The Road to Omaha Starts with the Louisville Regional for the #24 Hoosiers
Photo credits to IUHoosiers.com. Photo edit by Ben Malcomson
Written By: Ben Malcomson (@malcomsonben)
Your Indiana Hoosiers are back in the NCAA baseball tournament this season being selected as a #2 seed within the Louisville regional.
The bracket for the regional can be viewed below:
IU will begin their postseason play on Friday, May 31st against Illinois State (the #3 seed within regional) with a scheduled 2 pm EDT start on ESPN 3. The host Louisville Cardinals (#1 seed within regional) will begin play versus University of Illinois Chicago (#4 seed within regional) around 6 pm EDT.
If you are interested in checking out the entire tournament field, click on the following:
Hoosiers-United caught up with our cream and crimson brothers over at iubase.com, Chris Feeney and Carl James as they give us their thoughts on Indiana heading into regional play.
1) Reviewing the current bracket for the college baseball tournament, how favorable is IU’s draw in the Louisville regional?
Chris Feeney: I think we got a great draw but won’t matter if we don’t execute. Gotta play well wherever they send you.
Carl James: I agree with Chris. The Regional and potential super regional are winnable. Both Illinois State and Louisville have excellent ace pitchers. IU has struggled in series openers most of the year and excelled at the end of series. The Illinois State game will be very tough. This is why IU got booted so fast from the B1G tourney. They have to be able to do some damage on Friday and Saturday. If the Hoosiers can get to Sunday... watch out.
2) Who, in your opinions, will be the difference makers for the Hoosiers heading into the regional?
Chris Feeney: I’ll go with Matt Gorski and Pauly Milto for the difference makers and Elijah Dunham for a wildcard. But to beat Louisville, it’s really going to take everybody. No errors. Smart baseball.
Carl James: Cole Barr can be big. Especially, when doing more than just hitting bombs. As he adds singles to the mix for multi-hit games, he can make a big difference. But, I do agree with Chris that it will take the whole team. One bad relief pitching outing can cost a game. Scattering hits from one hitter does not score many runs.
Ben Malcomson’s Hoosier Heartland #iubase Thoughts: Sure, the early exit to the B1G tournament was not the ideal scenario the fans had envisioned, but do not be quick to forget that this is a program that secured the B1G championship outright. Jeff Mercer and company will be primed and ready for the Louisville regional. I feel it bodes well for the Hoosiers to be in this bracket. We will find out soon enough come this weekend. It is time to turn the page from the conference tournament and shift focus towards taking care of business in Kentucky first and foremost. That goes for the team and the fans both. If the Hoosiers can be successful, the conference tourney losses will long be forgotten.
Special thanks out to Chris Feeney and Carl James on taking the time to answer a couple of questions for us. Always an entertaining group over at iubase.com. Please give them a visit and a follow on various social media platforms: