IU to face in-state rival Sycamores

After playing its first six games in the relatively warm weather of Memphis, Tenn., and Dothan, Ala., the IU baseball team heads to Indiana State today to compete in the slightly cooler temperature of Terre Haute. \nFresh off a 4-2 win Sunday against Northern Iowa, the Hoosiers enter today’s contest against the Sycamores – a team that started the season with a 4-1 record and averages almost eight runs per game.\nIU coach Tracy Smith said he isn’t too concerned with Indiana State, even though the Hoosiers will be facing what has so far been a high-powered offense. Because the IU team has many freshman players this year, Smith said he will just be focusing on how his players perform. Smith still needs to put together a concrete team lineup. \nSmith said he has told his players to “keep on keepin’ on” and “do what we do” against Indiana State – which is simply to play solid baseball. \n“We’re going to try and keep the momentum going a little bit,” Smith said. “We’re going to look for our pitchers to continue to throw strikes. Our hitting, we’re not getting a lot of power right now, but that’s going to come. If we pitch it, we make the plays and play defense behind them, our speed and our aggressiveness is going to be able to grab some runs.” \nA combination of veteran and freshman players led the Hoosiers through their first six games of the season. Freshman second baseman Evan Crawford registered a hit in all six games to average .520 at the plate, while freshman pitcher Matt Bashore started his collegiate career with 7 1/3 innings of five-hit baseball against Northern Iowa. \n“They don’t know any better, you know,” Smith said in regard to his freshmen. “They don’t think that since they’re a freshman, they have to be nervous, and that’s good.”\nSmith also said his freshmen are succeeding due to the team’s senior leadership. Senior shortstop Keith Haas has continued to contribute on the field for the Hoosiers with a .429 batting average and a team-leading eight RBIs in 21 at-bats in his senior year.\nThe Hoosiers see their 3-3 record as a success especially because the lineup is not set yet. The only major setback they have faced was the 15-4 loss to Southern Mississippi in the second game of the season.\n“As a team, I think we are starting to gel a bit more and are starting to come together,” Crawford said. “That’s something I think is going our way right now.”\nBashore agreed with Crawford and said he is pleased with the effort the Hoosiers have put into the season to this point.\n“We’re all starting to see what kind of team we can be and it feels good,” Bashore said.