Hoosiers Close Out Regular Season at Rutgers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana Softball closes out the regular season this weekend as the Hoosiers travel to Piscataway, N.J. to face Rutgers. The Hoosiers remain in contention for both a regular season Big Ten title and a top four seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament, which secures a first round bye. Entering this final weekend, the Hoosiers sit at third place in the conference with a 16-4 mark, trailing Michigan (16-2) and Minnesota (15-3).

First pitch of the series is slated for Friday at 3 p.m. All three games will be streamed on BTN Plus. Live stats are available on IUHoosiers.com.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights sit at 17-30 on the season with a 2-15 Big Ten mark. Rutgers' two Big Ten wins came in the second conference series of the season as the Scarlet Knights took two from Penn State. Hitting .257 as a team, Rutgers is led by Rebecca Hall (.379, 58 hits, 26 runs, 38 RBI) and Jess Hughes (.309, 47 hits, 34 runs, 17 RBI). The pitching staff is led primarily by Whitney Jones (4.23 ERA, 8-15, 124.0 IP) and Cambria Keefer (5.11, 5-8, 87.2 IP).

Rutgers leads the all-time series. 8-7. Last season, Indiana won the first two games at Andy Mohr Field to clinch the series before the Scarlet Knights won the final game. One of IU's win saw the Hoosiers put up 23 runs, the most in a Big Ten game in program history and the most in any single game since 1978.

LAST TIME OUT
• Indiana closed out home play last weekend by playing host to No. 15 Michigan.

• The Wolverines took the series, but the Hoosiers used a Taylor Uden walkoff solo home run to win the Saturday game in nine innings, 5-4. It marked the first victory against the Wolverines since 2012.

• Indiana saw an Andy Mohr Field record crowd of 856 watch the Hoosiers defeat Michigan Saturday afternoon.

• Junior Tara Trainer was key for Indiana against Michigan as she tossed 20.1 innings and started all three games. She collected 16 strikeouts and capped the weekend with a nine-inning complete game.

HOOSIER QUICK HITS
• Taylor Uden has been closing out her senior campaign on a high note, capped by her walk-off homer. Dating back to the Maryland series April 13-14, Uden is hitting .424 with 14 hits, 9 RBI, 9 runs, 4 home runs and 3 doubles. In those 12 games, she has collected at least one hit in all but two contests.

• Senior Rebecca Blitz saw her Big Ten-leading hitting streak end Saturday at 23 games. Blitz still has a 25-game reached base streak intact heading into the weekend.

• Westmoreland has a team-best 10 home runs and 50 RBI on the season, which is the third-most in the Big Ten. In addition, her 50 RBI is the most ever for an IU freshman and third-most overall in a single season. Her 10 homers is tied for the eighth most in a single year at IU.

• Since starting the season 4-19, Indiana has completely flipped the script and have gone 20-8 since that time, which dates back to the Hoosier Classic March 16-18.

• Five Hoosiers will be celebrating graduation weekend at Rutgers - seniors Rebecca Blitz, Emily Kirk, Aimilia McDonough, Rachel O'Malley and Taylor Uden.

B1G PLAY
• With 16 wins in conference play, IU has the most Big Ten victories since the 2011 season, when the Hoosiers went 17-3. Prior to that, the high was a 23-4 mark in 1994.

• Indiana is hitting .299 as a team in Big Ten - compared to a .191 opponent average. Indiana is led by a .388 average from Blitz as the senior has collected 26 hits and 14 runs in Indiana's 20 Big Ten games. Sophomore Gabbi Jenkins is batting .371 with 23 hits and 21 runs. Overall, IU has seven hitting .250 or better in Big Ten play.

• The Hoosiers are out-scoring Big Ten opposition 101-40 this season. IU's pitching has a conference ERA of 1.46, while its opponents' ERA is 4.63,

• The Indiana pitching staff has combined for 352 strikeouts this season, the most in the Big Ten. Trainer has been tremendous in conference action, going 12-4 with a 1.46 ERA and 89 strikeouts.

STOLEN BASES RECORD
• During IU's 4-1 victory against Penn State on April 21, the Hoosiers broke a 30-year old program record for stolen bases (91). With 111 bases on the year, the Hoosiers led the Big Ten. IU's 1.93 stolen bases per game average is 11th in the country.

• Senior Rebecca Blitz leads the team with 29 stolen bases, the sixth most in a single season in IU program history (record - 35).

CAREER MILESTONES
• Senior Rebecca Blitz collected career hit No. 200 March 18th against UIC, becoming just the sixth member of the 200-plus hit club in IU program history. Blitz is closing in on numerous program milestones, including:
Hits:
1. Karleen Moore (1984-87) - 238
2. Rebecca Blitz (2015-pr.) - 232

Stolen Bases:
1. Aimee Lonigro (1994-97) - 90
2. Rebecca Blitz (2015-pr.) - 89

Runs Scored:
1. Aimee Lonigro (1994-97) - 156
2. Monica Armendarez (95-98) - 139
3. Michelle Venturella (1992-95) - 137
4. Rebecca Blitz (2015-pr.) - 131

• Trainer's 200 strikeouts in 2018 are a new career best and good for third-most in the Big Ten and ninth most in a single year in Indiana history. The Lebanon, Ohio native has 556 strikeouts in her career, the fifth-most in IU program history:
Career Rankings:
1. Amy Unterbrink (1983-86) - 1089
2. Gina Ugo (1993-96) - 664
3. Megan Roark (2003-06) - 577
4. Mariangee Bogado (04-06) - 569
5. Tara Trainer (2016-pr.) - 556

WHAT'S AHEAD IN 2018
The 2018 Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by Wisconsin in Madison from May 10-12. The final bracket for the tournament will be released following the last conference game on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Rebecca Blitz

Gabbi Jenkins

Emily Kirk

Aimilia McDonough

Rachel O'Malley

Tara Trainer

Taylor Uden