Last Chance Becomes First Chance For IU Transfers
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ben Seiler basked in Indiana's NCAA tourney celebration. How could he not? This was why the veteran pitcher had chosen the Hoosiers last summer after entering the transfer portal following a strong four-year run at Sienna -- for a postseason shot.
“This is awesome,” Seiler said. “This is everything I wanted in a last (college) year.”
Two other graduate transfers without NCAA tourney experience on their resumes, Phillip Glasser (Youngstown State) and Peter Serruto (Rutgers), shared that enthusiasm after IU returned to NCAA tourney action for the first time since 2019.
The third-seeded Hoosiers (41-18) will face second-seeded West Virginia (39-18) Friday night in the Lexington Regional. Top-seed Kentucky (36-18) will play Ball State (36-21) in the other opener of the double-elimination event.
“I had one goal heading into this season,” Serruto said. “This being my last ride with college baseball, I wanted to make the NCAA Tournament. To do that, to know all the hard work and sacrifices we made has paid off, is such a great feeling.”
Glasser gambled twice, first by transferring to IU for the 2022 season, then by passing on last year’s Major League Baseball draft opportunity to return.
“Coming to Indiana was a risk,” he said. “Staying for this year was a risk. Seeing our name pop up was a culmination of all the hard work we’ve put in the last two years.”
Added Serruto: “It was a weight off our shoulders. We expected it to happen, but the waiting around, not knowing where we would be headed, was tough. Once we saw our name, it was really cool.”
Flash back to Monday. Seiler was at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall’s Spirit of 76 Club. A watch party for the NCAA Baseball Tourney Selection Show had just wrapped up, and it was time to contemplate before practice.
“For us guys who transferred in,” Seiler said, “it’s a special moment because this is why we came to Indiana, to be in a regional and hopefully make a run.”
Risk? Of course, there was. Seiler had one year to get it right, to pick a program that had the talent, coaching and resources to earn a regional opportunity. And if IU was coming off a losing season as part of a rebuilding effort, Seiler saw the potential, starting with head coach Jeff Mercer and pitching coach Dustin Glant.
“I came here because of the coaching staff,” Seiler said. “Coach Mercer and Coach Glant sold me right away. Everything they told me has come to fruition.
“As a transfer, that’s something you worry about. This is exactly what they told me would happen. It’s awesome that it has.”
The 6-foot-6 Seiler is 1-3 with one save and a 5.72 earned run average this season. He threw two scoreless innings in last week’s 4-3 Big Ten tourney win over Illinois.
“Coach Glant has such an analytical mind,” Seiler said. “He’s all about development. For me as an older guy, that was the reason why I came here. I wanted to learn from him. That’s exactly what I’ve done.”
Seiler had individual success at Sienna, highlighted by recording an NCAA-best 19 strikeouts in a complete-game win over Niagara in 2022 that earned him co-national-player-of-the-week honors. He totaled six career victories.
That followed earning all-state honors in baseball and football at New York’s The Albany Academy.
Now comes regional opportunity. Mercer gave the Hoosiers a couple days off following the 1-2 Big Ten tourney showing.
“It was a tough end of the tournament,” Seiler said, “but we knew what we had ahead of us. Now everybody is 0-0. Everybody’s ERA is 0.00. Everybody’s batting average is zero. We get to play baseball and have fun.”
Fun means the 16 regional winners will advance to eight super regional sites, set for June 9-12. Those winners qualify for the College World Series, which runs June 16-26 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
The key to a long postseason run, Seiler said, is, “just playing our game.”
“We have to pitch well like we have all year. At the plate, we have a great lineup. Our defense has been phenomenal. Focus on not trying to do too much or let the moment get too big.
“It’s so special to be with these guys. I made friends for life.”
Serruto once wondered if NCAA tourney opportunity would ever happen.
“Thinking to where I was four to five years ago, to be in this position, it sometimes seemed like a farfetched goal. To be here with these coaches and this team, we all had this shared collective vision and to see it all play out is rewarding. I couldn’t be more grateful to be part of this.”
Playing in Lexington, basically a three-hour drive from Bloomington, adds to the excitement.
“This gives us an opportunity to get our Hoosier fans there,” Serruto said. “It’s fairly close. You don’t have to get on a plane. It’s a nice ballpark, good facilities. It should be a good atmosphere for college baseball.”
Getting a few days away from baseball, he added, helped.
“We’d been on the road a ton at the end of the season, and played some really good teams. “It was good to take a breath, get our pitching arms the rest they need. It gives our lineup a chance to get healthy.
“We’re all fresh and ready to go with a lot of energy, a lot of positive energy, that we’ll use.”
While IU didn’t play West Virginia this season, it did beat Ball State twice (16-13 and 9-8) and lost at Kentucky (12-2). The Mountaineers have lost five straight games, and six of seven.
“When we’ve had success,” Serruto said, “we’ve had guys step up on the mound, guys like Evan Whiteaker in the Big Ten Tournament (who pitched 4.1 innings of one-run ball against Illinois to get the victory).
“We’ve relied on good starting pitching, and then certain guys stepping up in the bullpen. We need that to continue. Our lineup does what it does. We have to take care of the ball, control the run game and get timely hits.”
Amid the cheers and fist bumps when Indiana’s name appeared on the selection show, Mercer kept his eye on Glasser, who remains one of his biggest transfer portal gets.
“He was the guy I was most excited to see his reaction,” Mercer said. “He turned down pro baseball to come back, to be the leader of the group, to be the face of it.
“He spent three years at Youngstown State and then came here. He had his first winning season with us, his first time to play in the postseason with us.
“I asked him, how does it feel? He said, the first thing I thought of was the freshmen making it in their first year. They might think this is easy, that it’s an every-year thing.”
It’s not. IU made it thanks to a strong body of work that withstood losses in four of its last six games, including its last two in the Big Ten tourney. Mercer attributed the late struggles to a youthful roster that wore down under the grind of a rugged season. The result -- he gave them a couple of days off.
The break came at a perfect time for Glasser, who as IU’s leadoff hitter and shortstop faces non-stop pressure-to-perform responsibility. He visited his girlfriend near Indianapolis and got some pool time.
“It helps a lot mentally and physically,” he said. “You’ve got to get your mentality right before being physically ready. Guys got away, got off their feet and got ready to restart this new part of the season.
“I got away from baseball for a little bit and just relaxed. Now I’m back ready to go.”
So are the Hoosiers, he added.
“It’s about playing our game. We’ll be well prepared. It’s being fundamental, not beating ourselves, getting the big hit when it matters.
“That’s what these games come down to, executing in the clutch in the last three innings. Sometimes the ball doesn’t roll your way. It’s making sure you have every opportunity for the ball to roll toward you.”
IU’s 10th NCAA tourney opportunity, and Big Ten-best seventh in the last 10 years, reflects the program’s consistent excellence that has spanned three head coaches -- Mercer, hris Lemonis and Tracy Smith.
The Hoosiers have won at least one regional game in six of their previous nine appearances, but their aspirations go well beyond that. Their only College World Series appearance came in 2013. They’d love a return.
“This is a chance to compete for a national championship,” Mercer said, “but there’s so much that’s gained by making it.”
Indiana was one of three Big Ten teams to make the 64-team field. The others were No. 2 seed Maryland (41-19) and No. 2-seed Iowa (42-14).
Only two Big Ten teams made it last season -- Maryland and Michigan. A conference-record five teams, including Indiana, made it in 2016.
Mercer hopes even more conference teams will make the NCAA tourney field moving forward.
“We want to get back to where three, four and five Big Ten teams are going every year,” he said. “That’s where it’s been. That’s where it should be.
“Across the conference, we have to continue to do the things from a recruiting standpoint, from an investment standpoint, to push us to be there.”