May 30, 2014

Schwarber powers mighty Indiana attack

By Chris Webb

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

@chrismwebb

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – One of the nation’s hottest teams would not allow its opponent to find the right fit for Cinderella’s glass slipper.

Entering the game victors in 30 of its past 33 games, No. 4 national seed Indiana capped Day 1 of the Bloomington Regional with a 10-2 romp over Youngstown State.

Turning back a Penguins club entering the tournament after an improbable run through the Horizon League Tournament allowed them to enter the field of 64 with a 16-36 record, the Hoosiers improved to 43-13 and advanced to take on Stanford in the winners’ bracket Saturday evening at 6 p.m. Youngstown State will face Indiana State at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.

“In the Regional it’s very, very important to stay in the winners’ bracket,” Hoosiers coach Tracy Smith said.

Indiana stayed there thanks to its star players: junior catcher Kyle Schwarber went 4 for 5 with a triple, homer, three runs and three RBI, finishing a double shy of the cycle, and senior third baseman Dustin DeMuth had three hits and three RBI.

DeMuth, the active NCAA leader in hits, drove a two-out double to the right-center gap to drive in Schwarber and junior Sam Travis to give Indiana a 2-0 lead five batters into the game. DeMuth returned home in the next at-bat as left fielder Brad Hartong picked up a double of his own for a 3-0 lead.

Opting to save Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Joey DeNato for Saturday, Smith tabbed sophomore right-hander Scott Effross to make his first start of the season.

“We wanted to know who we could potentially face tomorrow,” Smith said. “Scott to me has an overpowering fastball and we went with that.”

Youngstown State struck Effross for a run, countering Indiana’s outburst in its next at-bat. Catcher Josh White tripled in designated hitter Dan Saluga, who had walked with one out to make it 3-1.

It would be the lone run off Effross, who finished with four innings, scattering three hits, striking out four and walking one.

“I had not started in a while, since high school,” said Effross, who learned the day of the game the ball would be in his hand. “I felt comfortable once I got going with my fastball and established the strike zone.”

“He did a very good job tonight,” Schwarber said of his battery mate. “Maybe missed a couple spots inside but was doing a good job controlling the outside part and flipping over secondary pitches.”

In support of his pitcher, Schwarber was a terror for the Penguins.

Leading off the third inning, Schwarber tripled to right center on the first pitch from left-hander Jared Wright. The second pitch of the inning was a home run, the 11^th of the season from Travis, the Big Ten’s Player of the Year.

“He was keeping the ball elevated in the zone,” Travis said. “We went up there trying to hit the ball hard and see what happened.”

“We left a chest-high changeup to Travis,” Youngstown State coach Steve Gillispie said. “That really kind of turned the game.”

Consecutive singles from DH Scott Donley and DeMuth, followed by a one-out hit batter chased Wright. Jeremy Quinlan entered and surrendered a sacrifice fly, but limited the damage by stranding three runners on base.

A third three-run inning for Indiana would came in the bottom of the fifth. With shortstop Nick Ramos on third and second baseman Casey Rodrigue on first, Schwarber drove a 1-1 pitch over the centerfield wall for a home run, his third in four games and 13^th of the year, for a 9-1 advantage.

“I was looking for something up in the zone to hit,” Schwarber said. “Just happened to be the outer-third and it got up a bit, I got some good barrel on it and it happened to go out.”

“They were very aggressive, and we knew they would be,” Gillispie said. “We definitely got too much of the plate.”

The teams exchanged runs in the sixth, making the game a 10-2 contest that held over the final four innings.

On an opening day where three national seeds went down, Smith liked the focus exhibited from his club.

“That was on the things we talked about,” said Smith, the Big Ten Coach of the Year. “The most impressive part for me tonight is that we made zero errors. It is what we said in the locker room, we did what we needed to do.”

Donley and DeMuth each picked up three hits, with DeMuth driving in three and Donley scoring twice. Sophomore right-hander Evan Bell allowed one run in 3.2 innings of relief, scattering five hits and striking out four. Sophomore left-hander Will Coursen-Carr closed the game with a scoreless 1.1 innings.

White and center fielder Kevin Hix each went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Penguins.

Notes

•       Indiana finished with six extra-base hits: two doubles, two triples and two home runs.

•       The attendance of 4,125 was a record for Bart Kaufman Field.

•       Youngstown State stranded 11 runners, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.

•       Seven of Indiana’s 10 runs came with two outs.

•       YSU is the second Horizon League team to open the NCAA Tournament against Regional host Indiana. Valparaiso faced Indiana last year, falling 5-4 on a walk-off home run.