Indiana to Finish Regular Season with Series at Purdue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– Indiana will close out the regular season with a trip to West Lafayette to face rival Purdue this weekend at Bittinger Stadium (May 2-4).

The Hoosiers carry a 30-16 record with an 8-11 mark in the Big Ten prior to the series. It will be a short turnaround before Indiana heads back to West Lafayette as the Big Ten Tournament will take place there next week, as well (May 7-10).

QUICK HITTERS:

Indiana leads the nation in three statistical categories: batting average (.380), doubles per game (2.15) and on base percentage (.470).
Taylor Minnick was named a Top 25 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honor.
Four Hoosiers have a .400 or better batting average. Taylor Minnick (.504), Madalyn Strader (.444), Avery Parker (.411), and Aly VanBrandt (.402) all are hitting the mark.
Minnick's .504 batting average is second-best in the NCAA and the top mark in the Big Ten. She only trails Haley Ahr of Marist who is hitting .525 for Marist.
Minnick broke the program's career and single season records last weekend. She is up to 56 career doubles and 21 on the season. She passed Moni Armandarez and Cora Bassett, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT:

Indiana put up a hard-fought battle against No. 7 Oregon to end its home slate of the 2025 season last weekend. Oregon did sweep Indiana, but the Sunday game was a thriller with Indiana narrowly losing, 9-7.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Indiana had the bases loaded with one out, but could not plate another run and lost in dramatic fashion.
Despite the loss, Josie Bird had the best game of her career, hitting two home runs and a double.
While the Hoosiers lost all three games, they proved they can hit against top pitching. Oregon's Lyndsey Grein entered the weekend with a 1.15 ERA, the nation's best, and the Ducks' Elise Sokolosky has a 2.03 ERA. Indiana hit .361 at the plate as a team with Minnick (.545) and Melina Wilkison (.538) each hitting above .500.
In Saturday's loss, Minnick became the program's all-time doubles leader for most doubles in a career and in one season.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:

Purdue enters the final regular season weekend with a 27-20 record and 8-11 mark in the Big Ten. In their last outing, they defeated SIUE, 7-5, on Wednesday at home and in their last series they were swept at No. 22 Ohio State.
In the non-conference slate, Purdue picked up impressive wins over NC State and Louisville in the FAU Tournament (Feb. 14-16).
In conference play, Purdue owns a sweep against Illinois (April 18-19) and picked up a 6-2 road win at No. 20 Nebraska (March 31).
Moriah Polar leads Purdue at the plate with a .458 batting average and 28 RBI. Khloe Banks is the Boilers' only other hitter batting above .300, charting a .378 batting average.
Madi Elish boasts the pitching staff's lowest ERA (2.63) while Julia Gossett leads the team in strikeouts (122).

SERIES HISTORY NOTES:

The Indiana and Purdue rivalry's history is very close with Indiana edging Purdue, 44-42, in the all-time series. The Hoosiers have won eight of the last nine matchups between the two programs.

Indiana to Finish Regular Season with Series at Purdue

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cora Bassett

Josie Bird

Taylor Minnick

Avery Parker

Madalyn Strader

Aly VanBrandt

Melina Wilkison

Indiana University Athletics

Indiana to Finish Regular Season with Series at Purdue

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cora Bassett

Josie Bird

Taylor Minnick

Avery Parker

Madalyn Strader

Aly VanBrandt

Melina Wilkison

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