FRISCO, Tx. – Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer has been around the game long enough to know that a weekend like this, whether he or his team likes it or not, is always a possibility.
Indiana’s weekend in Frisco, Texas, for the Frisco Classic likely won’t be reflected upon in a pretty manner — defeated (and run-ruled) twice in three days, sandwiching a come-from-behind winning effort that will shine as one of the more positive aspects of the trip.
Friday night, the 16th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide shellacked the 20th-ranked Hoosiers in just seven innings, 12-0. Tide starter Ben Hess was nearly untouchable, twirling five innings of one-hit, 10-strikeout ball.
In another world, Hess — the one-time Indiana commit — may have taken the hill for Mercer’s squad. Instead, it was first-year Tide head coach Rob Vaughn, a longtime friend and familiar foe as Maryland's head coach before making the move south this past offseason, who enjoyed the junior right-hander looking “every bit of a first rounder,” Vaughn said. The offensive approach wasn’t to the competitive standard it generally is accustomed to, and combined with some shoddy defense that assisted the Tide’s offensive explosion, the Hoosiers’ weekend was off on the wrong foot.
“The lesson, in my mind, you take from it is if you’re gonna play really good teams, go into these really good environments, you’re gonna have to play baseball that is compatible with success,” Mercer said Friday night.
For two innings — a five-run first and a seven-run fourth — Indiana didn’t do that. For it, the Crimson Tide made the Hoosiers pay.
It’s the job of the head coach to gauge his team’s confidence, value the factors weighing on them and position his team for success. Friday’s loss certainly had little effect in forgetting the shocking home loss just three nights prior, likely only compounding. This being the third consecutive weekend multiple hours away from home, the strain of the loaded early slate IU was enduring was showing its effects. Mercer knew his team needed a spark.
“We talked about it in our meeting (Saturday morning) is, do we want to accept the challenge of trying to be a great team,” Mercer said. “If we do, then we’re gonna have to fight our way through this. If we don’t, then just let me know, I’ll watch the ballgame, chew some sunflower seeds, we’ll pack our bags and go home.”
Facing No. 25 Dallas Baptist, it didn’t take effect right away. IU was “ugly” to start the game, Mercer said, falling into a 6-1 hole after five complete innings. Only successful at playing “as bad of baseball as we could” up until that point, as Mercer put it, Indiana wasn’t fond of conceding a second consecutive result. Saturdays for Indiana have been a two-man show, one that Connor Foley opens and Ty Bothwell closes.
Even with the way things were trending, this one wasn’t going to be any different.
“I told the infield, we’re going for this game whether you like it or not,” Mercer said. “We’re going to Bothwell and we’re going to go for it.”
Bothwell settled after initial trouble, and eventually retired 10 straight Patriot batters. While it was happening, Indiana mounted a comeback that tallied eight unanswered runs — enough to come back and provide insurance against a final DBU rally. That proved to be necessary, as DBU threatened by bringing the winning run to the plate in the game’s final frame before a game-ending 4-6-3 double play netted the Hoosiers a 9-7 win.
“Baseball is such an up-and-down game, you can’t get too high or too low,” junior first baseman Brock Tibbitts said after the game. Responsible for four RBIs that afternoon, his bases-clearing triple gave Indiana its first lead after falling into the early hole.
“Just being able to stay level-headed and know you have 27 outs to play with,” Tibbitts said, “and be able to use all 27 of them.”
Yet, frustratingly, more lows came on Sunday. Indiana scored first in the Sunday finale versus Arizona, but didn’t score again. In the meantime, the Wildcats poured in 12 runs of their own — 10 of which coming in the fourth inning. Once again, the Hoosiers were done in just seven innings rather than nine.
In all reality, it’s not dissimilar to the 1-2 weekend Indiana experienced at the Keith LeClair Classic a year ago. That weekend, it was No. 9 East Carolina that uprooted Indiana early, downing the Hoosiers 17-4. IU would then surge back to beat Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, 4-3, before falling to Long Beach State in the weekend finale, 10-4.
While it’s easy to overlook given the sour taste the scoreboard gives, not all will be lost on Indiana when it boards its plane home. A top-25 win in a Regional-style neutral setting is not something you just stumble upon. Seeing first-hand what’s required of the top programs in the country requires going and finding out for yourself. The only way to truly measure up in a setting like this is to enter it.
Who can fill what role, why games unravel or come together in the fashion they do, what causes Indiana to excel at its highest level — these are the types of foundational elements that can only be discovered by going through battle and coming out the other side of it.
Ultimately, Indiana’s aim is to be playing better baseball in April and May than it is in February and March. If that’s the case, then the opportunity for postseason play exists, where every team you run into is at its best. When reaching that point, Mercer has always emphasized that it can’t be the first time you’re seeing such competition.
The concerns that could arise later on in the season would be more of a result of consistent falters in certain aspects. But for now, Mercer isn’t yet worried about what his team can accomplish.
“Obviously, you always want to win, but when you go play really good teams on the road, especially extended road trips, then getting your butt kicked is always an option,” Mercer said. “But you just have so much more feedback, you learn so much more.
“Especially being a northern coach forever, you go, you do these things, you pick up and you move on.”
Indiana returns home for the first game of a stretch that includes 15 of its next 18 games in Bloomington, another designed wrinkle of the slate.
It may be just what Indiana needs.
