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GAME INFO
Who
Indiana Hoosiers (3-3-1, 0-0 Big Ten) at Cincinnati Bearcats (2-4, 0-0 AAC)
Where
Marge Schott Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
When
Wednesday, March 1, 6:00 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
Wednesday: Cal Krueger, RHP (0-1, 2.70 ERA) and A.J. Olasz, LHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
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PREVIEW
After tying their last game against FAU, Indiana is in need of a confidence boosting win against Cincinnati.
Chris Lemonis talked about the travel curfew and his frustrations late in the game saying that, “We set the travel curfew early in the weekend, and then it happens on Sunday and you’re kind of shocked.” “...I was so frustrated we gave up the runs late because we knew we were on a short clock.”
The team may have split the series in a bit of an unconventional way this past weekend in Florida, but their morale is still high. They were challenged by coach Lemonis to “play at a high level and do their job,” on the way back to Bloomington Sunday night. Coach went on to talk about how he thinks, “they know they can play with pretty much anybody.”
The Bearcats will start a junior pitcher who hasn’t touched the mound yet this year. A.J. Olasz appeared in 13 games last season as a sophomore and recorded 7 starts. Olasz was 2-6 with a 4.15 ERA last season. One of those wins was against Indiana when he threw 6 strikeouts and recorded his first career win.
Indiana will send Freshman, Cal Kreuger, out to the mound Wednesday evening for his first start of his career. Kreuger pitched 2 shutout innings in his last outing against FAU and is ready for his first start. Coach Lemonis talked about Kreuger saying, “Cal pitched really good down in Florida, and he’s a really good competitor.”
The Hoosiers were led offensively by Craig Dedelow while in Florida. Dedelow has been on a tear as of late for the Hoosiers at the plate. Going back to the 2nd game of the season, Dedelow has a 6 game hit streak going and has also smashed 3 dingers. If there is any fault to be pointed out on Dedelow, it’s the strikeouts. With 9 already on the year, Coach Lemonis is okay with the trade off of homeruns and hits for strikeouts.
First pitch on Wednesday is at 6:00 p.m. ET
WHAT TO EXPECT
Cincinnati will need a strong showing on the mound out of Junior pitcher A.J. Olasz tonight if they want to beat Indiana. The Bearcats have not scored more than 5 runs in a single game this season, and have only scored more than 3 runs in one game this season.
For Indiana you can expect to see some inexperience at the mound, but also a lot of young talent. The pitching staff as a whole is young and Coach Lemonis knows that. He said at media availability this week that, “we’re really trying to figure ourselves out a little bit.” So far this season, Jonathon Stiever has been great, but expect to see some young guns start to step up for Indiana as well.