Credit to: iuhoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana Baseball team (22-18-1, 7-5 B1G) will begin the final four weeks of Big Ten play this weekend with a crucial, season-defining series against Rutgers. IU has just seven games at Bart Kaufman Field remaining including these three, a midweek vs. Cincinnati (5/7) and a series against Michigan (5/16-18).
Jeff Mercer‘s squad played an unusual contest on Wednesday night, strange for even midweek standards. Scheduled to play Tuesday at Victory Field, the Hoosiers’ game against Ball State was moved to Muncie at 3:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon.
The two teams played a 4.5-hour game that lasted 12 innings and saw 19 pitchers. The final result: a tie. Without lights at the field in Muncie, it was determined that a new inning couldn’t begin after the 12th. The two teams settled for a 7-7 draw, the first for the Hoosiers since 2017. IU scored six combined runs in the eighth and ninth innings to head to extras but couldn’t find a winning run.
Focus now turns to this weekend as Rutgers arrives in Bloomington. The Hoosiers are still well in the Big Ten title race but could use another winning weekend and some help from the likes of Maryland (vs. Illinois) to keep pace heading into the month of May.
https://static.iuhoosiers.com/custompages/PDF/BB/2024/24-04-25-Rutgers_Notes.pdf
The first two games of the series will be broadcasted on BTN+ but Sunday’s finale will be an 11:00 AM first pitch on Big Ten Network. The game was originally scheduled for 12:00 PM due to travel accommodations but moved an hour earlier for television purposes.
Gameday Info
vs. Rutgers (Friday, April 26th – 6:00 PM)
Live Video: t.ly/_fMBQ
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX
vs. Rutgers (Saturday, April 27th – 2:00 PM)
Live Video: t.ly/_fMBQ
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX
vs. Rutgers (Sunday, April 28th – 11:00 AM)
Live Video: t.ly/sIEx8
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX
Probable Starters
Indiana vs. Rutgers
• Friday – TBD (IU) vs. Justin Sinibaldi, LHP (RU)
• Saturday – Ty Bothwell, LHP (IU) vs. TBD (RU)
• Sunday – TBD (IU) vs. TBD (RU)
Player and Stat Trends
Two Reach 200
• Ty Bothwell (strikeouts) and Josh Pyne (hits) both became the newest members of their respective clubs this past weekend, passing 200 strikeouts and hits, respectively, in their IU careers. Bothwell used 13 punchies at Minnesota (4/20) to achieve the mark while Pyne went 2-for-6 at Ball State (4/24) to cross his barrier.
Notable
Raise the Jolly Roger
• Jasen Oliver, commonly known as Jolly in the clubhouse, provided one of the best games by a freshman in program history on Sunday at Minnesota. He came into the day struggling and was moved to the nine hole to turn the lineup over.
• Needing a win, Oliver provided a 3-5 day with a freshman single-game record eight RBIs. The record was set by Joey Brenczewski just last week with seven but Oliver made quick work of it with a two-run single, a three-run home run and a three-run double in the 18-8, series-clinching win.
Bothwell Delivers
• After a disappointing outing last week against Penn State, Ty Bothwell righted the ship with a seven inning, 13-strikeout effort against Minnesota. His 13 strikeouts were a career high as he helped IU to a 7-1 victory in the series opener.
• In his career against Minnesota, he has an 8-1 strikeout to hit (!) ratio with 32 punchies and just four hits allowed. He also passed the 200-strikeout threshold and moved into 8th in program history with 205 career punchouts.
Keeping Pace in the Big Ten Race
• The Big Ten race is as open as it has been in the last five years. The top six teams are separated by three-or-fewer games with Illinois (10-2) pacing the leaderboard. IU (7-5) has won three-straight series to remain in contention. Illinois faces a tough backstretch with Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue on the docket.
• The Hoosiers still have to face Rutgers (H), Purdue (A), Nebraska (A) and Michigan (H). Three of those teams are above IU in the standings, giving Jeff Mercer‘s squad some opportunities to rise up the leaderboard.
Pyne Passes 200
• In the midweek tie with Ball State, junior third baseman Josh Pyne became the 24th member of the 200-hit club at Indiana. He doubled down the right-field line in the sixth inning for 200 and got 201 to begin the rally in the ninth.
• He is just the 10th person to reach 200 hits in three-or-fewer years. If he comes back for his senior season, he will aim to be just the fourth player at IU to reach 300 career hits.
Massive Weekend in the Big Ten
• As mentioned before, the final four weeks in the Big Ten are expected to be wild as seven teams chase the Big Ten title. The final weekend in April could be the deciding factor in the race with a trio of massive series.
• IU (7-5) will host a Rutgers team (3-9) in desperate search of some wins to make the Big Ten Tourney. The Hoosiers will be hoping to keep pace with the leaders and win a fourth series in the month of April.
• Big Ten leaders Illinois (10-2) head to Maryland (6-9), another team looking to stay alive for a trip to Omaha in late-May. Iowa (9-6), who swept Rutgers last weekend, goes to Nebraska (8-4) who is sandwiched in the thick of the title race. Michigan (10-5) plays its non-conference weekend against Long Beach State and will have a better understanding of where it stands this week.
Scouting the Opponent
Rutgers (24-16, 3-9 B1G)
• Rutgers is well known as one of the best offenses in the entire conference. Josh Kuroda-Grauer is perhaps the best all-around player in the league. He leads the Big Ten with a .440 batting average and an OPS of 1.133. He already has 74 hits in 40 games and has 105 total bases in as many contests.
• Much like Indiana, the heart of Rutgers’ order is hitting well above .300. Trevor Cohen (.347), Tony Santa Maria (.333) and Cameron Love (.333) have been the anchors for the Scarlet Knights. Those three, and Kuroda-Grauer, have started all 40 games.
• Justin Sinibaldi, Rutgers’ Friday night starter, has been outstanding this season. He’s 4-1 with a 2.55 earned run average across 67 innings pitched. The bullpen has been a sore sport at times. Four pitchers with at least 10 appearances have an earned run average above 6.00. The Scarlet Knights have only used 14 pitchers to cover 352.2 innings this year.
Inside the Series
Indiana vs. Rutgers
• This will be the final season that Rutgers, and Maryland, can be considered the newest members of the league. It’s the 10th season with the Scarlet Knights in the Big Ten. Since Jeff Mercer became head coach, the two teams have played 11 times.
• Since the last time Rutgers and IU played in Bloomington (2019), the teams have met in three different cities. Five of those games were played in Piscataway with contests in Omaha, Neb. (Big Ten Tournament) and Minneapolis, Minn. (COVID-19 pod) also hosting matchups.
• Rutgers has won four straight in the series but IU won 13 of the first 16 matchups all-time. IU swept Rutgers in the last matchup in Bloomington (2019) which helped secure Mercer a Big Ten title in his first season with the Hoosiers.