IU Baseball Earns No. 2 Seed In NCAA Lexington Regional
Indiana baseball's postseason play will continue.
The Hoosiers earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA's Lexington (Ky.) Regional, it was announced live Monday afternoon during the selection show on ESPN2. They will face No. 3 seed NC State Friday at 7 p.m. ET. on WatchESPN at Cliff Hagan Stadium in Lexington. It marks Indiana's seventh NCAA tournament appearance in program history, including its fourth in the last five.
"I think it's huge," Lemonis said. "It says a lot about the program, the players, the players who have been here and the ones in the past."
Additionally, according to the program, Chris Lemonis is the first head coach in program history to make a regional in two of his first three seasons.
Lemonis so far has IU to a 33-22-2 overall record this year, including six consecutive series victories to close out the regular season before getting eliminated by Minnesota last Friday in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers notched a win over No. 14 Michigan in the conference tournament prior to elimination.
That path led the Hoosiers to the No. 26 RPI and the No. 2 seed, though Lemonis, senior outfielder Craig Dedelow and senior infielder Tony Butler both said they were shocked when they saw the program's name next to that high of a seed during the selection show.
"We were surprised, honestly," Dedelow said. "We were pretty confident hopefully that we'd make the tournament. It got late there and we got a little nervous, and then seeing our name pop up as a 2-seed was pretty big for us."
"There was a commercial break about halfway through, and when that hit, I think you could hear everybody take a deep breath, like, 'Alright, we're halfway through and we still haven't been picked," Butler said. "It's a little surprising to be a 2-seed, but as soon as your name is up there, it doesn't matter. We made the regional, and we're heading down to Lexington. We're excited."
Overall, the Big Ten Conference had five teams which received bids. In addition to Indiana, Nebraska earned the No. 2 seed in the Corvallis Regional, Michigan the No. 3 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, Maryland the No. 3 seed in the Winston-Salem Regional and Iowa the No. 4 seed in the Houston Regional.
"I'm excited for our league," Lemonis said. "As we were going through watching and seeing where our league was going, it validates a lot of things that we were saying all year long. The growth of the Big Ten took another step forward."
Kentucky (39-20) earned the No. 1 seed as the regional host and will face No. 4-seed Ohio (31-26) on the other side of the bracket at noon ET Friday.
NC State finished 34-23, falling in the second round of the ACC tournament. It began the 2017 season going 7-7 before rattling off five consecutive wins, eventually defeating No. 12 Clemson and No. 22 Florida State late in the year.
Lemonis on Monday said he doesn't know much about the Wolfpack but that they will have his program's full attention heading into Friday.
"I know they're talented, and I know they're well-coached," Lemonis said. "I've known their head coach for a long time. I know early in the season they were ranked as one of the teams possible in the Eight For Omaha, so there's talent there. I think they had a little rough start, but I think they're playing really well right now.
"That first game will be a huge test for us. Staying focused on N.C. State, playing well, that will be a big key for us."
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