Three Takeaways From IU Baseball's Weekend Series Vs. Troy

Trojans Take Two Of Three In Bloomington As Hoosiers Fall To 9-6

IU’s home field Bart Kaufman After Indiana’s 2019 Big Ten Championship

Instant Replay Coming For IU Baseball And Softball

While the results do matter, the biggest development of the weekend was Assembly Call was able to confirm instant replay is coming to Bart Kaufman and Andy Mohr Field going forward.

Per the administrator for IU Baseball “The Big Ten is mandating replay in 2025. However, schools have the option to add it now and we (at IU) are adding it this year. It should hopefully be ready for the next series.”

With a lot of bang-bang calls over the weekend, it will be a welcome addition for fans and the teams. Also, the quality of the BIG+ broadcast used is not related, as umpires have access to a different set of cameras and angles. This means what video the fans see when streaming is different than the officials when this starts happening going forward.

IU coach Jeff Mercer could not contain his excitement about the added technology when asked about it afterward.

“I’m thrilled,” he said “It will be nice to not have coaches screaming at the umpires across the field about calls no one can overturn. I am very thankful that the athletic department has made the decision to invest in it and were very fortunate.”

Pitching Struggles, Offense Shines This Weekend

With a rainout Friday, the series against the Trojans shifted to a single game Saturday and a doubleheader Sunday. Nothing went right in the opener as the Hoosiers were dominated 8-1.

However, once Sunday rolled around, the bats woke up and were able to somewhat overcome the struggle on the mound. The Hoosiers took game one of the twin bill 10-7, before falling 15-11 in the nightcap.

Which Path Do Hoosiers Take Going Forward

When Hoosier fans think of Troy and the Sunbelt, fear does not generally strike when it comes to athletics. However, in baseball, the southern conferences are often as good as the power six leagues when south of the Mason-Dixon line, and the Trojans are one of the better teams in that league.

As a result, a series loss to them is not crippling at all as it might sound at first glance. Right now the Hoosiers RPI seems to have settled in between 40-60 and in range for a strong season. The question is which path the Hoosiers take in 2024.

In 2022, the pitching problems were never fixed and the team limped to a 27-32 record for their worst season since 2006. In 2023 the Hoosiers were the same 9-6 as they are today and did not look like anything special. However, from then on, the squad took off and made the NCAA Tournament with a 43-20 finish and solved the issues on the mound.

Mercer said he has confidence the Hoosiers will get hot again this spring as well.

“We’ll get it ironed out,” he said. “The reality is we had a couple guys that are old enough to be in the fight better than they were today. I’m not concerned. We’ll get everybody in the right spots like we did last year.”

The team has a midweek tilt at Vanderbilt on Tuesday and is home against Illinois State on Wednesday, before hosting Belmont next weekend.