Aaron

IU just announced there whole schedule and they are playing all their non conference games on the road. Maybe they are going to try to still be done at the end of September for Big Ten season and that's why they did this? Otherwise if you know you are stuck in U-Gym all or most of season why send team on road for all of non conference with they have never done. The schedule doesn't match Fred Glass' comments. This schedule is clearly put out I would think with intention of being in new facility at end of September. Whole thing makes no sense.

Looking at these pictures it didn't look like the project was far enough along to play volleyball games in the fall. Now Glass admitted at Huber Winery last night that it won't be ready until the winter and he mentions it at the 11:30 mark of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPfrTfRnuc This is the first I have heard of this and up until now we were being told IU would be playing all their volleyball games there in the fall. Now it sounds like another year of volleyball in U Gym and it will not open till close to wrestling season. Interesting IU has kept this under their hat and only tell it to the public quietly during a brief mention in a press conference. The media should of followed up after Glass mentioned this and asked him why the delay but no one did as I am not sure they are well versed enough to know the initial completion date (not a shot at them but a reality). Good news is it sounds like the other projects are on time and will be ready when initially said. Also going back Assembly Hall finished on time as did Baseball a few years ago when it got off the ground. Also Cook Hall and the North End zone going back further did as well. In other words it is not like IU to have delays when finishing construction projects once started and I'd like to know more about why this one is running behind unlike everything else which has met or looks like it will meet its initial completion date.

Raekstraw and JMV with a fairly intensive discussion on IU and PU baseball beginning at the 7 minute mark of this podcast: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ride-with-jmv/e/54677265?autoplay=true Grady and Joe also mentioned IU briefly in their show which takes a lot for them as they rarely talk anything but Pacers and Colts (Dakich and JMV by contrast generally cover all local sports besides Pacers and Colts equally including high school, college and MLB [Cubs and Reds mostly since they cover the vast majority of local baseball fans]). Say what you want about our program and the struggles Lemonis has developing players but the fact Indy radio realizes IU exists in college baseball and discusses them a couple times a year and around postseason play shows how far program has come. I also understand Raekstraw and JMV clearly are not as informed as obvious from discussion and are observing from a distance but the fact IU gets time at all is a major positive. Also from a personal level my best friend is a huge IU fan but less into baseball than football and basketball and I always have to text him with baseball news. During the selection show I was in them middle of something at work (yes my job requires working Memorial Day unfortunately) and didn't get to twitter or a TV in the break room before the show started and he texted me saying he was watching the show and broke for me that IU had been selected to Austin.

Similar talent. We lose Sowers and Sabol for sure (and a few other guys who barely contributed). In terms of draft eligible prospects if I were a betting man I think Lloyd, Miller and Stiever are gone. I think Fineman is 50-50. I think Milto, Kaletha and Herrin return and are either not drafted or come back to hone their skills as very low round picks. Gorski, Bradley, Houston, Beauchamp, Krueger, Saalfrank, Ashley and Sommer are back for sure barring a transfer which I doubt. I am kind of not sure how we will do. I see promise but I also am afraid some of these guys will never get better under Lemonis given his player developement issues. Lineup will probably be (not in this order): Kaletha Gorski Bradley Fineman or Cross Barr Ashley Walker Houston Dunham Bench: Crail Bunnell Cross (if Fineman back) Weekend Starting Pitching: Milto Herrin Beauchamp Bullpen and/or weekday starters; Krueger Sommer Saalfrank Manous Sloan Long Eaton Also not sure what to make of red shirts who didn't play this year and our incoming recruiting class which is of course strong again. On paper this is a team that should compete for a tourney spot again (assuming I am right on who stays and goes) but player development is always a concern and we won't know until we see team in action next year.

I actually don't think this is bad for IU. We are not really in position to fire Lemonis after this yr despite the struggles and inconsistency. This way no one can scoop up Smith this year, Lemonis can have 1 more trial yr (hopefully with a new assistant that can develop talent better) and if both programs still struggle we can take Smith back in 2020.

Had to go to dinner so didn't see last 3 runs but easy 13-3 win. Overall our offense is back last couple weeks which should bode well for postseason. Also I really trust Milto and Herrin of all people as starters as well as Beauchamp later in a tourney as teams get later in their pitching staffs. My worries are Stiever who has been decent giving up 3-4 runs and 6 innings every start but in a tourney against a good teams ace he has to be better and that type of performance could well get us into loser bracket. Also still worried about our suddenly struggling bullpen. Overall hopefully team is back on track and can make deep runs in Big Ten and NCAA tourney. While we wanted better a 37-15 record and a 14-9 Big Ten record with a 5th place finish and a spot locked up in NCAA tourney is nothing to sneeze at regardless of what happens from here on out. Very rare a Big Ten team makes NCAA tourney 5 times in 6 years which we are about to do despite a few ups and downs. We will take on Illinois in 4/5 game at 9pm on BTN on Wednesday in first day of tourney in last game of day. Us and Minny are locks for NCAA tourney. PU, OSU and Illinois on bubble. Michigan and Iowa have played their way out without winning Big Ten tourney. Good news for us is playing first Illinois than Minnesota gives us huge RPI opportunities to try to host if we can win Big Ten Tourney which would be great but unlikely. We are almost certainly going to be a 2 seed in someone else's Regional regardless of performance in Big Ten Tourney unless we really tear it up and even then that may not be enough.

IU has blown this open in 5th. Sowers another HR on a solo shot that was again crushed and cleared fan bullpen in right and made it to grass. Ashley singled, Bradley tripled on ground past first down right field line to make it 8-3, than Jeremy Houston had a bloop single to Center to make it 9-3 and Cross doubled off the center field wall on a bounce finally to make it 10-3 after 5.

No doubt. If we can win today and win Big Ten Tourney by beating Minny a couple times still a very outside shot at 1 seed and hosting. However, almost certainly a lock for a 2 seed in someone else's regional no matter what happens win or lose from here on out. Unfortunately, no one close will be hosting so we will most likely heading to the deep south for tourney (most likely Clemson, UGA, UNC, FSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Arkansas, Stetson, Duke or East Carolina).

Wild game. Its 6-3 IU after 3. Maryland got a 2 run single in 2nd. Cross (starting in place of Fineman today) scored on wild pitch in bottom half. In 3rd Maryland player belted a solo shot over centerfield wall that may have matched Sowers in distance. IU responded in bottom 3rd with a Luke Miller double scoring Sowers who singled in front of him and Miller scored on a Bradley single.

Sowers crushes a 3 run HR to left that the camera lost it was hit so far. I believe it cleared the scoreboard. 3-0 IU after 1.

Last game starting now against Maryland. 0-0 after 1/2 inning. Kaletha made an amazing catch to rob Maryland of Home Run for third out jumping at center field wall than falling forward. Perfectly timed.

Cleanest game we've played in a while besides Saturday Nebraska game last week. Thank god Milto is back and he looks much more like an ace than Stiever right now and we may want to consider starting him in opening games of postseason. We gave Milto a quick 1-0 lead in 1st than he kept them off the board and looked solid all the way till 6th when Maryland tied it but we responded right away in bottom half on 2 run Sowers single. It makes such a difference to have the lead in the early innings and battle from ahead all game as oppose to being down. Miller continues to be red hot and added a HR in 8th as did Gorski. It does appear Milto and Millers return is making a huge difference right now as both have been fantastic. Bullpen was again shaky but nothing terrible as Saalfrank pitched 7th and 8th and again has that nasty pitch he throws in dirt hitters chase at times. However, if they don't chase it and often times teams adjust he gets wild and is not as good with his other stuff and gets frustrated. However, Maryland hitters chased just enough in the 2 innings he pitched before any runs happened. Sabol was also shaky in 9th but not horrible and tying run never made it to plate. As I said clean game and solid win and lets bring out the brooms tomorrow.

Maryland is complete punks. Two years in a row we rally with a late HR and then they proceed to fight us and throw a pitch at Fineman's head this time. Clearly they can’t handle us beating them. I was in Bloomington for once tonight as I had company from overseas and I drove them to Btown to see old friends. I was planning to go to the end of the game after we finished as soon as it started raining and was going to go back to Indy but instead went to Lenny's for a bit and came for the last 2 innings after the rain delay ended and glad I did. For the first time this year we literally stole a game we really had no business winning. Again Stiever was decent but he needs to be better as the Friday guy. Can’t surrender early runs and is always working out of trouble lately even when other team doesn’t score. It’s not a ton of runs but even to give up 1 or 2 early as he has been doing on Friday against the other team’s best pitcher really puts you behind the eight ball and is asking for trouble. Tonight we finally pulled one out but to play from behind all night usually never ends well and that keeps happening with Stiever where he gives up a run or 2 early and settles down but then it’s an uphill battle. With that said this team has guts and never quits unlike Maryland where when they hit adversity they get violent instead of getting even. My company remarked (we were on a skype call when Maryland pulled these shenanigans last year) that Maryland seems like a dirty team and joked they would fight us once we won the game. They are not huge baseball fans but follow a little and I tell them some and they happened to be in the right spot both times Maryland players went WWE. On a lighter note very happy to see Luke Miller have such a great night and get the big homer to win it. Also Lloyd closed it with a clean easy 9th after leadoff walk which has not always happened lately. I was in Chicago all weekend at a family gathering which is why I posted so little during Nebraska series. I was at Cubs game Monday when Kris Bryant flew out for third out with bases loaded down 1 for a thrilling but frustrating loss. Tonight I got to witness in person Miller do what Bryant was unable to for a thrilling win instead of thrilling loss which I was extremely happy about. Overall this does very little in terms of our resume but we needed the win to keep momentum moving forward and did lock up a spot in both Big Ten and NCAA tourney no matter what happens I think. Shout out to the diehard fans who stuck out the rain delay and it was great to see a thrilling ending. If you are going to go to a game for 2 innings this was a perfect game to do it. Since I was so late they no longer charging as well so I got in free which was even better

This probably locks up an NCAA tourney spot for us barrring a collapse against Maryland. Didn't see game again but gutty win. However, I still want to understand why our bullpen is having such troubles after being so good all year and they yet again nearly cost us the game. If we want to make any noise in NCAA tourney this has to change or it will be a quick out. On a different note we have owned Louisville completely in last few years and for the second straight year a big win against them has removed any doubt we make tourney. For whatever issues we have now as a program our dominance of the Cardinals shows how far we have has come. Pre 2013 we were not even on same wave length and could rarely beat them and since then have owned them and been just as successful almost as a program.

Woah. I actually missed every part of this weekend except 9th inning today because of family gathering. I am not sure what in the world has happened to Stiever and our bullpen but at least our offense returned the last two games as did Milto literally on Saturday which was huge. Got the series win we needed and RPI still 27 so we stay in position to make both Big Ten and NCAA tournament. However, we were literally about 1 foot from losing game today as Sowers caught ball on wall with 2 runners on up 8-6 which would put us in a very different spot right now if that ball left yard but fortunately it didn't. I don't understand how Lloyd (except yesterday) Krueger and to a lesser extent Sabol who are the bread and butter of the back end of our bullpen have hit such a wall. For the whole year I felt comfortable with a late lead with these guys and now I don't. On a better note I think if we go 2 out of 3 against Maryland or get 1 against Maryland and Beat Louisville we are safely in NCAA tourney. 1 win against Maryland also locks up spot in Big Ten tourney so we should be OK there.

One good thing I will say is Lemonis confirmed in post game presser that he removed Kaletha specifically for his base running error to send a message and nothing physically wrong with him. Hopefully it sends team a message as they need a good kick to get back into gear right now.

If we miss tourney Lemonis may be gone and Smith coming back assuming he is canned at ASU. Again I could be wrong but I have a hunch this could happen (and a reason why I think that and its a little more than a guess). Just trust me but remember I could be wrong.

BJ Sabol who has been great gives up another HR after being flawless all yr for second straight game. It costs us the game as Ashley homered in bottom half which would of tied it otherwise. We cost ourselves 2 runs with base running and left a ton of men on again. These losses are infuriating and this is the last one we can lose without affecting NCAA tourney status. This actually was an entertaining game and crowd was even better but we still don't know how to play team ball and it has to change now or we will play our way out of tourney. We are still firmly in and this is about a 2-3 spot penalty only in RPI which will be in mid to high 20's still but play sub 100 teams in 6 of last 7 games so any losses now will knock us to bubble. Probably need to go 4-3 down stretch to stay firmly in.

Another wasted opportunity as Sowers gets a good swing but flies out. Really UK tried to give us one there and we couldn't take it. Its the stuff earlier in the game that really irritates.

Lemo ball not smart there. Fineman who is not a good bunter pops bunt to pitcher. I understand trying to get Gorski to 3rd there and I won't say it was a terrible decision but I would of had him swing away. Bradley moves runner to 3rd now with 2 outs.

UK just dropped a leadoff popup by Gorski behind 1st so we have a runner at second to start inning again.

UK brings in their best pitcher and closer to try for a 6 out save. 3.16 ERA and 8 saves which for SEC is really good.

We load bases in 7th. Great at bat by Houston who ultimately struck out after a long battle than Crail was even more patient and worked a walk to load bases in 7th. However, in most important bat of game so far with 2 outs Lloyd bangs first pitch into ground for easy out at first against struggling pitcher. Patience is a problem at worst times. 6-5 to 8th.

And Fineman singles so we are officially 1 run behind and 2 runs off the board because of base running mistakes. 6-5 end 6.

Crail Kaletha's replacement gets thrown out rounding 2nd after a Lloyd single. You could clearly see Lemonis throw his stop sign up as he got to second and Crail did not listen. Lemonis having an intense discussion with him about how costly that was but at some point the fact that it keeps happening is on Lemonis.