Hoosiers to travel to Alabama for season-opening tourney

Get the peanuts and Cracker Jack ready, and keep the game program handy. The IU baseball team is back and ready to open the season.\nTraveling to Dothan, Ala., for the ScreenTech Wiregrass Baseball Classic, this Hoosier team bears little resemblance to the 2006 squad that finished 22-34. IU coach Tracy Smith brought in 20 new players to Bloomington – 19 freshmen and one transfer.\nSecond-year coach Smith knows part of having so many freshmen is going through growing pains early in the season.\n“With freshmen, there are some inconsistencies,” Smith said. “Some days are good, some are bad. But I like the way guys are maturing, and a lot of it has to do with the leadership that we have from the guys at the top saying, ‘This is the way we do things.’ But I think we’re coming together very well, and honestly, we’re just so much ahead of where we were last year.”\nIn the weeks since the 2007 Hoosiers officially started practice on Feb. 1, the returning veteran players have seen improvement in the freshman class. Senior shortstop Keith Haas said that many have adjusted well to baseball at the college level.\n“There’s been a lot of development,” Haas said. “You get a handful of kids who are ready for it, but with this many kids there are a lot where you’re still teaching them stuff. With this group of freshmen, there’s been a lot who are ready to go. I think the first game will help us during the season.”\nThrough the first weeks of practice, Smith has used the influx of freshmen as a way to improve competition among players for open positions. He said IU’s everyday lineup is still up in the air and will change from day-to-day early in the season.\n“The thing we’ve been saying day in and day out is that ‘Fellas, we’ve got no idea what the lineup is going to be so go out and win a position,’” Smith said. “Then we hope by the end of spring break as we get into Big Ten play, things will shape up.”\nAlong with the freshman class, IU returns seven of its top 10 hitters and two of its three winningest pitchers. Smith is counting on the team’s captains – junior pitcher Doug Fleenor, senior infielder Ben Greenspan, sophomore pitcher Joe Vicini and junior first baseman Jon Fixler – to mentor the new players while also contributing themselves.\nAs the team prepared for this opening weekend’s slate of games, the quartet of captains worked to support the freshmen as they adjusted to college ball.\n“We’re just trying to help their confidence and get them ready for the season,” Fleenor said. “The biggest thing for them is just to help them (gain) that confidence.” \nWhile the Hoosiers will be playing their first games this weekend, all three teams IU faces have already kicked off their seasons. The first test for Smith and his team in the tournament is a game against Troy (5-3) Friday night, followed by Southern Mississippi (4-0) on Saturday afternoon and Georgia Southern (8-3) on Sunday to wrap up the weekend .\nFor the first three games of the 2007 campaign, the Hoosiers have a simple goal, Greenspan said.\n“We want to compete, win and find out who we are as a team,” he said.