When Aaron Slegers took the mound Wednesday night for Indiana at the College World Series, the most often asked question was why at 6-foot-10 he’s playing baseball at Indiana, not basketball.
It’s a question even Hoosier fans have asked, and the answer is that Slegers always preferred baseball, even when he didn’t consider himself very coordinated when he stood 6-2 as a junior in high school.
As Slegers blossomed on the mound, so did his stature on the Indiana campus, to the point that teammates would jokingly convince onlookers that Slegers was Cody Zeller, the 7-foot Hoosier basketball standout. Outfielder Casey Smith explains. “Cody’s always the big man on campus, so whenever we’re in a public place we’ll start a Zeller chant just to mess with them. You’ve got 6-11 and 7-foot blond hair guys. I think they’re going to get mixed up.”
Last night Slegers threw his first complete game, but came up short as Oregon State blanked the Hoosiers, 1-0. Matt Boyd pitched a four-hit shutout. That sends Indiana home while the Beavers advance to play Mississippi State Friday afternoon.