Baseball currently struggling
The Greyhound baseball team left Georgia sporting a 2-6 record overall, as Georgia College and State (GCSU)handed Indianapolis a 16-4 beatdown in the first game of their doubleheader Feb. 27.
The second game went only a little better, as the Cougars took the sweep 10-7.
GCSU completed the sweep Feb. 28 with an 8-2 victory over the Greyhounds.
The six-game losing streak makes that 2-0 start look like ancient history.
After defeating West Georgia in a doubleheader Feb. 14, Indianapolis moved up to No. 12 in the country, according to the NCAA Division II Poll.
That poll is overrated, according to Vaught.
“The poll I worry about is the regional poll. That’s the one that counts. I think the national poll is coaches that vote on it [based upon] the past year,” said head coach Gary Vaught.
Junior pitcher Cory Rupert also dismissed its importance.
“I don’t think it means a whole lot. Our main goal is to get to the World Series and win that. The ranking is really just a number.”
However, after suffering a sweep at the hands of Columbus State Feb. 20-21, UIndy fell to No. 28.
After the series against GCSU, the number won’t get better. In fact, it’ll get worse.
However, there’s no reason to worry .
“Zero. We outplayed them (CSU) 26 out of 27 innings,” Vaught said.
That single inning, the inning UIndy didn’t outplay CSU, occurred in the sixth in the second game of the doubleheader, where 11 Cougars scored.
“We had one bad inning where they scored a lot of runs,” Vaught said. “They got a couple not-very-solid hits. Then, all of a sudden, the floodgate opened up.”
Rupert isn’t worried.
“[I’m] not that concerned about it. We played good that whole weekend besides that one inning. A couple balls fall in the outfield and we win two out of three.”
Offensively, Indianapolis has yet to reach their potential.
“We’re hitting .257 and that is not close to what I think our team can hit,”
Vaught said.
Rupert agreed.
“It’s true. We’re kind of rusty right now because we haven’t been able to practice on our field since the fall,” he said.
Overall, though, Vaught remains confident.
“We’re going to have to get a lot better in a lot of different areas,” Vaught said. “Do I think we’re [among the] top programs in the nation? Yes I do. I think our pitching is very good. But I think we’ve got a long ways to go right now.”
