No. 2 Indiana Set to Face No. 7 Penn State in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

Thursday, May 11

Urbana-Champaign, IL

2:30 P.M.

Indiana University

Penn State

No. 2 Indiana Set to Face No. 7 Penn State in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

5/10/2023 6:15:00 PM | Softball

Game Notes (PDF)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana softball (40-15, 18-5 B1G) will play No. 7 Penn State (31-15, 11-11 B1G) in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals in Urbana-Champaign, Ill., at Eichelberger Field on Thursday afternoon.

GAMEDAY INFO

Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	IUHoosiers Radio	TV
May 11	No. 7 Penn State	2:30 p.m.	Listen	BTN

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Information regarding tickets, parking and game updates can be found on the tournament central page HERE.

LAST TIME OUT

Indiana (40-15, 18-5) closed out the regular season with their sixth conference sweep over Michigan State at Andy Mohr Field last weekend.
Freshman Taryn Kern earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the third consecutive week after she hit .714 with five hits and two walks with six runs scored. She recorded three doubles while holding a 1.571 slugging percentage with a 2.371 OPS on the weekend.
Minnick held a team high .750 batting average on the weekend, earning three hits including one double, triple and home run with six walks, reaching base in nine out of 10 of her at bats. The Bloomington, Ind., native held a 2.250 slugging percentage and an OPS of 3.15.
Sophomore pitcher Brianna Copeland picked up two wins against the Spartans for her 20^th win of the season. She also picked up one save with seven strikeouts, one walk in 11.1 innings pitched.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

No. 7 seed Penn State (31-15, 11-11 B1G) defeated the No. 10 seeded Michigan Wolverines, 3-2, in a walk off win after capitalizing on an error to score two runs.
Junior Emily Maddock leads the Nittany Lion's offense with a .456 batting average on the season as she leads the conference. She holds a 1.032 OPS in 90 at bats. Maddock has tallied 41 hits with three doubles and 14 RBI.
Senior Kaitlyn Morrison ranks second on the team with a .328 batting average on the season.
Penn State's pitching staff is led by fifth year Bailey Parshall who holds a 1.46 ERA and is second in the league. Teammate Kylee Lingenfelter holds a 2.13 ERA.

SERIES NOTES

The Hoosiers leads the series 49-31 against PSU and dropped the series 2-1 in 2022.
IU saw action against the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten Tournament in 2022, falling 2-1 in a close game in eight innings.

TEAM 50 IN THE BOOKS

Team 50 is etching itself in the record book after setting new single-season records for most home runs, RBI, doubles and runs scored.
Indiana is on pace to set season records in three additional categories: hits, stolen bases and batting average.

RECORD TRACKER (Current Standing)
RBI (354)
1. 278 (1994)

Home Runs (72)
1. 56 (2022)

Runs Scored (378)
1. 328 (1994)

Hits (442)
1. 466 (1994)
2. 462 (1987)

Doubles (96)
1. 95 (1994)

Stolen Bases (101)
1. 141 (2019)
2. 120 (1987)
3. 114 (2022)
4. 112 (2018)
5. 96 (2020)

Batting average (.320)
1. .293 (1997)

BIG TEN PLAYER + FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
• Taryn Kern was unanimously named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in addition to the league's Player of the Year award.
• Kern leads the Hoosiers with two unanimous selections to the All-Freshman Team and as Freshman of the Year and the All-Freshman Team in addition to being awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year and to the First Team All-Big Ten
• She has tallied six Big Ten weekly awards including three Player of the Weeks, and six Freshman of the Week honors. She began the season with three consecutive weekly honors and finished the regular season with three straight league awards.
• The San Jose, Calif., native has set single season program records in home runs, RBI and runs scored and is the only Hoosier to win two individual postseason awards in program history.

SIX HOOSIERS EARN ALL-BIG POSTSEASON HONORS
• Kern leads the Hoosiers with two unanimous selections to the All-Freshman Team and as Freshman of the Year in addition to being awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten selection.
• Indiana's Taylor Minnick was also named to the First Team All-Big Ten alongside Kern earning back-to-back All-Big Ten honors after she was named to the Second and All-Freshman Team in her first season with the Hoosiers.
• Minnick is currently ranked second in the Big Ten in three categories: slugging percentage (.768), OBS (.549), OPS (1.317). In addition, she ranks in the top five in RBI (52) and batting average (.413).
• Redshirt-junior Cora Bassett, freshman Avery Parker and Sarah Stone earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
• Parker and freshman Cassidy Kettleman were also selected to the league's All-Freshman Team with classmate Kern after stellar performances in their rookie season.

B1G RECORDS
• Freshman Taryn Kern leads the nation with 21 home runs this season for the second-most by a Big Ten freshman (23 by Michigan's Sierra Romero in 2013). She is also tied for seventh-most in conference history.
• The Big Ten record is 24 by Illinois' Angelena Mexicano in 2008)
• Kern also captured her fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, tying for third-most in conference history (most since Michigan pitcher Meghan Beaubien was a five-time honoree in 2018).

SWEEP, SWEEP - HOOSIERS ARE CLEANIN' UP
• Indiana won its first three series going 9-0 to start conference play sweeping No. 22 Maryland, Purdue and Ohio State.
• IU finished just like they started, strong. They earned their sixth sweep with three consecutive series sweeps against Rutgers, Michigan and Michigan State in the last three weekends of the regular season.

BASSETT WITH A B1G PERFORMANCE
• Bassett was named Big Ten Player of the Week after she hit a .500 batting average in the series sweep over Michigan. She recorded six hits including one triple and one home run for two RBI, highlighted by her third leadoff homer of the season in the series finale.
• The Newburgh, Ind., native held a .917 slugging percentage with a .538 on-base percentage for a 1.455 OPS.
• She scored five runs in the series for a season total of 62. Bassett currently leads the Big Ten ahead of Kern in addition to breaking the record for most runs in a single season that she set in 2022.
• She surpassed her own school record for most runs scored in a single season (62). In 2022, she set the record with 57.

TARYN IT UP
• Indiana freshman Taryn Kern earned her fifth Big Ten honor after she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week, while teammate and redshirt-junior Cora Bassett earned Big Ten Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday.
•Kern hit .455 on the weekend in the series sweep over Michigan, with a 1.091 slugging percentage and a 1.629 OPS. On the weekend, she totaled five hits, one double, two home runs and five RBI with five runs scored.
• In game two of the series, Kern hit a couple of two-run homers recording four RBI for the Hoosiers. She has totaled 21 long balls on the season and is tied with Louisville's Taylor Roby to lead the NCAA.
•She also got it done in the field this weekend coming up with some big defensive plays for the Hoosiers, totaling 12 assists with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
•The San Jose, Calif., native leads the Big Ten in seven categories: slugging percentage (.992), OBS (.595), OPS (1.587), RBI (62), home runs (21), walks (39), and hit by pitch (19). The Indiana freshman is second in runs scored (59) and third in conference in batting average (.423).
•Kern has reached base in 44 consecutive games and has 10 multi-RBI games on the season as the leader of Indiana's offense.

MONEY MINNICK
• Sophomore Taylor Minnick is ranked top-five in the Big Ten in five categories: RBI (49), OBS (.529), OPS (1.261), doubles (13), slugging percentage (.724) and batting average (.403).
• Minnick hit .500 on the week as the Hoosiers defeated Butler and swept Purdue and Ohio State as they made program history with 21 straight wins. She totaled eight hits, two doubles, two home runs, six runs, eight free passes and seven RBI on the week.
• The Bloomington, Ind., native hit a team high .750 against Ohio State with a 1.750 slugging percentage and a 2.555 OPS. She hit two home runs, four RBI with six hits and five runs scored against the Buckeyes.
• On the season, she has totaled 54 hits, 49 RBI, 13 doubles, 10 home runs and 28 walks.
• She was selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and Second Team All-Big Ten after a dominating season performance.
• She had one of the best debut seasons in program history in 2022. The Bloomington native hit .305 with 29 hits, 17 runs scored, eight doubles, five home runs, 24 RBI and six stolen bases.
• In conference play, she held a .310 batting average, 15 runs, 22 hits, seven doubles, five home runs and 22 RBI in 23 games. Minnick also started in 22 of the Hoosiers 23 conference games in the B1G.

COPELAND IN THE CIRCLE
• Sophomore pitcher Brianna Copeland is 20-2 inside the circle this season.
• The Pelham, Ala., native holds a 3.10 ERA with 131 innings pitched and 120 strikeouts.
• Offensively, Copeland is batting .336 on the season with 50 hits. She has 26 extra base hits and 41 RBI on the season.
• She threw her first career no-hitter against Prairie View A&M tallying a career-high ten strikeouts, along with no hits, one run and zero walks. After opening weekend, she has an era of .60 after pitching 11.2 innings and totaling 14 strikeouts.

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