Omaha Report: Five Questions on IU’s trip to the CWS
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Indiana fans are accustomed to their national championship hopes revolving around basketball, soccer and swimming and diving. Now, for baseball, the time is finally here. The Hoosiers are one of eight teams left standing in the College World Series. They begin play tonight at 8 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament. The magic is in full force. This team had gone 63 straight years without finishing in first place in their conference. This year, the Hoosiers not only won the Big Ten, but fielded three All-Americans, strung together an 18-game winning streak and scored twice as many runs as they allowed on their way to a 48-14 record.
Josie Janavicius, who regularly covers Hoosiers baseball for IU Student Television, was kind enough to touch base with us from Omaha, Neb., site of the Division I baseball final, to preview the Hoosiers’ quest for a title. She answers our Five Questions below.
1. Indiana has never been to the College World Series. What has this season meant to the program and how has the team’s success been received around town?
Not only have the Hoosiers never been to the CWS, but they are the first Big Ten team to do so since Michigan in 1984. To have a team like Indiana representing the conference is huge because for a long time Big Ten baseball has been considered kind of a joke. IU struggled with that stereotype for a long time and for them to make it to the CWS takes some of that stigma off. It helps that the campus and Bloomington community have really rallied around this team; Bart Kaufman Field is now the place to be on a spring weekend.
2. The Hoosiers open against Louisville. What should we know about the Cardinals?
Louisville is one of the hottest teams coming into the CWS. The victory over Vanderbilt in super regionals, a team that held the No. 1 ranking in all of college baseball at the end of the regular season, shows that the Cardinals are playing their best baseball at the time when it matters. Louisville also plays best when they can limit their opponents’ scoring to four runs or less, which is something that can trouble a potent offense like Indiana’s.
3. Coach Tracy Smith said the Hoosiers shouldn’t simply be content with getting this far. Based on the personality of the players and their demeanor leading up to this weekend, how do you expect Indiana to react to the festive scene and opportunity?
This has been the year for IU to adapt to crazy fan atmospheres. Although the crowds at home will seem small in comparison to the ones at TD Ameritrade Park, they gave the Hoosiers an experience with fans they had not had before. The atmosphere they faced at Florida State was also helpful as far as preparation. Before the season started the team came up with a list of goals, and Omaha was on that list, but according to the team that has now changed to “Win Omaha.” With the progress they’ve made on that list already, including taking two of three versus Louisville, winning the Florida series, winning a Big Ten championship, I’d say they are determined to check off national championship as well.
4. Just how deep is Indiana’s batting order?
Indiana has a lineup that from top to bottom will get results. You will see strong batting averages at every point of the lineup which is what makes them such a powerful offensive team. The pitching is also solid, which makes it easier on the hitters so they do not feel the need to force things to happen and swing at pitches unnecessarily. That being said, though, the team does have to be careful as far as errors. Indiana’s defensive presence is what has prevented them from achieving success in years past, and although there has been a drastic improvement, there is sometimes still a glimpse of the former defensive struggles out in the field.
5. Joey DeNato pitches tonight. How important will he be in this tournament?
I think Tracy Smith picked DeNato to start the opener because he is the epitome of the word solid. He does not have the star power of some of the other pitchers like Aaron Slegers, and Will Coursen-Carr, but he is always able to go in and limit early damage. DeNato is a good defensive presence on the mound to help out the sometimes error-prone basemen. DeNato also got the win over Louisville in the season opener for the Hoosiers, so he has faced their batters before. Smith will try to get at least five innings out of him in this opening game because he went to his relievers early in both regionals and super regionals, but the plan is to try and be here in Omaha as long as possible.
