Finding the competitive spirit

Going into this weekend’s home series with Penn State, one thing is pretty evident. The IU baseball team had better start winning some games. \nGood, now I have the obvious stuff out of the way. \nMore than winning games, however, I bet IU coach Tracy Smith would like to see his team actually, you know, look like it wants to win. After Wednesday night’s 10-1 loss at Miami of Ohio, Smith expressed his disappointment. \n“I’m just disappointed because we rolled over, and tonight, for whatever reason, we were very flat and lethargic,” Smith told the Indiana Daily Student. “There was no fight in us, and I just thought we didn’t have any competitiveness tonight.”\nThis has been a familiar refrain from Smith throughout the season when his team loses. And having been at Sembower Field for some of those losses, I’ve seen it for myself. Sometimes it just looks like the team is going through the motions. After covering this team in some form for two years now, I’m just confused. \nHow is it possible that they come out smoking one game, then the next game it looks like they check out mentally? For all practical purposes, this team is not geared to win this year. It’s an old sports cliche to say it’s a rebuilding year, but it really is. \nWith all the freshmen in the everyday lineup (not to mention on the pitching staff), it’s hard to realistically believe this team would be in the top half of the Big Ten this year.\nBut they should compete every day.\nI know nobody on the team is satisfied with 14-23 overall record and a dismal 4-12 conference record. At this point, making it to the Big Ten tournament is all but out of the question. And Smith is still trying to figure it out. The answer is pretty simple: This team is just young. \nAs another old sports cliche goes, the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.\nThis is a very, very talented group of ballplayers Smith has assembled. Second baseman Evan Crawford has distinguished himself as one of the best freshmen in the Big Ten. Young pitchers like sophomore Tyler Tufts and freshman Matt Bashore have proven to be consistent performers.\nBut this team still has a long way to go before it gets to where coach Smith wants it to be.\nWill they get there? Eventually, but probably not this year. Next year, in a brand-new ballpark, the IU baseball team will be something to watch out for. They will figure out how to win soon enough, but for now they need to figure out how to compete in every single game they play.\nThat is something they need to learn this year – as in, this weekend. The Hoosiers need to win a Big Ten series at some point. Hosting Penn State is a good chance to do just that. The Nittany Lions are a good team, but if IU competes hard enough in a home series, they can win. Winning a Big Ten series would be a huge boost right now, and you have to compete to win.\nWins would be nice, but I’m sure Smith wouldn’t mind seeing his team compete a little bit.