Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers End Texas Trip With Tough 13-0 Loss to No. 6 Stanford

For the first time all weekend, Indiana's pitchers struggled against No. 6 Stanford, and the Hoosiers couldn't find a timely hit either in a 13-0 loss to the Cardinal. The two weeks of tough scheduling led to a 1-5 record, but coach Jeff Mercer is confident the experience will pay off down the road.

ROUND ROCK, Texas — Opening the college baseball season against some of the best teams in the country comes with an inherent risk, and Indiana coach Jeff Mercer knows that all too well.

Flaws can be exposed in a big way, and that happened on Sunday when No. 6 Stanford smacked around the Hoosiers 13-0 at Dell Diamond in the Round Rock Classic. The Hoosiers finished the weekend 1-2, with a win over Louisiana and losses to No. 2 Arkansas and the sixth-ranked Cardinal. That's on the heels of losing all three games at ACC powerhouse Clemson to open the season.

"If you don't challenge yourself, you won't grow.'' Mercer said. "The only way to do great things is to go through great competition. It exposes your weaknesses and confirms your strengths. We've competed like that the first couple of weeks, and we've learned a lot about themselves.''

Indiana had chances early against Stanford, threatening in three straight innings without getting any timely run-scoring hits.  

"We had two runners on in the second, third and fourth innings, and we had some mistakes, but we'll continue to grow and get through it,'' Mercer said. "It will be good for us to get back out there on Tuesday (at home against Miami of Ohio) and continue the process.''

Indiana's schedule certainly does get more manageable from here. In March, they will have more mid-week games, and the weekend foes — at Missouri State, at Troy and home against Xavier and Evansville — aren't top-6 teams like they've seen so far.

So it's all about growth. Indiana's pitching was much better on Friday and Saturday this week. It was still a little shaky Sunday, with Reese Sharp, Ty Bothwell and Nathan Stahl all getting knocked around. 

But this weekend's numbers — 14 total walks compared to 32 a week ago — showed swift improvement.

"We had better execution (on the mound) this weekend, and we were more competitive on the mound,'' Mercer said. "We had a continued emphasis on attacking, and we'll continue to do that. Guys did execute better compared to last weekend, and I think a lot of it was getting over those first-game jitters. We definitely saw improvement.''

Indiana had just five hits against Stanford, getting two hits each from catcher Matthew Ellis and right fielder Morgan Colopy, plus a single from shortstop Phillip Glasser.

Ellis also had a mammoth home run on Saturday, so it's coming for him. 

"It is positive to look at some of the things I accomplished, and I think that's the same for the team, too,'' Ellis said. "Just the offense in general, I think we've made some huge strides these first few weeks and we'll build on that.''

It was a good weekend away, despite the cold weather in Texas. When you're a northern team in the dead of winter, it's hard to be hot out of the box. But it is a great learning experience going forward. 

"It's critical, a trip like this,'' Mercer said. "It is just one day today, but the relationships and the bonds you build through that, they last a season, last a lifetime. 

"It's a tight-knit group, and those will pay huge dividends in the future this season, I'm sure of that.''

February was tough, but that's no surprise.  We'll learn a lot more about this team in March for sure, before the Big Ten season starts on April 1 with a home series against Northwestern.