May 30, 2014

Hoosiers, Huskers Ready for Regionals

By Chris Webb

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

OMAHA, Neb. – Both Indiana head coach Tracy Smith (left) and his Nebraska counterpart Darin Erstad (right) went into Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament championship in a peculiar position.

The head coaches knew winning the tournament championship would mean little to the ultimate goal of a trip to Omaha in the College World Series. The Hoosiers and Huskers were securely in the NCAA Tournament, IU’s case for a national seed cemented. With neither needing the automatic bid tied to the tournament crown, there wasn’t an all-out effort to win the contest, and greater priority was placed on being healthy for this weekend’s Regionals.

“Our mind set was that we have a lot of baseball to play,” Smith said following a second consecutive tournament championship. “But you don’t take these for granted because these guys are a group of kids, a lot of fun to coach, play baseball with.”

While the game management may have been tailored to survive and advance, what occurred Sunday may have long-term implications, setting up opportunities for greater success as the two Big Ten teams seek a return to Omaha.

Sunday’s game was played in front of 19,965, a record for an NCAA single-game conference tournament. Perhaps intimidating to some, it would not be the most hostile environment Indiana has played in front of: The Hoosiers’ path to the 2013 College World Series went through Tallahassee and the “Animals,” but it served as a reminder of what it’s like and what’s needed to manage such an environment.

“We embrace it,” Indiana catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s awesome to have 20,000 fans out there rooting against you, not wanting you to succeed. I take us back to last year, Florida State. We’re up 10-9, bottom of the ninth, guys second and third and they’re going crazy. We embrace that.”

Following their 8-4 win over the Huskers, the Hoosiers – the NCAA Tournament’s No. 4 national seed – did not dogpile on the field at TD Ameritrade Park. There may have been a little more enthusiasm in the chest bumps and high fives a little more emphatic, but there was not a grand exhibition of accomplishment.

“We felt we have more baseball to play,” Schwarber said. “I expected the same from Nebraska if they won, not to dogpile, handle it professionally. They have more baseball to play, too.”

It wasn’t hubris, Indiana’s trying to make a statement with their non-celebration. Smith feels there is a genuine expectation of his players to return to Omaha.

“They do expect it,” Smith said. “The non-dogpile in a championship in an unbelievable environment, that isn’t fake, it’s real, and they expect to win.”

Indiana (42-13) will start its journey toward a return trip to the College World Series at home, just as it did a year ago. Indiana State, Stanford and Youngstown State will pay visits to Bloomington.

Preparing to take to the road as the second-seed in the Stillwater Regional, Nebraska (40-19) may not have captured a championship Sunday, but it gained a sense of what’s needed to thrive en route to one.

“There’s a big crowd, emotions are involved, and it’s a challenge to keep them all in check,” Erstad said. “I saw some of our guys do things in the dugout they’ve never done before, they want it so bad. An intense situation, it is a great learning experience for them on how to handle that stuff.”

With a record crowd behind them and a desire to produce the school’s first Big Ten championship, Erstad saw players express their frustration.

“I saw them slam their bat into the bat rack a little harder, helmets skip across the bottom of the dugout,” Erstad said. “I thought someone was going to faint in the dugout, you have to remind them it’s OK to breathe. Those are great learning moment, experiences that will make them stronger in the future.”

In addition to his players learning how to handle a high-stakes environment – Nebraska didn’t play Indiana during the regular season – the Huskers saw first-hand the caliber of a team expected to be in the mix for a national championship.

“They’re every bit of a national-title contender than any out there,” said Erstad, in his third year at Nebraska. “I’ll put them against anybody in the country. I’ll put that lineup against any in the country.”

It bodes well that Smith sees a reflection of his club in the Huskers.

“They’re a lot like us,” Smith said. “They’re a physical team, fast where they should be fast, they have guys in the middle of the order that can hurt you, they’re pitching is good. They can beat you in a bunch of different ways with different guys up and down their lineup.”

Facing a high-caliber opponent with a title on the line and nearly 20,000 in attendance in TD Ameritrade Park, the two teams are now off to the NCAA Tournament.

The Big Ten Tournament provided as close of a replication to College World Series as possible. Both Indiana and Nebraska seek the ultimate goal.

Said Schwarber, “Our focus is on returning here in two weeks, playing for a national championship and winning it.”

(photos courtesy of IU & NU Media Relations)