The Hoosiers have won just two games since their opening series in Arizona ended Feb. 20.
After leaving Boca Raton, Florida, with a tied series against Florida Atlantic, IU Coach Chris Lemonis said the Hoosiers scheduled the beginning of their season to be more difficult than most other teams.
He challenged the team while traveling back to Bloomington by telling them there were bigger series ahead to help bolster a record that wasn’t too impressive.
Since he challenged them IU has lost to Cincinnati and dropped two of three against a weaker Samford team during the weekend.
Now the 4-6-1 Hoosiers travel to Evansville, Indiana, on Tuesday to compete against a team that has caused IU some issues in the last couple seasons.
The Purple Aces defeated the Hoosiers in both mid-week games in 2015 and lost once in 2016. Evansville matchups are never easy for IU, especially with the Hoosiers limping into the new week.
IU pitchers saw their success and struggles during the Samford series. Starters sophomore Tim Herrin and freshman Andrew Saalfrank each allowed three earned runs and sophomore relief pitcher Pauly Milto surrendered a walk-off home run in game two.
IU’s three starting pitchers during the weekend were able to keep the Hoosiers competitive through six innings, but six of the seven relief pitchers used during the series allowed at least one earned run.
When the pitching struggled, the bats struggled as well.
IU was able to knock six extra-base hits in game one and pile on 10 runs. In the next two games, however, the Hoosiers combined for just eight runs and seven extra-base hits.
Those subpar performances came against Samford starting rotation that featured two pitchers with ERAs near 10. The IU lineup just couldn’t put it together after game one’s hit parade.
Evansville has just one regular starter with an ERA better than 7.20. Only three Evansville starters bat better than .300 as well.
IU will look to take advantage with the potential of starting its ace sophomore Jonathan Stiever, who didn’t pitch against Samford to rest his arm.
Taylor Lehman
