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

Hoosiers In Position To Need To Win Conference Tourney After Inconsistent Season

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

Where Indiana Baseball Stands Currently After Michigan Series

The Hoosiers currently sit at 30-22-1 and 15-9 in the Big Ten with an RPI of around 60. That is out of contention for a second straight NCAA Tournament following a 3-2 loss, and 11-2 and 8-4 wins to take the series versus the Wolverines.

The Hoosiers do have several really good quad-one victories. However, with a double-digit number of quad-three and four losses, their metrics are not quite a resume worthy of playing June baseball. With just the Big Ten Tourney left, the Cream and Crimson’s most realistic chance of playing beyond that is to win it and get the automatic bid.

The Hoosiers will head to Omaha as the three seed (beginning at 11 am Tuesday on BTN vs. Purdue or Ohio State) in the league in a year they are built perfectly for the park. Charles Schwab Field which hosts both the league tournament and college world series is a pitcher-friendly park that rarely sees home runs. With a staff that has had a penchant for giving up the long ball and has been much improved lately, next week sets up perfectly to make a run.

While 2024 had not gone as well as planned early, IU has played better of late but is still not in a position of strength. The roller coaster of a season started strong at 6-1 with key victories. Then pitching issues caused extreme struggles until early April. This left Indiana with no margin for error and until early May the Hoosiers did everything right and got somewhat close to the bubble.

However, a series loss to Nebraska, and one defeat to Michigan this weekend is likely too much to overcome as the Hoosiers’ high-powered offense has been somewhat inconsistent recently. Also, contests against Cincinnati and Louisville that would have helped the resume were rained out.

As a result of all this, IU is almost certainly in a position of do-or-die next week in Nebraska. The Cream and Crimson are capable of delivering here but must get it done or it is no NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons. With long-inning starters Ty Bothwell and Conner Foley available to pitch the first couple of games after going on Thursday, and the whole staff having three days rest, this further enhances Indiana’s chances.

What IU Needs To Do In Future Seasons

The Hoosiers were expected to compete with Iowa to be the cream of the crop in the Big Ten and neither has come close to meeting preseason projections. Instead, only Nebraska, maybe Illinois, and the auto bid are likely to be invited to the NCAA Tournament.

While this is not what Indiana fans expected, they cannot overreact. Regardless of who comes back in the offseason, the team could be in for a great 2025. I have seen time and again when a squad doesn’t live up to what should have happened the year before and then comes back with a big season after.

IU coach Jeff Mercer will need to evaluate why the pitching has taken so long each spring to get going as well as some inconsistencies on offense. However, the program is very close to being what everyone expects even if major offseason attrition occurs.

Winning the Big Ten is always possible every season (see the Cornhuskers 2024 turnaround) with everyone on essentially a high mid-major level and evenly matched season to season. The former Pac-12 squads may help some. However, none that are coming in had a great year. Winning in northern baseball is tough and IU has gotten that lesson the last few seasons despite a few areas needing to be shored up around the edges.

Hoosiers Offense Gets Going In

After the offense stalled out for a few games including the series opener, the bats once again got going in the final two contests to take the series. The Hoosiers scored 19 runs and pounded six long balls in their offensive explosion in the final couple of games.

Star outfielder Devin Taylor led the way going 7-11 in the three-game weekend and hit a long ball in each contest. Since being moved to the leadoff spot, Taylor has been dominant and led the lineup as teams are more reluctant to pitch around the opening batter.

As a whole, the team has been led by its bats hitting nearly .300 for the season. They had seven of their nine regulars hitting nearly that individually and pounded 76 dingers this spring.

If the Hoosiers want to get beyond next week in Omaha as described above, they need their performance at the plate to continue. However, it must be at the respect of the cavernous field there. This will require getting a base or two at a time given the extreme difficulty of balls leaving the yard.