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Baseball
Hoosiers prepare for Eagle Invitational

For IU baseball coach Tracy Smith, the reason for his team’s slow start this season has not been a lack of hitting or pitching, but attitude.

“What led to our loss today was our mentality,” Smith said after Wednesday’s 10-6 loss to Eastern Michigan. “What I am concerned about is the lack of toughness we are showing right now. We have to become collectively tougher.” 
 
The Hoosiers look to improve their 3-4 record this afternoon as they take on Georgia Southern in the opening game of the Eagle Invitational in Statesboro, Ga.

IU will face No. 20 East Carolina on Saturday and LeMoyne on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a good tournament,” Smith said. “They are all very good programs with regional experience. If we don’t go down there with our heads on straight, it could be a long weekend.”

IU senior pitcher Joe Vicini agreed with his coach’s assessment.

“We need to focus and play the next game,” he said. “We can’t worry about what happened behind us. If we keep teams from putting up double-digit numbers, we are going to do really well.”

– By Greg Rosenstein

Track and Field  
Last chance for some Hoosiers to qualify for NCAA Championship 

Some members of the track and field team will get this weekend off while others must compete to try to get into the National Championships. The top 16 times for each event qualify for nationals.

IU coach Ron Helmer said he will give any athlete he thinks is comfortably in the top 16 the weekend off. Anyone on the edge of qualifying will compete this weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend or the Cyclone National Qualifier in Ames, Iowa..

One of those teams on the edge of the qualifying bubble is the distance medley team, which currently ranks No. 12 nationally with a time of 9:42.72 and is just 1.94 seconds ahead of No. 16 Arkansas.

One of the runners on that team is sophomore De’Sean Turner, who said the team’s anxiety will be high this weekend in South Bend.

“It does put a little bit more pressure on us because we have to hit a certain time to make it in,” Turner said. “The pressure is on us so we have to come with a good time.”

Other Hoosiers on the provisional list in the top 20 are freshman Derek Drouin, sophomore Ben Stephen and seniors Jeff Coover, Molly Beckwith, Wendi Robinson and Tiffany Howard. Junior Vera Neuenswander has automatically qualified for the national championship in pole vault.

Helmer said all factors need to fall into place for his athletes to make it to the NCAA Championships, but he isn’t concerned about it.

“I don’t think there are pressures this weekend,” he said. “It is the last chance to make the national meet and running well is the key to doing that.”  

– By Ari Shifron

Women’s Tennis
Hoosiers kick off Big Ten season against Illini

The No. 36 Hoosiers rank 3rd in the Big Ten behind No. 1 Northwestern and No. 19
Michigan.

The cream and crimson are part of one of the best conferences in the nation, with seven of the 11 teams ranked in the top 75 nationwide.

With two top 3 finishes in the past 2 years, IU hopes to have a successful Big Ten season with an NCAA berth.

“I think it’s going to be a little tougher than the last couple years because I think the top teams last year have all gotten better,” IU coach Lin Loring said.

The Hoosiers begin their Big Ten season against No. 51 Illinois on Saturday in Champaign, Ill.

The Fighting Illini only have two losses, both against top 25-ranked teams. They are also the winners of the their last six matches. After taking down No. 45 Sasha Kulikova last Saturday, sophomore Katya Zapadalova will face No. 86 Leigh Finnegan.

“Illinois is probably as good as they’ve ever been,” Loring said.

– By Stephanie Kuzydym

Men’s Tennis
8 teams go real big in the Big Ten Saturday

Big Ten season has arrived, and so has the strongest Big Ten conference IU coach Randy Bloemendaal has seen.

IU (7-7) opens up its conference season against No. 44 Northwestern at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and No. 19 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Varsity Center.
Last weekend, IU defeated two unranked, non-conference teams – Butler and Southern Illinois.

Compiling a 37-35 record, the Hoosiers look to win their fourth straight against the Wildcats. Playing their third of four consecutive road matches, the Wildcats enter the matchup with a 10-1 record. Northwestern stacks up with No. 82 Marc Dwyer and two No. 80 ranked doubles teams.

On Sunday, the Hoosiers take on Wisconsin (7-2). The Badger’s No. 41 Marek Michalicka and No. 72 Moritz Baumann singles players also combine to make the No. 16 doubles team. Their top-ranked players and No. 19 team ranking has not helped in their past two matches as the Badgers have dropped the last two out of three matches.

This weekend will show how the Hoosiers compare to their conference rivals.

“You’ve got more teams ranked in the top 40 in this point than I’ve ever seen before,” Bloemendaal said. “It’s going to be a very tough season.”

– By Stephanie Kuzydym

Water Polo
No. 19 Hoosiers look to continue their success

The IU water polo team will look to build on the momentum it gained from winning all four games this past weekend when the Hoosiers travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to open conference play  Saturday.

The Hoosiers will play Washington and Jefferson, Chatham and Grove City on Saturday and will play Penn State Behrend on Sunday morning.

The team competes in the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Western Division.
IU coach Barry King said a good start in conference play is important for a future chance to play for a championship.

“It’s always more important than the rest,” King said in an e-mail. “It’s the path to which we gain access to the NCAA tournament, and these are the first steps so we always want to hold reign in your conference.”

One thing that might distract the team is the experience it had trying to get home from this past weekend’s games in California.

The Hoosiers got stuck in New York during this week’s snowstorm and weren’t able to make it home until Tuesday evening. King said the late return might result in some mental fatigue.

“I’m sure that there will be some sort of effect, as far as just mental fatigue more than anything else,” he said in an e-mail. “Physically, it shouldn’t affect us at all, but mentally the thought of going on the road again might be a little tough. But it’s a short trip, and we get to get on a bus instead of a plane.”

– By Andrew Wyder

Wrestling
Hoosiers to grapple with some of nation’s best

Every March, the Big Ten wrestling tournament brings each member school’s wrestling

team to compete in the annual conference tournament. Along with these prestigious programs comes many of the top wrestlers in the country.

Charlie Falck, Bubba Jenkins, Daniel Dennis and IU’s Angel Escobedo are just a few who will grapple each other in University Park, Pa., on Saturday and Sunday with the dream of advancing and earning the title of NCAA champion – or in Escobedo’s case, repeat NCAA champion.

While the conference tournament serves as the chance for top wrestlers to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships  held March 19-21, it also serves as an invaluable experience for the younger ones.

“Getting out there against the best lets you know you’re right there, and it’s great experience for those guys,” IU assistant coach Pat DeGain said. “It’s a week where our focus is on the starters, but it’s good work for the others, too.”

Escobedo said the week leading up to the tournament has served the Hoosiers well, giving them a chance to improve and get mentally prepared.

“Basically, it’s our time to shine,” Escobedo said. “We’ve pushed hard this week and are starting to peak back for a big week at the Big Tens.”

The Hoosiers (15-7-1, 2-5-1) bring eight seeded wrestlers into the conference tourney, three of whom are seeded in the top five. Angel Escobedo (19-3, 6-2) and Kurt Kinser (17-5, 5-3) each hold the No. 3 slot in their respective weight classes, while Nate Everhart (23-13, 6-2) holds a No. 5 seed.

Other Hoosier wrestlers coming into the weekend’s competition seeded are Andrae Hernandez, Nick Walpole, Paul Young, Trevor Perry and Matt Powless.

While higher-seeded athletes like Escobedo and Kinser face lower-ranked opponents, Escobedo said the seeds are ultimately irrelevant.

“We really don’t want to focus on the seeds, but over-achieve them,” he said.

– By Frank Therber