Indiana
Indiana baseball kicks off season with three-game weekend at Myrtle Beach
Following a 2023 campaign that defied expectations and saw Indiana baseball advance to an NCAA Regional, head coach Jeff Mercer and the Hoosiers feel they can be among the nation’s best this season.
To do that, they need to compete with the upper echelon of teams. This weekend’s “Baseball at the Beach” tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, will offer a chance for the Hoosiers to do so.
They’ll square off with three teams who made last year’s NCAA Tournament, two of which are nationally ranked. Here’s everything to know about Indiana’s opponents:
Game 1: Friday vs. No. 12 Duke University (11 a.m.)
Mercer confirmed Wednesday sophomore righty Brayden Risedorph will get the start on the mound in the season opener. Duke advanced to a Super Regional last year and nearly punched its ticket to the College World Series, but its lineup is heavily altered going into this season.
The Blue Devils lost four highly productive starters, with corner infielders Luke Storm and Andrew Fischer transferring and middle infielders Jay Beshears and Alex Mooney moving on to the majors.
Indiana eyes a return to the top of the Big Ten this season.
Duke’s projected lineup could feature a whopping six newcomers, but it does return a pair of potent hitters in sophomore outfielder Tyler Albright and senior catcher Alex Stone. Albright and Stone batted .312 and .315 respectively last season, and Stone hit a team-high 17 bombs and 62 RBIs.
While the Blue Devils’ bats are a relative question mark, their arms are proven.
Junior lefty and Baseball America Preseason All-American Jonathan Santucci will start against Indiana. The ace of the Blue Devils’ staff, Santucci went 2-2 with a 4.30 ERA in 2023 before suffering a season-ending elbow injury in late March.
Still, Santucci is regarded as a surefire MLB prospect with first-round upside. With a heavy dose of left-handed bats in the Hoosiers’ lineup — featuring sluggers like sophomore Devin Taylor and junior Carter Mathison — Indiana will be seriously challenged in its first game of the season.
Game 2: Saturday vs. No. 18 Coastal Carolina University (3 p.m.)
The Hoosiers won’t get a break from stiff competition in game two. Coastal Carolina hosted an NCAA Regional last year after an impressive campaign marked by an overwhelming offensive attack.
As a team, Coastal Carolina batted .311, the 15th best mark in the nation. Led by a pair of catchers in sophomore Caden Bodine and junior Derek Bender, the Chanticleers return the bulk of their offensive production.
Bodine and Bender hit .367 and .341, respectively, combining for 30 homers and 130 RBIs. With the tandem back in the top half of the lineup, Indiana’s pitchers will be tasked with taming two extremely powerful bats.
Indiana returns many key players as its young core continues to mature.
While Coastal Carolina will be without stalwarts Payton Eeles — the team’s leading hitter last year — and Nick Lucky, it still is capable of scoring runs in bunches and wearing out bullpens. But unlike Duke, the Chanticleers are more of an unknown on the mound.
Junior righty Alexander Meckley, a junior college transfer, is Coastal Carolina’s confirmed starter for Saturday. Much of the Chanticleers’ pitching will be reliant on newcomers and players taking a significant step forward, making their level of talent difficult to project.
Last season, Coastal Carolina ranked 118th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings with 9.55. Granted, the Chanticleers placed 16th in strikeouts per nine innings with 10.4, but their combined ERA of 6.25 checked in at 176th.
If Indiana can limit the explosion of Bodine and Bender and the rest of Coastal Carolina’s lineup, its own bats could get the best of Meckley and the Chanticleers’ bullpen.
Game 3: Sunday vs. George Mason University (11 a.m.)
Indiana’s final game of the tournament comes against a George Mason squad that won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and advanced to an NCAA Regional in 2023. The Patriots’ 36 wins were their most since 2009.
Last season’s Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year Chad Gartland headlines the swath of returning contributors for George Mason. Across 98 1/3 innings, Gartland boasted a 3.39 ERA and notched seven wins to just two losses.
The Patriots return seven of their nine regular members of the lineup, including leader hitters in senior South Trimble and junior Reece Woody. Trimble and Woody hit .335 and .313, respectively, combining for 84 RBIs.
While not the most powerful array of bats, the Patriots stole 164 bases in 2023, good for third best in all of Division 1 baseball. It remains to be seen who will start on the mound for both sides, but the Hoosiers’ dynamic lineup could prove a tough challenge against the Patriots’ arms.
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Nick Rodecap (@nickrodecap) for updates throughout the Indiana baseball season.
WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Police have arrested someone in connection to a homicide earlier this month in the Hamilton County city.
In a Friday night social media post, the Westfield Police Department announced the arrest but gave no details, including who was arrested or what preliminary charges the person may face.
“Due to the active nature of this case, limited details are available for release at this time,” the post said.
As WISHTV.com previously reported, James “Matt” Lushin, 47, was found dead shortly after 7:25 p.m. March 12 with trauma at his home in the 3900 block of Westfield Road, also known as State Road 32.
Social media posts from the scene showed police tape and emergency vehicles at a red brick house between Shady Nook Road and Gray Road.
Lushin’s obituary said the Kokomo native was a key partner with the real estate investment company, FLF Property. The obituary also said, “Matt was also a respected and accomplished member of the international poker community. He traveled the world competing in tournaments and built an impressive and successful career.”
Police have previously said the death was believed to be isolated, posing no ongoing threat.
Officials have not released a specific cause or manner of death.
Just three days before Selection Sunday in March of 2020, the NCAA announced that March Madness, like so many other events that spring, would be cancelled due to the new virus upending life. The decision marked the first time in tournament history that the final weeks of the college basketball season would not be played, squashing Atlanta’s plans to host the Final Four.
When the following year rolled around, the NCAA decided that March Madness would not succumb to the virus once more.
With a vaccine only on the horizon and hundreds of Americans still dying each day, the organization announced in November of 2020 that while the tournament would go on, it would certainly not be business as usual. All 67 games, NCAA officials said, would be held in one location. Central Indiana was the first choice as Indianapolis had been on tap to host the Final Four April 3-5.
The plan, said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt in a November 2020 IndyStar article was to present “a safe, responsible and fantastic March Madness tournament unlike any other we’ve experienced.”
In January the NCAA made it official: All games would be played in and around Indianapolis in a modified version of a bubble.
Holding the tournament in one place just made sense, NCAA officials told IndyStar. Unlike in a typical year when a winning team would travel multiple times before the championship, this system would minimize travel, which could inadvertently expose players and coaches to the virus.
Two months later when the tournament kicked off on March 18, 55 of the 67 games were scheduled to be played in Indianapolis venues, such as Gainbridge (then Bankers Life) Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Purdue’s Mackey Arena and IU’s Assembly Hall also hosted games.
While the first Covid vaccine had arrived a few months earlier, few people outside of first responders and the most vulnerable had been immunized, so in an effort to avoid large crowds, the Indianapolis sites all capped tickets at 25% capacity. That meant only 17,500 people could attend games at the largest venue, Lucas Oil Stadium. The college arenas allowed far smaller audiences, with IU limiting attendance to 500 people.
A week before the tournament began Marion County Public Health Department officials and Mayor Joe Hogsett asked attendees to make smart public health choices, such as social distancing and obeying the face masks mandate. Referees donned masks as much as possible as did coaches and players on the bench.
The NCAA regularly tested athletes, administering 28,311 tests Covid tests during the tournament, 15 of which came back positive.
Post-mortems after the tournament asked whether the NCAA had made the right call. Two high profile deaths occurred in the aftermath of the tournament — one a University of Alabama superfan who had traveled to Indy for the games and the other a St. Elmo bartender. But proving a direct link between their deaths and the tournament would prove impossible, and some public health experts said the NCAA had done everything it could to protect athletes and fans short of canceling the event.
A study conducted by IU, Regenstrief researchers and others that appeared in August 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while mask wearing had theoretically been compulsory, about a quarter of attendees at the games were either not wearing masks or doing so inappropriately. Still, in an IndyStar article about the study Indiana Sports Corps president Ryan Vaughn termed the event “a resounding success.”
The following year, with a vaccine widely available and far fewer daily deaths from the virus, the tournament returned to a typical schedule, concluding in New Orleans’ Ceasars Superdome. More than 69,00 fans attended the final games, according to the NCAA. Local authorities had lifted the mask requirement by this point.
“Last year was about survival. Just having championships in any way, single site, keep everybody safe and be successful,” Gavitt said in an NCAA news release in late April 2022. “I think this year was about advancing.”
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