Baseball Gameday: at Missouri State

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After opening the home portion of the schedule with a bang on Tuesday, the Indiana baseball program will head back on the road for a three-game series at Missouri State. The series beings with a 4 p.m. first pitch on Friday (March 4) at Hammons Field.

The Hoosiers (2-5) have won two of their last three games and are looking for the first weekend series win of the season, while Missouri State (4-3) got a midweek win at Kansas heading into its home opening weekend. Each team used the home run to power past midweek opponents, with Indiana hitting four home runs and Missouri State belting seven home runs.

Gameday Info

Friday, March 4 (4 p.m. ET)
Probable Starters
IU: John-Biagio Modugno, RHP, Jr.
MSU: Adam Link, RHP, Gr.

Live Video: es.pn/3K9hVP6
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Saturday, March 5 (3 p.m. ET)
Probable Starters
IU: Jack Perkins, RHP, R-Jr.
MSU: Jared Viertel, RHP, Sr.

Live Video: es.pn/3CetCBG
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Sunday, March 6 (2 p.m. ET)
Probable Starters
IU: Bradley Brehmer, RHP, Sr.
MSU: Dan Merrill, RHP, Jr.

Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Quick Hitters

Freshman Brock Tibbitts took a pair of pitches out of the park in the IU's season opener versus Miami (Ohio), but you don't have to look far in the record books for the last rookie to hit multiple home runs in a game.
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A third new opponent will be added to the all-time ledger this weekend in Missouri State. The Hoosiers are no stranger to playing the current alignment of the Missouri Valley Conference with 148 wins all-time against the conference.
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Three Hoosiers earned All-Tournament honors at the Round Rock Classic after IU picked up its first win of the season in the event.
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The newcomers provided the first four longballs of the season, before Morgan Colopy got the old guard on the board in Texas.
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Head coach Jeff Mercer owns 74 victories as the Indiana frontman and is poised to become the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson.
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Indiana matched a school standard with four student-athletes selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2021.
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Indiana returns just two players that started at least 22 games (50 percent of the season) during the 2021 Big Ten-only campaign.
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Scouting the Opponent

Missouri State enters the weekend with a 4-4 record after a 12-3 victory over Kansas on Wednesday.
Offensively, MSU is hitting .317 as a team with 41 extra base hits in seven games (5.1 per game) and a .403 on-base percentage.
Mason Hull and Dakota Katowski each have five home runs, and Hull has added a team-best 17 RBIs. Spencer Nivens owns nine RBIs and a team-best 12 runs scored.
Missouri State doesn't play a lot of small ball, as the Bears have just two stolen bases and zero sacrifice bunts on the year.
On the mound, the Bears own a 4.48 ERA and a .263 batting average against. The staff has struck out 54, walked 33 and hit 14 batters.
Weekend starters Adam Link and Jared Viertel own identical a 4.91 ERAs in two starts apiece. Link also leads the starting pitchers with eight strikeouts and 11 innings pitched.

Series Notes

Indiana and Missouri State will meet for the first time in program history this weekend. The Bears are the third team to join IU's all-time ledger in 2022 (Clemson, Louisiana-Lafayette).
Against the current alignment of the Missouri Valley Conference, 148-89-3. The Hoosiers will now have met all eight of the MVC schools that sponsor baseball.
The earliest meeting came against Indiana State o June 1, 1895, in a 12-3 IU victory.
Overall, IU has met Bradley (5-6), Evansville (31-18), Illinois State (3-3), Indiana State (65-46-1), Southern Illinois (5-2-1), Northern Iowa (3-2) and Valparaiso (36-12-1).

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Players Mentioned

Bradley Brehmer

Morgan Colopy

John-Biagio Modugno

Jack Perkins

Brock Tibbitts

Indiana University Athletics