The Sunday Wrap

I wanted to wait for the Hoosier baseball squad to get a few games out of the way before reporting on them, and with eight under their belt, it seems like now is a good time to start.

The Hoosiers are currently sitting on a record of 3-5 with plenty of baseball left before conference play begins. Starting off season with three away games against LSU was obviously not the best way for the season to begin, but we managed to take the last game of the series, 7-6 with help from Defend The Rock favorites Evan Crawford (3 hits), and Kyle Leiendecker (3IP, 0ER, 3 K's)

Player Highlights:

So far former Indiana Mr. Baseball Josh Phegley is showing off all the tools and skills he was touted as having, but which he kept hidden during his Freshmen season. The Sophomore is hitting at an INSANE .485/.526/.697 (AVG/OBP/SLG) clip with 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, and 9 RBI.

Andrew Means continues to put up great numbers, after a solid season last year, with a combined line of .366/.381/.463, while being 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts. It seems like nobody has been able to keep this guy off the basepaths in years.

Evan Crawford is scuffling a bit so far this season, only getting on base in a third of his at bats, thus decreasing his SB opportunities, the 7 strike outs to 0 walks isn't helping things.

After a good Freshmen season, Matt Bashore has looked incredible in his 17IP, sporting a nifty 2.08 ERA, while having a K:BB ratio of 5:2 while holding opposing batters to a .188 AVG, all leading to a solid 1.22WHIP.

Leftly Kyle Leiendecker is being thrown into the fire as a Freshmen in relief and aside from his showing against LSU, he has mostly been burned. In 9IP he has a 9.00ERA, with a .344 BA Against. I believe these stats will normalize as they are looking pretty flukey when taken in context with his good control (4:1 K:BB ratio), he has mostly been hurt by the long ball.

That concludes The Sunday Wrap!

Opening Day!

Today is opening day for College Baseball.  The Hoosiers have been taking good steps the past few years under Tracy Smith to become a competitive team, and eventually nab an appearance in the College World Series.  It is great that Indiana has decided to broadcast ALL of their games for free online (audio online), check out the page here.

Last year before the season I picked Evan Crawford as a Freshmen to watch, and he ended up shining in his first year of college ball.  With a solid Sophomore season he could begin to put himself on the map as prospect for the majors.   So without further ado, this years pick to watch:

Kyle Leindecker (LHP).  So this is an easy one.  As opposed to last season where we didn't have any truly projectable players coming in, Kyle Leindecker has all the makings of a pitcher who will make an impact his freshmen year.  Drafted by the Indians in the 25th round, he opted to go to school in his home state instead, and hope to boost his draft status over the next few years.  

So let's go Hoosiers!  

First up, LSU...

Baseball - There's Hope

So some of you may be aware but I devoted a TON of time last season to covering the IU Baseball Squad. No one else covered them all that much, so I thought I was filling a void, but it seems not too many people were all that interested. Well, just when my resolve was fading to cover them this season, I asked BP Prospect Guru Bryan Smith "Whatever should a IU Baseball Blogger Do?" And his response tells me that not only should I keep blogging, but maybe people will actually start taking a look at IU baseball.

Kellen (Indiana): I (wasted?) an entire summer blogging about and analyzing the Hoosier baseball squad. Any reason for me to cover these guys again, or just more obscurity? Would love to see my boy Evan Crawford get some attention.

Bryan Smith: No, you should continue to cover them, Tracy Smith is doing some good things with that program. They have a good freshman left-hander coming in named Kyle Leiendecker, and I think their sophomore catcher Josh Phegley is going to have an All-Big Ten year after a really good summer. The problem for your boy Evan Crawford is that he's the second-best player named that in college baseball, behind Auburn's electric southpaw closer. Next year he might get some attention.

Baseball Bits

Here's a quick catchup on all the IU Baseball news of the last month:

Defend The Rock favorite Evan Crawford has been named to the Ping!Baseball Freshmen Team. (Second Team, Second Base). Congratulations Evan!

IU Baseball adds Jeff Caldwell (1b, FL), to the roster for the fall of 2007. Stats for this past season: .400AVG/.495OBP/.716SLG/6HR/102B/35RBI (95 AB).

IU Players Drafted: Jon Fixler (Astros, 19th Round). The Hoosiers lost a couple signees in Brock Huntzinger (Red Sox, 3rd Round) and Kyle Leindecker (Indians, 25th Round)

More than a dozen Hoosiers are playing summer ball. IUHoosiers will have a continuing series covering their progress. The latest brings good news on Josh Pegley, more stellar play from Evan Crawford, and fine pitching from Joe Vicini and Eric Arnett.

The One Thing You Can Never Say I Am Is Wrong: A Look At Evan Crawford

With the baseball (regular) season wrapping up I want to look back at one of my predictions from earlier in the year. It was my belief that Freshmen Evan Crawford was going to be something special at Second Base. Now, I had never seen him play, but from looking at his High School stats and reading interviews with, and about him it really sounded like #7 was going to give Hoosier fans plenty to cheer about this year.

So let's take a look at how Evan is doing leading into the Big Ten Tourney:

AVG: .333 Runs: 30 Hits: 61 2b: 13 3b: 1 HR: 1 RBI: 30 SB: 18 OPS: .810

Now let's look at the stats of the other starting eight averaged out:

AVG: .278 Runs: 21 Hits: 40 2b: 6 3b: .75 HR: .6 RBI: 17.6 SB: 7.8 OPS: .672 (yes, really)

So basically Evan Crawford is hitting 55 points better than the "average" Hoosier starter, scoring 9 more runs, hitting 21 more hits, numbering 7 more doubles, 12 more RBI, 10 more steals and a significantly higher Onbase+Slugging average.

In terms of his rank on the team in each category:

AVG: 2nd Runs: 2nd Hits: 2nd 2b: 1st 3b: 3rd HR: T-2nd RBI: T-2nd SB: 2nd OPS: 2nd

Across the board Crawford stands out as one of IU's best offensive players this year. In fact he is 2nd to or tied with IU (probable) MVP Sophomore Andrew Means in pretty much every category. Doing all that with the bat while playing second base as a first year college player is something pretty impressive.

Way to go Evan, you deserve something special.



Evan Crawford - Adam Ahlfeld Team Player Award recipient.

Baseball Spring Trip Wrap Up

Last time we checked in on the Hoosier baseball team we saw a team sitting even at 4-4. Now that the spring trip is over our Hoosiers are still, well, yeah, they're still at .500, with a record of 8-8. It must be said though that a) The Hoosier baseball team took on #2 ranked Florida State and b) They were playing against Florida teams in general, which are basically quality ballplayer factories, so coming out even is actually fairly respectable.

Versus Florida State the Hoosiers were clearly over matched, losing all three games by a combined score of 23-2 (including 2 shutouts). There weren't any real standouts on offense, with Reid Briglia leading the Hoosiers with four hits in the three game series. Defend The Rock favorite Evan Crawford finally met a pitching staff he couldn't destroy, totaling two hits for the series with eight strike outs, but the kid can still hit. The pitching well, let's not go there.

The Hoosiers earned a split (any surprise there?) with North Florida, losing a 16-inning killer and eeking out a win in the second game. Both games were complete slugfests with opposing pitchers leaving early and often. The Hoosiers used 10 pitchers in the two game series, with North Florida employed the services of 11 hurlers, yet it seemed nobody for either side could get an out. Andrew Means stood out in this series, and got recognized for it, earning a Big Ten Player of the Week award. Evan Crawford had a couple hits and three steals in one game.

Lastly, the Hoosiers swept a three game series with Florida A&M, putting up scores of 10-2, 5-3, and 16-10. In the first game David Trager, playing Second Base in place of Evan Crawford had five hits and three RBI. Tyler Tuffs tossed another good game and the Hoosiers got a convincing win. In the second and third games (doubleheader) Andrew Means continued to mash, and catcher Jon Fixler had six RBI.

Overall it looks like the Hoosiers aren't going to have any trouble with offense this season when pitted against decent or worse pitching staffs, but if and when they face good pitching, well, as the axiom goes - good pitching beats good hitting. Speaking of pitching, the Jekyll and Hyde show continues, so we'll see how it develops as the season goes on. It's tough to really gauge things when the Hoosiers went up against such a good team as the Seminoles (and admittedly didn't hold their ground).

I'll have statistics for you soon, but this post has already gone on for far too long. Next up: IPFW (3 games) and Xavier (1 game) then Conference play begins.

Baseball Recap

The Hoosier Baseball team starts it's official Spring Trip today (heading down to Florida) and I figured that now would be a good time to recap the early part of the season.

The Hoosiers right now are sitting on a .500 record and have shown eerie consistency when it comes to pitching and offense, save for two offensive explosions of 16 and 15 runs respectively (so maybe no consistency, ha). Once we get further into the season it will be fun to use some stats, even simple things like the Pythagorean Theorem to see how the Hoosiers are/should be doing but right now it's a bit pointless. Case on point, after 8 games the Hoosiers Pythagorean record *should* be 7-1, not 4-4
. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm taking the Hoosiers runs scored (60) and runs allowed (23) and doing the following forum la:

RS^2/(RS^2+RA^2), so 60^2/(60^2+23^2)= .87 - That .87 equals the projected winning percentage when scoring and allowing that # of runs. Simply multiplying the % by # of games played gives you number of wins, 6.9. But as you can tell, with such a small sample size thus far, and two outlier offensive performances it throws it a bit off.

So now for that promised recap, let's just look at IU leaders in some basic categories:

So far Freshmen Evan Crawford leads the Hoosiers in AB (32), R (8), H (16), TB (18), OB% (.514), AVG (.500), and SLG% (.563). The fact that hit slugging percentage is so high is fairly odd, as Crawford has proven himself to be pretty much a pure singles hitter, with only 2 doubles, no triples and no home runs. It is being influenced by the walks he's drawn and the sacrifices, obviously this is a stat that will even out and soon.

There is no other single Hoosier on offense who stands out like Crawford, but Indiana's "Mr. Baseball" Josh Phegley leads the team with 6 doubles, thats out of 10 total hits. Keith Haas leads the team in RBI (8) and HR (1).

Overall the team AVG is .281, OBP .345, SLG .348, with a K:BB ratio of 45:25 (that last one's not too hot...). The team has been pretty good on the basepaths, swiping 11 bags in 17 attempts.

On the pitching side, Chris McCombs is standing out, with a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings, going 1-1, with 10 K's, and no walks. Joe Vicini has pitched 5.2 scoreless innings of relief, and several other Hoosier relievers have tossed a fair number of scoreless innings, while all striking people out. The Hoosier pitchng squad has about 1.6 strikeouts for every walk, with a WHIP of 1.44. I'm not sure what a *good* WHIP is in college ball, seeing as there is an increased contact rate as opposed to professional baseball, but I'm guessing 1.44 is average to decent. Any help on that would be appreciated.

Wiregrass Baseball Classic Wrap Up

The Hoosiers finished up their stint in the Wiregrass Baseball Classic in Dothan, Alabama with a 1-2 record. I already covered the first game here, so onto the final two games.

In the second game of the series IU took on Southern Mississippi and got hammed 15-4. Senior Keith Haas led the Hoosiers in their losing effort going 3-3 with 2 RBI. Freshmen Danny Rosenbaum (coming to the Hoosiers off a stellar Senior year at Loveland HS) lasted only 2/3 of an inning giving up 5 ER, 3 BB, while striking out one. Rosenbaum was followed by fellow freshmen hurler Billy Kitchen who oversaw the Hoosiers allowing 9 more runs (only 2 earned) on 9 hits in 3 innings. Finishing up the game were two more freshmen, Jarrett Casey and Matt Bashore who combined for 4.1 innings, allowing only 1 run with 4 strikeouts.

In the final game of the WBC IU pulled out a win. Sophomore Tyler Tuffts pitched a complete game, and was absolutely stellar in the process. 9IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 3SO. Georgia Southern didn't have a chance. Freshmen Evan Crawford, a freshmen from Reynoldsburg, Ohio led the way for the Hoosiers with two hits, two RBI, and one walk. Also knocking in runs for the Hoosiers were Keith Haas, Sterling Mack, and Tyler Cox.

The series WHIP for Hoosier pitchers was 1.66, yowza!

Play Ball! Hoosiers Open Baseball Season!

Ahh, can you smell it? Baseball season! Yesterday not only did I buy my Cards/Cubs tickets but the Hoosiers officially opened the 2007 College Baseball season.

Down in Dothan, Alabama the Hoosiers took on the Troy Trojans, and well...lost. That may not come as a surprise to many of us who have come to know IU baseball of late, but there are some encouraging signs. First off, the Hoosiers limited the Trojans to only 4 runs which is microscopic for Indiana baseball teams of late, and pretty damn good in general considering how college ball is focused on offense due to that damn metal bat. While unable to watch the game, I do wonder how lucky the Hoosier pitchers were in this game, considering they gave up 11 hits, 4 walks (only 1 strikeout), all while the defense committed 3 errors.

Indiana's Mr. Baseball Josh Phegley had a quiet Hoosier debut, going 0-4 with a strikeout but apparently took part in a pretty nifty double play. On the whole it looks like the offense struggled a bit with only six hits, but with only 5 k's and a couple walks at least the boys are making contact.

We have a full season of IU Baseball coming up and I'm looking forward to covering this team. From reading offseason articles about all our new players, I like the direction this program is going. Go Hoosiers!

Around The Horn

Sure here at Defend The Rock our focus so far has mainly been Basketball, but as promised, we will attempt to cover a wide range of IU althetics.

The sports nearest and dearest to my heart is baseball. Now, I must admit, I never really was an IU Baseball fan, mainly due to the fact I never really got into college baseball, not the fact that the team was dreadful. Occassionally I'd head up to Sembower Field and watch 'em get crushed but I never really got behind the team.

Well, there is a whole new season on its way, and this is a whole new blog, so let's give 'em some love.

A few incoming recruits:


Kyle Leiendecker, a 6'2 lefty SP. Couldn't find too much about him other than Coach Smith's praise.
Brock Huntzinger, a 6'3 righty SP. Gotta like the 72 k's and only 37 hits in 52 innings he had last year for Pendleton Heights. Record of 5-1, 2 Saves, 2.02 ERA
Ethan Wilson, a 6' SS. .370AVG/102Bs/33Bs/32RBIs/10SB.
Johsh Phegley, 5'11 SP/C, named Indiana's Mr. Baseball (in the company of the St. Louis Cardinals' Scott Rolen!) He finished last season with a .600AVG, exhibiting excellent defense behind the plate, all while being the #1 Pitcher for his team.