IU prepares for Mississippi State

OMAHA, Neb. — Now that the IU baseball team has won its first College World Series game, it gets a day to recharge.

Come 8 p.m. Monday, though, it’s back to business when IU takes on Mississippi State at TD Ameritrade Park.

“The key thing is we don’t want to be that team — the common trap of first-timers, they get all fat and sassy after the first win and think their mission is over,” IU Coach Tracy Smith said. “This group is not.

“We’re gonna let them enjoy some time today, catch a little bit of the games on the off day, but we’ll circle the wagons again come evening time and get guys focused in again on their baseball game.”

Like he has all year, Smith said he will focus more on how his team executes rather than overanalyze the opponent.

Smith said he didn’t know a lot about the Bulldogs (49-18), who beat Oregon State 5-4 Saturday, and had not yet had a chance to watch a replay of that game.

Smith did not name a starter for Game 2, saying he wanted to further evaluate how his pitchers match up with Mississippi State.

He could go with sophomore Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers, who has struggled in his last two postseason starts, freshman left-hander Will Coursen-Carr, who is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 18.1 innings this postseason, or lefty sophomore Kyle Hart who hasn’t pitched since May 25 against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament.
Slegers has made it through 8.1 innings total in his last two starts, allowing four earned runs on 15 hits in that span. He had been the No. 1 starter for the Big Ten Tournament and No. 2 for the super regional.

And while Hart has had a long layoff, Smith said he would be comfortable starting him at any point, as Hart was penciled in to start a potential game four in the Bloomington Regional had the Hoosiers not swept it in three games.

“The good thing about him and all these guys is they prepare every single day as if they’re going to get the ball, and I think that’s what makes this team special is there’s not sitting around moping and pouting,” Smith said of Hart. “He’s ready... and I said to him after we won at Tallahassee, ‘You’re gonna be important for us in the World Series.’”

Regardless of who toes the rubber for IU, the Hoosiers have shown they can win games in different ways. IU has won four games this postseason in which it scored in double-digits, as well as four two-run contests.

If Saturday’s 2-0 win against Louisville was any indication, the Hoosiers know they can win even if one part of their game — pitching, defense or offense, as was the case Saturday — falters.  

“It’s the best feeling ever because you take the field and not at one point in the game does it creep in your mind, ‘Oh, you know, we gotta press,’” junior outfielder Casey Smith said. “We can just handle our business.”

They also bucked the recent trend for teams making their first CWS appearance: IU’s win improved such teams to 3-11 all-time.

Considered an underdog coming in to Omaha, the Hoosiers might maintain thaelabel after beating the Louisville Cardinals for the third time this season, giving them an upper hand in their bracket.

The deeper they get, the less realistic that label becomes.

“I think people are starting to realize that we can play a little bit,” sophomore first baseman Sam Travis said. “There’s definitely gonna be the people that aren’t gonna think you’re good or think you can play with your typical SEC teams or ACC Team. But I mean, that’s gonna happen, that’s how it’s always gonna be, so we just gotta go keep playing.”