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#IUBASE - 2018 B1G Tournament

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Game recap from my perspective:

I didn't post last night as I was way to tired. Ironically my worry was Stiever but he did everything asked of him and more and didn't give up any runs until 6th when that was entirely on the defense. The offense was held in check as I expected against an elite pitcher and it was going to be decided on 1-2 plays late. Unfortunately last nights loss is entirely on the defense and the 3 runs in the 6th were the death blow. Also as I said I am worried about the bullpen moving forward as a guy like Sabol continues to fall off as year goes on and he is suppose to be one of our lock down guys out of pen (player development problem here as usual).

I feared the team would lack motivation given we are locked into a 2 seed for NCAA Tourney pretty much no matter what we do. Illinois had all the motivation in the world as a bubble team and last night showed it. Minnesota with little to play for also appeared to lack motivation yesterday but pulled through and unlike us basically admitted winning this tourney is not a priority by throwing out their third starter who is very mediocre which you never should do from everything I learned in that situation.  

Onto MSU who has an absolutely atrocious offense and with Milto presumably going we should hopefully be able to shut them down. The pitcher we will face is also average at best so as long as we are motivated it should be an easy win but its baseball so you never know. Not sure MSU has much more motivation than us as they need to win tourney to make NCAA's and I think they know in their mind that is not going to happen. Root for Minnesota tonight against Illinois if we win since hosting is off the table and I would much rather face Illinois on Friday with Herrin vs. their number 3 starter who we had success against in our Sunday game than Minny who is saving their ace for game 3 it looks like. I am no longer worried about hosting and just want the best path forward to winning this tourney (unlikely) which is MSU today, Illinois on Friday than probably Michigan twice on Saturday although PU is not that big a difference.

I debated last night whether to try to come into work early today and go on 4 hours of sleep and watch second half of game at home on TV (my work allows me flexible hours but I must put in 8 hours in a day once I am in) or sleep a full night and then half watch whole game on my computer while I work. I chose the latter so again I will not be posting during the game much if at all and will post another recap with my thoughts after probably.

Go Hoosiers and lets surprise everyone with a run to the championship (unlikely but lets hope)!         

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1 minute ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

I think our problem could be solved simply by bringing in an assistant coach that excels at player development. Leave the recruiting and bringing in talent up to Lemonis. It's perplexing that our hitters have improved only incrementally for the most part and in some cases taken steps back. 

I completely agree

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9 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

I understand that but we were the 8th team in the country at one point this season and we finished 5th in our conference. The inconsistency within the season is unacceptable for a team looking to be one step below top level. 

 

It's incredibly frustrating. The talent is clearly there. Had a very good chance at hosting until that Minnesota sweep. Maybe switching up the staff will yield more positive results in the development of our guys. But I am still excited we are going to a regional again. To play postseason basaeball year after year after being in the cellar for so long is nice to have. 

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1 minute ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

It's incredibly frustrating. The talent is clearly there. Had a very good chance at hosting until that Minnesota sweep. Maybe switching up the staff will yield more positive results in the development of our guys. But I am still excited we are going to a regional again. To play postseason basaeball year after year after being in the cellar for so long is nice to have. 

I wouldnt switch for anybody other than smith at this point tbh 

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Fun fact:

This is IU's 15th Big Ten Tournament. In our first 14 we went two and out in our first 2 ever appearances in 1991 and 1993. Since then in our last 12 we have won at least one game every time and would like to keep that streak alive today.

Also Pre 2008 IU made 5 Big Ten Tourney appearances ever. Since 08 we have gone 10 times in 11 years which validates my points that Pre-Tracy Smith we were a cellar dweller as was mentioned much like Butler was prior to Barry Collier until 1997 than experienced only modest success until Stevens run in 10 and 11 and have since fallen off to be a mostly solid tourney team after he left. IU's timeline is a bit accelerated compared to Butlers but we were a cellar dweller until 08 than experienced only modest success until 13 and 14 Smith run's than fall off as just a mostly solid tourney team since he left.      

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I'm not unhappy with where the program is right now. I just think this team underachieved in conference play and for some annoying reason we struggle with the upper half of our league. Including a non-conference loss to Purdue, we are 6-10 against the teams in the Big Ten tournament. This team's pitching staff is too good to finish 5th in the league and have that kind of record.

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24 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

I'm not unhappy with where the program is right now. I just think this team underachieved in conference play and for some annoying reason we struggle with the upper half of our league. Including a non-conference loss to Purdue, we are 6-10 against the teams in the Big Ten tournament. This team's pitching staff is too good to finish 5th in the league and have that kind of record.

When a team underachieved for chuncks of every season there is a real issue thats my concern

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Only have one word to describe our B1G tourney performance thus far (though 14.5 innings): Pathetic. Maybe "embarrassing" is a better word? 

There's still time to turn it around, but from the sleepy effort we've put forth though a game and a half, I'm not holding my breath. 

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Were tied! 5-5. Gorski a 3 run HR with 2 outs in 9th to draw even. We have been huffing and puffing and missing last 3 innings and finally blew the door down at the last possible minute.

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