IU Baseball

[Aaron 4,291]

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.  

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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.  

[TheWatShot 13,934]

This team just seems beat. I think we end up missing the tournament. I'm finding it hard to be excited about a possible turnaround anyway because I doubt it would amount to much more than one or two wins in the BTT or in regional play.

 

The 29-6 start was fun, at least.

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,307]

Anchors WAY down.


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[Aaron 4,291]

22 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

This team just seems beat. I think we end up missing the tournament. I'm finding it hard to be excited about a possible turnaround anyway because I doubt it would amount to much more than one or two wins in the BTT or in regional play.

 

The 29-6 start was fun, at least.

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. 

[HoosierAloha 30,068]

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. 

I would be completely okay with that. I think coach Smith could go on another run at IU.


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[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[TheWatShot 13,934]

It's going to suck next year when we have a weaker team and Smith is coaching somewhere else.

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,307]

I still think it’s way too early to quit on Lemonis. I mean, what do we expect out of IU baseball?

I hate that we are struggling, and struggling big time but the overall results still look pretty good.

If I’m glass Lemonis stays coaching at IU.

Recruiting is good, overall results are solid. Evidence seems to be it can be repeatable.

Maybe put a leash on him and watch him closely but I think he deserves another couple years to see if he can continue to have success.


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[Brass Cannon 24,714]

8 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I still think it’s way too early to quit on Lemonis. I mean, what do we expect out of IU baseball?

I hate that we are struggling, and struggling big time but the overall results still look pretty good.

If I’m glass Lemonis stays coaching at IU.

Recruiting is good, overall results are solid. Evidence seems to be it can be repeatable.

Maybe put a leash on him and watch him closely but I think he deserves another couple years to see if he can continue to have success.


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Lemonis is Crean basically. Not really a builder of teams at all. What happens when he loses the ability to recruit. If Smith is in play we need to take him

[Aaron 4,291]

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.  

[Aaron 4,291]

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.

[Aaron 4,291]

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 9^th 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

[Aaron 4,291]

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.