As the weather starts to shift warmer (slightly), the Indiana Hoosiers baseball program starts up another season in Bloomington. The Hoosiers’ 2025 season had its ups and downs, ultimately ending in a mid-standings finish in the Big Ten where they missed out on the NCAA Tournament after back to back appearances in the two years prior.
Entering this season, the Hoosiers have some big shoes to fill. They lost key offensive contributors Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson while also losing invaluable pitchers in Cole Gilley and Ben Grable, all to the MLB Draft. Per iuhoosiers.com, this now gives Head Coach Jeff Mercer 17 top-10 round selections in the last seven seasons, a marvel for a university regularly competing against the bulldozer programs of the southern United States.
The Hoosiers are looking to rebound and reload, however, as they enter this season with promise. Depending on where you look, betting sites generally place the Hoosiers at the 5th best odds to win the Big Ten. UCLA is the consensus favorite, generally followed by Oregon, USC, and Iowa. Analytics site warrennolan.com put out their preseason ELO rankings recently, which follows closely with how the betting sites are projecting things. Warrennolan.com currently has Indiana as the 54th best team in the country.
54th is nothing to scoff at, especially against a team with a lot of questions entering the season and several pieces to replace. However, I mentioned above that the Hoosiers are primed to rebound and reload, and they certainly are. The Hoosiers have reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Jake Hanley, who could easily vault himself into one of the best players in the country if he builds on his stellar first season (.333/.429/.575 with 14 homeruns, 52 RBIs, and a K/BB ratio of 1.36 with 45 strikeouts to 33 walks).
Beyond Hanley, the Hoosiers also boast other sophomores who look to take the next step forward this season in Hogan Denny, Cooper Malamazian, and Will Moore, who put up OPS’s of .924, .906, and .903, respectively. All three players had strong freshman campaigns and, despite the very good OPS’s you see, all three are likely looking to add some pop to their games in 2026.
These three players combined for 11 total homeruns in 2025 with all playing at least 45 games in the season. As the trio takes the next step in their Indiana careers, I am curious to see if weight room time, swing mechanic practice, and increased reps overall lead to another level of offense for this promising group of Hoosiers.
On the pitching side of things, there are several question marks as former pitching coach Dustin Glant left Bloomington to become the assistant pitching/bullpen coach for the Washington Nationals. In his place, the Hoosiers hired Matt Myers, who brings a wealth of experience to Bloomington.
“Matt brings a wealth of experience from his time in Division One baseball. He has spent eight years as a head coach and most recently completed a successful stint in professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization,” Mercer said in a press release. “Matt and I have been friends for over 10 years, having coached together at Western Kentucky. His values align with our program philosophy of personal relationships and player development. He has a great ability to communicate and align people. His enthusiasm and relentless optimism is infectious and I’m confident will serve our team well.”
Myers was hired about two months ago as of this writing and was previously the pitching coach for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Myers has head coaching experience at other stops throughout his career and has seen success in getting the most out of his rotations and bullpen.
Often, the Hoosiers perform strongly on offense but always seem to fall short when it comes to pitching. Last year, for example, they had a team ERA of 5.61. The year prior, 6.21. And the year before that, 5.27. Those seasons ended with not making the NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round, and losing in the first round, respectively. If the Hoosiers wish to make it back to the NCAA Tournament and then make a run into deeper rounds, they will need to produce consistent and strong pitching to serve as the backbone of this Hoosier baseball program.
Schedule Highlights
“Our staff worked to build a schedule that would provide the “strength of schedule” necessary to play in the NCAA Tournament,” Mercer said in December. “We want to be battled tested and prepared to play our best baseball the last month of the season. With the continued growth of the Big Ten and our philosophy of challenging ourselves in the non-conference slate, it should be a great test and we’re excited to compete.”
- The Hoosiers kick off the 2026 season with a three game series at North Carolina (ACCNX)
- IU’s home opener is on February 17th at 4pm vs. Bradley (BTN+)
- IU will play in the Live Like Lou Jacksonville Baseball Classic (LSU, UCF and Notre Dame) Feb. 20-22nd
- Non-Conference foes include Xavier, Western Kentucky, Bradley, Northern Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Wright State, Ball State, Evansville, Abilene Christian and Louisville
- Big Ten Opener is on March 6th (5pm) vs. Washington (BTN+)
- Hoosiers travel to Purdue May 8-10th
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Credit to iuhoosiers.com for providing great insight and information into the baseball program as well.