Indiana Baseball: What to watch for as the Hoosiers begin their season

Indiana Baseball will hit the road this weekend for its first road trip of the year as they travel to Arizona for a four-game stint.

The Indiana Hoosiers look to get back on top of the Big Ten after its 15-9 record in Big Ten play in 2016. It starts this weekend as Indiana takes on Gonzaga (twice), Duke and Oregon State in Surprise this weekend. Here are three things to watch for this season as Hoosier fans are excited for their team to get back on the diamond.

Inexperienced Pitching Staff

One question mark for the Hoosiers this year comes from its young and inexperienced pitching staff. Much of Indiana’s success this year is dependent on how well its unproven pitching staff can perform.

After losing three starters and two pivotal relievers to graduation and the draft, the IU pitching staff has a big challenge ahead of them this season. Jonathon Stiever, Tim Herrin, and Andrew Saalfrank will be featured in the weekend rotation.

Stiever, who has the most experience under his belt as he appeared in 18 games last year with four starts, will be asked to be the ace of the staff on Friday nights. Herrin, a sophomore, made just four appearances during freshman season. Saalfrank is a lefty freshman that Indiana has high expectations for this year and in the future. Brian Hobbie and Pauly Milto will be starting games as well for the Hoosiers.

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The starting pitching of Indiana needs to be able to keep this team in games. This Hoosier team is offensive heavy. It will produce and put runs on the board. That will not matter if the Indiana pitching staff cannot perform at a high level this season.

Offensive Productivity

As previously mentioned, this is an Indiana team that is loaded with talent in the middle of the order. Expect to see Luke Miller, Matt Lloyd, Logan Sowers, Craig Dedelow and Ryan Fineman to man the meat of the lineup, respectively.

Dedelow elected to return for his senior year despite hitting .302 with five home runs and 36 RBI’s last season. He will be a veteran leader for Indiana this year. His voice in the dugout is extremely respected. Look for Dedelow to have a big year for the Hoosiers while hitting in the middle of the lineup.

Miller, now a sophomore, set the bar high for himself last season. He was second on the team in both average (.284) and doubles (11). He has a beautiful swing and the ability to drive the ball to all parts of the field. Miller will need to build upon his freshman season and have another good year swinging the bat for IU.

This team will go as far as its offense takes it. The Hoosiers will rely on their heavy hitters to put runs on the scoreboard. If they do not, it could be a long season for Indiana.

Tony “The Glove” Butler

To say that it has been a long journey for Hoosier second baseman Tony Butler would be an understatement.

The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin native started his collegiate career at Virginia before transferring to Madison Junior College for his sophomore year. Butler landed in Bloomington in the fall of 2015 and made an immediate impact during his junior year.

He started 47 games at second base and did not record a single error last year. Will the sure-handed infielder commit his first error in a Hoosier uniform? Along with highly touted freshman shortstop Jeremy Houston, IU’s middle infield is stellar.

Being strong up the middle is going to help Indiana significantly this year. It’ll be rare to see Butler or Houston commit any errors this season. Butler will continue to flash his leather this season and shine on the defensive end.

It would be rather impressive if the senior can go errorless while at IU. We will have to wait and see what Butler and the rest of the Hoosiers do this season. It begins this weekend in Arizona.