Indiana University Athletics
Baseball Central: Ball State
4/8/2024 5:30:00 PM | Baseball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After picking up three top-35 RPI wins last week, including a series victory at Maryland, the Indiana Baseball team (18-15, 3-3 B1G) returns home with four opportunities at Bart Kaufman Field. Ball State visits Tuesday before Penn State comes to town for an important Big Ten weekend.
IU received an offensive explosion (51 runs in four games) and held opponents to seven-or-fewer runs in all four games last week. Sophomore shortstop Tyler Cerny (Big Ten Player of the Week) and redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski (Big Ten Freshman of the Week) were instrumental in helping the Hoosiers get back on track.
The Hoosiers are two wins away from 200 all-time victories at Bart Kaufman Field (opened in 2013). IU could accomplish that this week as it attempts to keep stacking wins towards a potential at-large bid. The Big Ten race is also wide open with Nebraska (5-1) and Illinois (7-2) leading a long list of contenders so far.
Tuesday's contest will have a first pitch of 6:00 PM at Bart Kaufman Field. It will be the first of two matchups in three weeks with the Cardinals. The game on April 23rd will be held at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
Gameday Info
vs. Ball State (Tuesday, April 9th – 6:00 PM)
Live Video: t.ly/_fMBQ
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX
Probable Starters
Indiana vs. Ball State
• TBD (IU) vs. TBD (BSU)
Player and Stat Trends
Closing in on 200
• Josh Pyne (188) is closing on 200 hits through his time in Bloomington. He just needs 12 more to join the club. 23 players in program history, which dates back to the 1890's, have recorded 200-career hits. Only nine players have ever reached 200 hits in their first three years on campus.
200 of His Own
• Ty Bothwell is also searching for 200 … strikeouts. He is 11 away from becoming the 10th member of the 200-strikeout club at IU. He is currently second on the team with 40 punchies, behind only Connor Foley's 64.
Racking Up Hits
• Tyler Cerny (50) is one of just two players, along with Rutgers' Josh Kuroda-Grauer, in the Big Ten with 50 hits this season. The only player in program with 100+ hits in a season was Alex Smith (1985). Phillip Glasser was close with 95 in 2023.
Notable
Big Week Gets IU Back on Track
• Heading into the month of April, IU needed anything to go its way. It got that and more with three top-35 RPI wins including a win over top-20 RPI team Indiana State and a series victory over Maryland.
• That helped the Hoosiers climb into the top-60 of the RPI (56) and back into the Big Ten race, just two games off the leaders Nebraska. The Hoosiers still have eight home games remaining in April including four this week.
Cerny Heating Up
• Tyler Cerny went on a tear this week, hitting .450 across four games enroute to Big Ten Player of the Week honors. He had six-straight multi-hit games across the past two weeks and hit a game-tying grand slam against Indiana State
• On the week, he had nine hits, 11 runs scored, six RBIs, three doubles and one home run. He didn't make a single error in the field and hit cleanup in the absence of slugger Brock Tibbitts. Cerny is among the top-10 in multiple Big Ten categories including hits (2nd), runs scored (3rd), RBIs (2nd) and doubles (2nd).
The Path Ahead
• The journey to the NCAA and Big Ten Tournament is straight forward: get hot in the month of April. IU got back on track and now needs to continue to play well over the final six weeks of the regular season to put itself in a prime spot for an at-large bid.
• With a more settled rotation and an offense that's starting to figure it out, IU will look to start stacking wins with important Big Ten series looming over the next few weeks.
Stepping Up
• Without the services of start catcher/first baseman Brock Tibbitts and sophomore AJ Shepard, IU is stretched thin at those two positions. Redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski (1B) and redshirt junior Jake Stadler (C) have stepped up massively to fill the void. Their offensive production has been great and have both settled in nice defensively.
Foley's Big Year
• No one's draft stock is rising more than the draft-eligible sophomore from Jasper. Foley, the Big Ten leader in strikeouts, has begun his conference campaign with 13 scoreless innings, three hits allowed and 20 punchouts. He has been a force on Saturday's, IU is 7-1 in his starts, and continues to make a case for All-Conference and All-American honors.
Play the Kids
• No one has been more known to play his talented freshmen than Jeff Mercer. Since he's arrived to Bloomington in 2019, nine different players have earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. Jasen Oliver and Joey Brenczewski have done so in back-to-back weeks and Andrew Wiggins has become a talented option at DH for the Hoosiers.
Scouting the Opponent
Ball State (20-13, 7-8 MAC)
• The Cardinals have won seven of their last 10 after taking two of three from Miami (Ohio) this last season. Ball State made the NCAA Tournament, joining IU in the Lexington Regional. The two teams didn't play in the postseason.
• Michael Hallquist is mashing the baseball, leading Ball State in average (.348), hits (46), home runs (11) and RBIs (34). Decker Scheffler (.323) and Nick Husovsky (.317) are also batting over .300.
• Ball State has a collective 5.91 earned run average and has allowed 211 runs this year. IU is averaging over 8.5 runs per game this season.
Inside the Series
Indiana vs. Ball State
• The in-state foes are quite familiar with each other, having met in 63 all-time matchups. IU has won the past five including a pair of close victories in 2023.
• Four of the past five matchups have been decided by three-or-fewer runs including a 14-inning marathon game at Bart Kaufman Field in 2018. The contest lasted nearly six hours.
IU received an offensive explosion (51 runs in four games) and held opponents to seven-or-fewer runs in all four games last week. Sophomore shortstop Tyler Cerny (Big Ten Player of the Week) and redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski (Big Ten Freshman of the Week) were instrumental in helping the Hoosiers get back on track.
The Hoosiers are two wins away from 200 all-time victories at Bart Kaufman Field (opened in 2013). IU could accomplish that this week as it attempts to keep stacking wins towards a potential at-large bid. The Big Ten race is also wide open with Nebraska (5-1) and Illinois (7-2) leading a long list of contenders so far.
Tuesday's contest will have a first pitch of 6:00 PM at Bart Kaufman Field. It will be the first of two matchups in three weeks with the Cardinals. The game on April 23rd will be held at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
Gameday Info
vs. Ball State (Tuesday, April 9th – 6:00 PM)
Live Video: t.ly/_fMBQ
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: t.ly/DSDfX
Probable Starters
Indiana vs. Ball State
• TBD (IU) vs. TBD (BSU)
Player and Stat Trends
Closing in on 200
• Josh Pyne (188) is closing on 200 hits through his time in Bloomington. He just needs 12 more to join the club. 23 players in program history, which dates back to the 1890's, have recorded 200-career hits. Only nine players have ever reached 200 hits in their first three years on campus.
200 of His Own
• Ty Bothwell is also searching for 200 … strikeouts. He is 11 away from becoming the 10th member of the 200-strikeout club at IU. He is currently second on the team with 40 punchies, behind only Connor Foley's 64.
Racking Up Hits
• Tyler Cerny (50) is one of just two players, along with Rutgers' Josh Kuroda-Grauer, in the Big Ten with 50 hits this season. The only player in program with 100+ hits in a season was Alex Smith (1985). Phillip Glasser was close with 95 in 2023.
Notable
Big Week Gets IU Back on Track
• Heading into the month of April, IU needed anything to go its way. It got that and more with three top-35 RPI wins including a win over top-20 RPI team Indiana State and a series victory over Maryland.
• That helped the Hoosiers climb into the top-60 of the RPI (56) and back into the Big Ten race, just two games off the leaders Nebraska. The Hoosiers still have eight home games remaining in April including four this week.
Cerny Heating Up
• Tyler Cerny went on a tear this week, hitting .450 across four games enroute to Big Ten Player of the Week honors. He had six-straight multi-hit games across the past two weeks and hit a game-tying grand slam against Indiana State
• On the week, he had nine hits, 11 runs scored, six RBIs, three doubles and one home run. He didn't make a single error in the field and hit cleanup in the absence of slugger Brock Tibbitts. Cerny is among the top-10 in multiple Big Ten categories including hits (2nd), runs scored (3rd), RBIs (2nd) and doubles (2nd).
The Path Ahead
• The journey to the NCAA and Big Ten Tournament is straight forward: get hot in the month of April. IU got back on track and now needs to continue to play well over the final six weeks of the regular season to put itself in a prime spot for an at-large bid.
• With a more settled rotation and an offense that's starting to figure it out, IU will look to start stacking wins with important Big Ten series looming over the next few weeks.
Stepping Up
• Without the services of start catcher/first baseman Brock Tibbitts and sophomore AJ Shepard, IU is stretched thin at those two positions. Redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski (1B) and redshirt junior Jake Stadler (C) have stepped up massively to fill the void. Their offensive production has been great and have both settled in nice defensively.
Foley's Big Year
• No one's draft stock is rising more than the draft-eligible sophomore from Jasper. Foley, the Big Ten leader in strikeouts, has begun his conference campaign with 13 scoreless innings, three hits allowed and 20 punchouts. He has been a force on Saturday's, IU is 7-1 in his starts, and continues to make a case for All-Conference and All-American honors.
Play the Kids
• No one has been more known to play his talented freshmen than Jeff Mercer. Since he's arrived to Bloomington in 2019, nine different players have earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. Jasen Oliver and Joey Brenczewski have done so in back-to-back weeks and Andrew Wiggins has become a talented option at DH for the Hoosiers.
Scouting the Opponent
Ball State (20-13, 7-8 MAC)
• The Cardinals have won seven of their last 10 after taking two of three from Miami (Ohio) this last season. Ball State made the NCAA Tournament, joining IU in the Lexington Regional. The two teams didn't play in the postseason.
• Michael Hallquist is mashing the baseball, leading Ball State in average (.348), hits (46), home runs (11) and RBIs (34). Decker Scheffler (.323) and Nick Husovsky (.317) are also batting over .300.
• Ball State has a collective 5.91 earned run average and has allowed 211 runs this year. IU is averaging over 8.5 runs per game this season.
Inside the Series
Indiana vs. Ball State
• The in-state foes are quite familiar with each other, having met in 63 all-time matchups. IU has won the past five including a pair of close victories in 2023.
• Four of the past five matchups have been decided by three-or-fewer runs including a 14-inning marathon game at Bart Kaufman Field in 2018. The contest lasted nearly six hours.
Players Mentioned
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