Baseball Central: Indiana State

Tuesday, April 2

Bloomington, Ind.

6:00 PM

Indiana University

#17 Indiana State

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4/1/2024 8:00:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes Media Center

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The month of April begins for the Indiana Baseball team (15-14, 1-2 B1G) with a visit from in-state foe Indiana State. All four midweek games in the month of April will come against teams from the state of Indiana (Ball State; 2 and Evansville).

Indiana State, which is ranked as high as No. 17 in the Baseball America poll, is undefeated against Big Ten foes this year and boasts wins against Illinois, Purdue and Michigan State.

The Hoosiers struggled in the month of March but await a fresh start in the month of April with four Big Ten series on the weekends and four midweek contests.

Freshman second baseman Jasen Oliver, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, is riding a team best 11-game hitting streak into Tuesday's contest. Junior catcher and infielder Brock Tibbitts is on schedule to make his 150th-straight start in Friday night's game at Maryland.

Sixth-year senior Ty Rybarczyk will make a fourth-straight midweek start on Tuesday, hoping to hand IU a strong start. He picked up his first win for the Hoosiers last week against Middle Tennessee.

There is anticipated weather in the area ahead of Tuesday's contest. Stay tuned to Indiana Baseball on X and Facebook (@IndianaBase) for schedule updates.

Gameday Info
Indiana State (Tuesday, April 2nd - 6:00 PM)
Live Video: t.ly/_fMBQ
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX

Probable Starters
Indiana vs. Indiana State
• Tuesday – Ty Rybarczyk (IU) (1-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. TBD (ISU)

Player and Stat Trends
Jolly Making a Difference
• A dynamic freshman for the Hoosiers, Jasen Oliver has given IU a strong offensive boost over the past three weeks. He's riding an 11-game hitting streak and became the eighth freshman in the Mercer era to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week at least once.

Closing in on 200
• Josh Pyne (181) and Brock Tibbitts (182) are neck-in-neck as they try to become the next members of the 200-hit club at IU. They would be the first pair of teammates from the same recruiting class to reach the plateau since Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis (2012-14). 23 players in program history, which dates back to the 1890's, have recorded 200-career hits.

200 of His Own
• Ty Bothwell is also searching for 200 … strikeouts. He is 18 away from becoming the 10th member of the 200-strikeout club at IU. He is currently second on the team with 33 punchies behind only Connor Foley's 54.

Ironman Brock
• Brock Tibbitts is on a run of 148-straight starts without missing a contest. He is searching to become the third player since 2008 to have a stretch of at least 150-consecutive starts. Jerrud Sabourin made a 220-straight starts from 2008-11 while Craig Dedelow had 175-consecutive starts (2015-17).

Racking Up Hits
• Devin Taylor (42) and Tyler Cerny (41) are both top-7 in the Big Ten in hits this season and could be chasing special numbers in Bloomington this season. Only once at IU has a pair of teammates (Alex Dickerson and Jerrud Sabourin, 2010) each had 92+ hits respectively in the same campaign. Only one player ever (Alex Smith, 1985) has had 100+ hits in a season.

Notable
New Month, New Slate
• While the month of March didn't go the favor of the Hoosiers, a new month brings 16 addition opportunities to flip the script of the season. It begins on a tough note as Indiana State, who is ranked in multiple polls, visits Bloomington on Tuesday. The Hoosiers then make the trip to College Park to visit Maryland in the year's first Big Ten road trip.

Freshmen Production
• Needing a jolt of energy in the lineup, head coach Jeff Mercer has turned to some young talent to help boost the offense in the final half of the year. Jasen Oliver, Andrew Wiggins and Joey Brenczewski all figure to keep a prominent role in the lineup through the second half of the season.

• Oliver, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 1st, and Wiggins both had four-hit games this past week. Oliver (3) and Wiggins each produced home runs while Brenczewski continues to hit the ball on a rope into the outfield. Oliver and Brenczewski each have 19 hits while Wiggins tallied five in the past week.

A Model of Consistency
• Brock Tibbitts has been a rock for the Indiana Baseball program these past three years. Despite not being one of the top recruits out of his home state of Ohio, Tibbitts has turned himself into a top-10 round pick in this summer's MLB draft and a potential All-Big Ten player.

• He's on a run of 148-straight starts without missing a game and has never missed a contest in his college career. On the season, he's hitting .336 while sharing the team lead in RBI's (32).

Ty and Foley Make a Dynamic Duo
• Despite the shared struggles by the pitching staff so far this year, sophomore Connor Foley and sixth-year senior Ty Bothwell have been more than outstanding for the Hoosiers.

• Bothwell went a career high eight innings last Friday night to beat Butler while Foley added 5.2 innings and nine strikeouts the next morning. The two have combined for a 6-2 record while pitching 70.2 innings and striking out 87 batters.

Big Ten Play Resumes
• The race to the Big Ten Tournament is officially on for Indiana. The Hoosiers will play seven Big Ten opponents over the next seven weekends in hopes of qualifying for a conference-best 11th-straight Big Ten Tournament.

• The conference figures to be wide open over the next seven weeks. There is only one undefeated team (Nebraska) and one winless team (Northwestern) through two weekends. IU will face Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue and Nebraska on the road. It still has Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan remaining on the home slate.

Scouting the Opponent
Indiana State (21-5, 5-1 MVC)
• A top-25 team in multiple major polls; Indiana State has been quite familiar with success over the past few years. The Sycamores made a NCAA Super Regional last year and is on their way to a tournament bid once again.

• The last time the two teams met, the Indiana State bats started slow but woke up late. Luis Hernandez is hitting .376 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs. Dominic Listi is the team leader with a .379 batting average.

• Cam Edmonson came on in relief in the first meeting and stifled the IU batters. He's 3-0 with a 4.64 earned run average this season. Jared Spencer is one of the premier releivers in the NCAA and is 5-0 with a 3.86 earned run average.

Inside the Series
Indiana vs. Indiana State
• The Sycamores have won the past two matchups, both played in Terre Haute, but the Hoosiers have won five of the last seven overall. The matchup in Bloomington last season was won 15-5 by IU.