Credit to: iuhoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– Indiana will host its final home games of the 2024 season for its three-game series against Wisconsin from Friday through Sunday (April 26-28).
The Hoosiers enters the series as winners of 12 of its last 13 games.
QUICK HITTERS:
- Indiana’s Aaliyah Andrews, Brooke Benson, Cora Bassett and Macy Montgomery will be recognized on Sunday for the program’s senior day.
- Freshman Alex Cooper won Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week for the week of April 15-21. Cooper had the best game of her young career against Notre Dame, hitting two home runs, including a walk-off grand slam to beat Notre Dame on Tuesday, April 16.
- Seven different Hoosiers in the lineup have posted 20-plus RBI on the season, including Taylor Minnick (50), Sarah Stone (40), Avery Parker (40), Brianna Copeland (28), Alex Cooper (26), Cora Bassett (26) and Brooke Benson (23).
- Three Hoosiers are hitting .340 or better from the plate: Taylor Minnick (.389), Aly VanBrandt (.377) and Brianna Copeland (.346).
https://iuhoosiers.com/documents/2024/4/26/Indiana-Wisconsin_Game_Notes.pdf
- LAST TIME OUT:
- Indiana had another dominant performance in their Wednesday game at Butler, defeating the Bulldogs, 9-0, in five innings for their 12th win their last 13 games.
- Indiana’s pitching was stellar from sophomore Sophie Kleiman and senior Macy Montgomery. The two combined to give up just two hits for the entire game. Kleiman made the start, going four innings and picking up the win. Montgomery came in during the fifth inning to close it out and struck out two of the final three outs.
- On the offensive side, Indiana’s bats were on fire, as well. In the third inning, the Hoosiers found their groove at the plate, scoring four runs. Three of them came from the bat of junior Taylor Minnick who had a three-run home run. That was her tenth of the season and brought her season RBI count up to 50.
- In the fifth inning, Indiana put up another five runs to bring the score to 9-0. Sophomore Avery Parker, an Indianapolis area native, hit a three-run home run, as well.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
- Wisconsin enters the weekend series with a 17-26 overall record and a 6-11 mark in conference play. Most recently, the Badgers took one of two games in their home series versus Penn State.
- The win they had in the series was an impressive 17-3 defeat of the Nittany Lions.
- In the non-conference slate, Wisconsin played a very tough schedule, including facing seven ranked opponents. They defeated No. 20 Utah, 4-2, on Feb. 24 in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.
- As a team, the Badgers hit for a .270 average ––– Ava Kuszak (.339) and Hillary Bloomberg (.337) are the team’s top two bats. Kuszak has 13 doubles, seven home runs and 26 RBI to her name while Bloomberg has compiled nine doubles and three home runs with 20 RBI thus far this season.
- In the circle, Gabi Salos has been impressive. She has a 2.88 ERA with a 5-2 record and 90 strikeouts. Tessa Magnanimo has gotten the most work, logging a 3.48 ERA and a 10-13 mark with 90 strikeouts in 140.2 innings.
SERIES HISTORY:
- Wisconsin leads the all-time series over Indiana, 29-19.
- Wisconsin won the last meeting between the two programs, winning in a non-conference game in 2023.