Baseball hosts season opener
The University of Indianapolis baseball team kicked off the season 2-0 at home with a doubleheader against Oakland City on March 1. The game between the two teams for March 2 was canceled due to unstable weather conditions in Indianapolis.
UIndy won the first game of the series, 15-0 as seniors catcher/first baseman Scott Mourey and catcher/pitcher Brandon Stevens each had a home run. Six Greyhounds scored at least two runs.
The second game against the Mighty Oaks seemed to be a low-scoring game as the Oaks scored a single run in the top of the fifth to tie the Greyhounds 3-3.
The bottom of the fifth proved to be the game decider as the Greyhounds pushed 14 hitters to the plate and an RBI double from senior infielder Mike Page. Junior first baseman Jake Hartley also hit a two-run single. The Greyhounds ended on top 13-3.
With a strong start to the season, Head Coach Gary Vaught has high expectations for the team this year.
“We were picked third on our side of the conference, and I really think we have a chance,” Vaught said. “This ball club is a pretty mature bunch, and I think we have a chance of maybe playing for a conference championship, getting to the regional tournament and hopefully to the national tournament.”
Junior outfielder Ryan Wides also has high expectations.
“Anything less than a conference title in the NCAA tournament is a failure, and I think that’s how everyone else feels,” Wides said.
According to Vaught, although this season started later than it normally does, it was not a setback for the team. He said they were able to get a little more practice time, and there was more time to make the squad list. He also said that choosing who gets to play this year was an extremely difficult task, because the team has so much talent.
“There are really good freshmen that I like that we will possibly red-shirt, because we are upper-class oriented with juniors and seniors,” Vaught said. “It’s just going to be tough. We can’t travel all of them and they’ve all done a good job so we will just have to look at some of the stats and what our needs are to see who to take.”
Vaught said he is especially impressed with his freshmen class this year, and that he thinks he could put them in the game and win, but that they are just on the heels of some of the older players.
“Baseball is like a marathon run. You [players] just gotta keep working up until it’s your time. In the past, we’ve had guys that didn’t play until their senior year, and they were All-Americans, but they were behind kids who were All-Americans,” Vaught said. “I just don’t want them to get disheartened. It’s tough, because every one of those freshmen were top players at their high schools.”
Vaught said that everything off the field has been fantastic so far, including the team’s GPA and community service. He said that the strength coach and his assistants have done a great job with the team as well.
“This has been a special group, and I hope that all the good things I’ve seen outside the game carry onto the field when we play,” Vaught said. “I really think we’re going to have a good ball club. It’s been a pleasant fall, so hopefully the spring will be just as good.”
One thing Wides and Vaught both mentioned was the team’s chemistry.
“I’ve never played on a team that has had chemistry like this,” Wides said. “We just click together better.”
Vaught said he hopes that team members will pull for each other as well on the field as they have in the off-season.
“I’m not going to say we’ve always had this, but this year’s ball club has really bought into the word ‘team’,” Vaught said. “They’re really pulling for each other. We have depth at every position.”
Vaught said the team has more talent than he has seen in years and credits this to all of the UIndy programs being first-class. He said players to be on the lookout for this season are juniors third-baseman Tyler O’Daniel and Hartley, freshman pitcher Brett Collins and the team’s two Québécois, junior pitcher Hugo Lalonde and Page.
Wides said that the team is looking forward to a good season.
“I think everybody on the team expects a lot,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good talent and depth.”
The team will travel to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational over Spring Break for a series of games.
