Baseball Gameday: at Ball State

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A pair of winning streaks are on the line Tuesday (April 25) at the First Merchants Ball Park Complex as the Indiana baseball program travels to take on Ball State in a 3 p.m. first pitch.

Indiana (30-11) is riding a seven-game winning streak into the matchup with the Cardinals, while Ball State (26-13) has won three straight games after sweeping Northern Illinois at home over the weekend.

Gameday Info
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | 3 p.m. ET
Live Video: bit.ly/3L8ecDE
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/3V4UgWJ

Quick Hitter

Indiana and Ball State will meet for the second time this season and 63rd time in program history. IU won a 16-13 decision earlier this season and will head to Muncie, Indiana, for the first time since 2015.
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The Hoosiers have won 22 of 23 home games in 2023. Its 15-straight to open the season marks the longest home winning streak in Bart Kaufman Field history and the second-longest streak in program history.
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Freshman Devin Taylor began his 30-game reached base streak in his first career start at Texas (2/25), which is the longest for an IU freshman since at least 2005.
Taylor earned his third B1G Freshman of the Week award on April 17 and joined some exclusive company at IU and the Big Ten in the process.
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Fellow freshman Tyler Cerny (freshman) and Ethan Phillips (pitcher) each earned B1G "of the week" honors after their roles in a five-win week from April 17-23.
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Sophomore Luke Sinnard struck out 12 Iowa batters over six scoreless innings for his second career double-digit strikeout game of the season.
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Senior Phillip Glasser enters the week with a 41-game reached base and has 22 multi-hit games in that span. The 41-game reached base streak is the second-longest by a Hoosier since at least 2005.
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Glasser is also among the top-50 active hitters in a bevy of categories, including No. 5 with 254 career hits.
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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. He then won his 200th career game as a head coach at Illinois on April 15.
FULL BIO ON PAGE 18

Scouting the Opponents

Ball State is 26-13 overall on the season and 13-5 in Mid-American Conference play after a series sweep of Northern Illinois over the weekend.
The Cardinals have rode the wave over the last month, with 14 wins in 15 games from March 11-April 7, followed by six straight losses before the weekend sweep over NIU.
Ryan Peltier was named MAC Co-Player of the Week after a five-home run, 12-RBI week last week. He hit .368 and finished the week with seven runs scored and one triple.
Peltier leads the team with a .395 average, 53 runs scored, 12 home runs and 43 RBIs. Decker Scheffler sits second on the squad with .376 average and 32 RBIs.
As an offense, the Cardinals are No. 1 in the MAC with a .500 slugging percentage and rank among the top-60 nationally in home runs (57th; 56) and triples (23rd; 14).
The pitching staff ranks second in the MAC and No. 36 overall in hits allowed per nine innings (8.23). They are also second in the conference and No. 18 in Division I with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Inside the Series

Indiana is 36-26 all-time against Ball State entering the 63rd all-time meeting between the two programs and second in 2023.
Tuesday's meeting will mark the 30th all-time between the two programs in Bloomington, with IU leading 17-12 in the previous 29 meetings.
Indiana has posted 10 straight wins in the series dating back to 2014 and won 13 of the last 14 meetings going all the way back to 2010.
Indiana holds the slimmest of margins in the 27 previous meetings in Muncie, Indiana, at 14-13.
Of the 62 previous meetings, the two teams have played 18 one-run games and just 10 of them have been decided by double figures.
Over half of the 62 all-time meetings have been decided by three-or-fewer runs (37 games).
The current 10-game winning streak for IU is the longest streak in the series, while Ball State has won five straight games twice (1976-80 & 1998-2009).

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Cerny

Phillip Glasser

Ethan Phillips

Luke Sinnard

Devin Taylor

Indiana University Athletics