. Smith said he is looking for the two freshmen to make an immediate impact after both had standout senior years of high school last season. Phegley hit .592 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs and Schutz hit .480 with three home runs and 35 RBIs . \nFacing college pitching for the first time can drastically change those numbers, and neither player is taking the transition lightly.\n“The caliber of players you’re surrounded with (are much better),” Phegley said. “In high school, everybody on (IU’s squad) was the number one player on their team and now we have everybody here to contribute.”\nThough most of the team’s freshmen are leaving high schools where they racked up records as the top players, Smith said their transition is fairly smooth due to the unselfish attitudes of the senior players.\n“The neatest thing with these freshmen is that our upperclassmen have done such a good job blending in,” Smith said. “They don’t come in with egos, and I attribute that to the leadership that’s here.”\nThis weekend, Phegley and Schutz will be put to their first test as the Hoosiers open the season against Troy, a team that went 47-16 last year and fell to Alabama in the NCAA Regionals.\nKnowing his team as a whole will have its work cut out for it this year, Smith said he values the importance of having a talented freshman class headed by two of the premiere freshmen in the Big Ten.\n“They are very much into the team and helping this program win,” Smith said. “The fact that they came to Indiana, I just hope it sets the tone for what this program is going to be for not just this year but for the future.”