This week, we’re going to have a special edition of the weekend series preview. The editor of Behind the Plate, an Indiana Baseball blog, suggested that we both do a Q & A interview for each other’s blogs as an exciting preview for the upcoming Indiana-Illinois series. I thought it was an excellent idea so commenced with the project.
By the way, here’s a link to Behind the Plate’s Q & A of me about the Illinois team.
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Games #23, 24, 25 |
Record: 17-5 (3-0 Big Ten) |
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vs Indiana University Hoosiers | at Illinois Field, Champaign, Il |
| April 3 | 6:05pm CT | |
| April 4 | 3:05pm CT | |
| April 5 | 1:05pm CT |
Without any further ado, let’s learn a bit more about the Indiana Hoosier baseball team!
Illinois Baseball Report: Seeing Indiana play last year at the Big Ten Tournament, I thought they were one of most exciting teams to watch from an offensive standpoint. I see they are second in the Big Ten in hitting this season so far. Can we expect more of the same for the rest of 2009 from Phegley and Co.? Who are the movers and shakers in the IU lineup?
Behind The Plate: Obviously, preseason All-American Josh Phegley is very dangerous at the plate, ranking 4th in the Big Ten in batting average (.407), 1st in slugging percentage (.709), 2nd in on base percentage (.505), 3rd in RBIs (28), and 3rd in homeruns. In regard to the rest of the lineup, 1 through 9 have all been solid contributors (all regular starters are hitting over .298), and all the regulars are capable of stepping to the plate in a key situation and making something happen. It is also worth noting that 10 different players have recorded at least 1 homerun on the season, an indication that there a threat to go deep throughout the lineup as well.
IBR: On the other hand (ok, you knew this was coming), Indiana pitching is last in the Big Ten with a 6.51 ERA. That said, they seem to be a hard throwing bunch, third in the conference with 177 strikeouts so far. Do you see a turnaround now that we’re heading into conference play? 
BTP: First off, I think I should say that our pitching staff is much better than our team ERA indicates. Beyond that, out of those 177 strikeouts, 106 have come from our 3 weekend starters (45 by Eric Arnett alone) and another 31 from what will probably be the first 2 guys out of the pen this weekend (Chris Squires and Matt Carr). I wouldn’t exactly say we simply have a hard throwing bunch (although many of them can light up the radar gun), but instead we sport several guys that have good movement on their fastballs as well as very good secondary pitches that oftentimes fool the opposition. As for our staff ERA, the weekend starters have a combined 4.34 ERA and hold opponents to a .254 batting average. That being said, I think it’s apparent the numbers are slightly skewed by mid-week performances and pitchers that will not likely see action in the weekend series.
BTP: Eric Arnett has been great this year. He pounds the strike zone, and it is tough to catch up to his overpowering fastball, which he complements with a hard slider. IU baseball coach Tracy Smith accredits Arnett’s newfound confidence to his stint on the IU basketball team this past season. As you may or may not know, Arnett (6’5”) was a late addition to the IU hoops squad as a walk-on, providing the team with a great overall athlete to compete against in practice. According to Coach Smith, “He definitely came back a different guy (after basketball). I think it helped him focus and realize that it really comes down to being confident in your abilities.” On the other hand, last year’s first team All-Big Ten pitcher Matt Bashore has in fact struggled so far this year. He is now starting on Sunday instead of Friday, so hopefully this move will allow for more Hoosier run support and increase his confidence. Tuesday against Chicago State he gave up no runs and struck out 6 in only 3 innings pitched. He is poised to turn it around soon as he is once again finding command of his off-speed stuff. Given that he pitched a complete game 4-hitter and struck out 8 against you guys last year, I would caution the Illini hitters to not just look at his season stats and take him lightly.
BTP: Before the season, IU Coach Tracy Smith said Alex Dickerson may end up being the best hitter he has ever coached. Admittedly, this would be a large feat for the freshman given that Smith currently coaches preseason All-American
Josh Phegley. Thus far, Dickerson has not disappointed. Batting from the left side, he has great power to all fields. So, if the Illinois coaching staff is thinking about pitching around Phegley, they should probably reconsider since Dickerson is just as dangerous behind him as he is putting together a very nice freshman campaign with 7 homeruns, 28 RBIs and a .370 batting average. As a team, we routinely bat 7 players with experience from last year’s team. The 2 newcomers are of course Dickerson in the 4 hole and then junior college transfer SS Jake Dunning. After getting off to a slow start at the plate this season, Dunning has really picked it up of late and is now sporting an impressive .373 BA with 22 RBIs (good for third on the team behind Phegley and Dickerson) and is currently in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak. From a pitching standpoint, freshman Blake Monar (who you can expect to see on the mound Friday) has also pitched well thus far for the Hoosiers, holding opponents to a .220 batting average in 5 starts, good for 6th in the Big Ten. BTP: I jumped on the Hoosier bandwagon at the beginning of the year, and I don’t plan on hopping off just yet. We have a great trio of weekend starters as well as a potent offense that sets up very nicely for Big Ten series play.
With that said, I think the Hoosiers will rebound from their early season struggles to win the regular season Big Ten Championship for the first time in 60 years (I am a big fan…what did you expect me to say!).
BTP: In order to head home with a series win this weekend, it is imperative for IU’s starters to bring their A-games. Individuals that follow the program closely believe IU has the best starting weekend rotation in the Big Ten. Whether this will translate into conference wins remains to be seen. Our Achilles heels so far this year have undoubtedly been the defense and the bullpen. As far as the defense is concerned, the team has committed 50 errors in addition to countless other miscues that go unrecorded in the score book. IU has simply struggled to make routine plays for a good portion of the year, and that must improve if we hope to walk away with a couple wins in the book this weekend. As indicated previously, IU’s pitching staff currently sports a 6.51 team ERA, and much of that is attributable to either poor midweek starting or the bullpen. Based on our pitching-by-committee approach this week, though, it does appear Coach Smith is saving our arms to strengthen the bullpen for the upcoming tilt against the Illini.
BTP: I’m a student at IU, a big fan of all things sports (especially baseball) and I like to write, so I thought starting a blog about the IU baseball team would be a fun way to satisfy those interests and generate some excitement about the Hoosier baseball team. Since I just got Behind the Plate up and going shortly after the season began, I kind of hit the ground running and am still trying to figure out what types of things IU fans and readers want to see out of the blog.
Thanks to Behind the Plate for suggesting this. I thought it was great idea. Looking forward to a great series!
Agreed. It has been great to read both of these Q/As to get a perspective on the other team. I would recommend doing one of these for each Big 10 series if possible!