2013 IU Baseball Team to celebrate 10th anniversary of College World Series appearance
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been 10 years since the Indiana University baseball team’s historic run to Omaha and the College World Series in 2013. The team that is widely considered one of the best squads in the program history is set to return to Bloomington next week (Nov. 3-4) to celebrate the 10th anniversary.
Led by future MLB players Kyle Schwarber, Sam Travis, Aaron Slegers, Scott Effross and Kyle Hart, the Indiana Baseball team began one of the best two-year runs in history of any Big Ten baseball program with an outright regular season title and conference tournament title in 2013.
Schwarber would go on to be selected in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft (fourth overall) by the Chicago Cubs, the highest draft pick in Indiana baseball history. In IU history, he ranks fifth in slugging percentage (.607), sixth in home runs (40), eighth in hits (238) and is tied for eighth in triples (12) and runs (182).
The Hoosiers won a modern-era program record 49 games in 2013, and made the program’s one and only trip to Omaha for the College World Series. After sweeping the Bloomington Regional, IU went down to Tallahassee and beat No. 7 Florida State in the Super Regional.
After taking care of Louisville in the opening round of the College World Series, the Hoosiers were handed a pair of one-run losses to Mississippi State and No. 3 Oregon State. IU would go on to win 44 games in 2014, and win the Big Ten title once again.
Not only could the 2013 team hit the ball, seven starters finished with an average above .300, but it also produced the deepest staff in program history on the mound. IU’s top four pitchers, which featured three future big leaguers and the program’s all-time wins leader in Joey DeNato, combined to go 33-7 on the bump.
The 2013 team held a 2.64 earned run average across 65 games, second in the modern era only to the 2014 staff, which produced a 2.33 earned run average with most of the same staff. DeNato is the only pitcher in school history to win 10-or-more games in two different seasons, collecting 10 victories in 2013 and 14 in 2014.
Offensively, IU combined to hit .301 across 65 contests with 53 home runs, 407 runs batted in and 134 doubles. Dustin DeMuth led the Hoosiers with a .377 batting average, and would go on to win the Big Ten batting title in 2014. Schwarber and Travis hit 28 home runs combined, with Scott Donley driving in 61 runs on the season.
Next weekend’s reunion will feature a baseball team banquet, a golf outing, and a halftime honor at Saturday’s football game vs. Wisconsin. IU’s 2024 team, coming off a 43-win season in 2023, will have the opportunity to interact with returning players throughout the entire weekend.