No more rain: IU to host Mastadons

Soon, the roar of men’s college basketball will be replaced with the sharp pings of aluminum bats reverberating around the north side of campus.\nBaseball season is coming to Bloomington.\nThe IU baseball team has already played 14 games this season, but all of them have been on the road.\nSaturday, the Hoosiers (7-7) will open up Sembower Field for their first home game of the season against the IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons (2-11-1).\nSophomore first baseman Jerrud Sabourin hadn’t heard of the Mastodons before transferring to IU this summer from the University of Arizona, but said he is looking forward to the matchup.\nThe left-handed player has been a great addition to IU’s predominantly right-handed batting order. Sabourin is hitting .388 with four doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs, which ties him for second most on the team.\nSabourin will start for the 13th time this season Saturday, but will be making his home debut at Sembower Field.\n“I’m excited for that reason,” he said. “Hopefully, we will come out playing some good baseball.”\nLately, the Hoosiers have been doing just that, winning four of their last five contests.\nWith a week’s rest after a midweek game was washed out, the Hoosiers will use their ace, sophomore hurler Matt Bashore.\nIn Bashore’s last start he struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven shutout innings. The performance earned him Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, and the right to be the first Hoosier to take the mound at home.\n“(Starting Saturday) is something I have been fighting for the whole season,” he said. “It’s a real honor.”\nBashore said being named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week was a goal he had set for himself this season. \nOther goals he said he wanted for himself were to give his team a chance to win every game he started, have an ERA under 2.00 and have a ratio of one or less walks to every five hits allowed.\nIn his four starts to date, Bashore has an ERA of 1.42 and leads the Big Ten in strikeouts with 32.\nWith Bashore on the mound and Sabourin at first, the Hoosiers will try and put the big freeze on the Mastodons at 3 p.m. Saturday. IU coach Tracy Smith said he hopes his team will focus on themselves rather than on their opponents.\n“Our contest is really against us, and coming out and playing good baseball and taking care of the baseball,” he said. \nSo far this season, the Hoosiers have committed the second most errors in the Big Ten with 30.\n“It’s no secret we have not played solid defense up this point, and I have made that a point of emphasis,” Smith said. “I hope that we continue to swing the bats the way we have, but the biggest thing is just taking care of the ball.”