Baseball Gameday: at Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Its lone road game over a 14-game stretch will come in the form of a trip to Kentucky Proud Park to face off with the University of Kentucky for the Indiana baseball program on Tuesday (March 14) for a 4 p.m. first pitch. The Hoosiers enter on a five-game winning streak, while the Wildcats are riding a 10-game winning spurt entering the 45th meeting in series history.

Indiana (10-6) and Kentucky (14-2) will meet in Lexington for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the Big Ten conference-only schedule in 2021. The Wildcats have won four of the last five meetings in the Blue Grass State, with IU's lone win an 11-7 victory in 2015.

Gameday Info
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
IU: TBA
UK: TBA

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

Quick Hitters

Indiana and Kentucky will meet for the 45th time in program history on Tuesday. The Hoosiers won 20-7 last season and look to close the gap in the all-time series that sits at 24-20 in favor of the Wildcats. MORE ON PAGE 3
The Hoosiers current five game winning streak is its longest in the non-conference slate since winning six straight during the 2020 campaign.
Indiana placed four student-athletes on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team in 2022 and redshirt-junior Matthew Ellis was named third-team All-B1G by the conference coaches.
Freshman Carter Mathison and redshirt-senior Matthew Ellis each hit home runs on opening weekend to bring their career totals to 20 and 19, respectively, for the Cream and Crimson.
Mathison has played in 75 career games and has 69 career RBIs over that span to go along with 20 home runs. MORE ON PAGE 7
Senior Hunter Jessee carries a 35-game reached base streak into the week, which dates back to the 2022 season, and marks a career long for the left-handed hitter. MORE ON PAGE 7
Jessee posted his second career multi home run game versus Miami (Ohio) with a first inning home run to right field and a seventh inning shot to the opposite field. His first came against Kentucky in 2022.
Indiana's pitching staff posted a program record 600 strikeouts in 2022. That mark ranks No. 2 in Big Ten history, behind Iowa's 602 punchouts in 2022, as well. MORE ON PAGE 8
Head coach Jeff Mercer became the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson with a series finale win at Auburn on February 19, 2023. FULL BIO ON PAGE 18

Scouting the Opponent

Kentucky enters on a 10-game winning streak and sits at 14-2 overall on the season. The Wildcats are 9-1 at home with the lone loss to Wright State.
Since a 2-0 loss at Elon in the season opener, Kentucky has reached five runs in 13 of its next 15 games.
Jase Felker leads six everyday starters that are hitting over .300 on the season with a .500 average in nine starts. He is also one of five Wildcats that have at least 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs on the season.
Devin Burkes and Hunter Gilliam pace the team with 22 RBIs each, and Emilien Pitre has a team-best 26 hits and 18 runs scored.
Kentucky is No. 14 nationally in doubles (39), No. 4 in sacrifice bunts (18) and No. 10 in hit-by-pitch (38) at the plate.
On the mound, the pitching staff is ranked No. 14 nationally in ERA (2.44) and No, 9 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.65).

Series Notes

The midweek contest with the Wildcats will mark the 45th all-time meeting between Indiana and Kentucky. UK holds a 24-20 edge on the all-time ledger.
Last season, Indiana took a 20-7 decision in Bloomington on March 15. Kentucky led 4-0, but IU surged with six home runs, including two each from Matthew Ellis and Hunter Jessee.
The 20 runs in the 2022 meeting for Indiana are the most scored by a team in the series and the 13-run differential was also the largest margin of victory.
The two teams are 4-4 in the last eight meetings, with IU's win in 2022 snapping a four-game winning streak by Kentucky.
It's a series that dates back to the 1903 season, when the two programs split a pair of games. They met seven times between 1903 and 1920 and didn't play again until 1974.
The longest winning streak in the series belongs to Kentucky at six games from April 19, 1977-April 22, 1981. Indiana preceded those six wins with five straight victories in the series from May 11, 1920-April 1, 1975.

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Players Mentioned

Matthew Ellis

Hunter Jessee

Carter Mathison