Previewing Each Team:
The Indiana Hoosiers enter Wednesday’s one-game series against Xavier with a record of 2-5. To recap the season thus far, the Hoosiers began the season getting swept by North Carolina, then run ruled Bradley in a one-game series, then lost to #1 LSU, beat UCF, and lost to Notre Dame in extra innings. All games besides North Carolina were one-game series, with the last three being part of the The Live Like Lou Jax College Baseball Classic.
This start puts the Hoosiers at an ELO ranking of 70th in the nation, per warrennolan.com. RPI wise, they currently sit at 133rd, but ELO is likely a better metric for where the Hoosiers rank this early in the season. Suffice to say, it has not been a dream start for Jeff Mercer’s Hoosiers, and they are looking to get back on track against the Xavier Musketeers.
Xavier hasn’t gotten off to the best start either, which presents opportunity for the Hoosiers to capitalize and gather momentum. Xavier also enters the game 2-5, but has lost five in a row. They rank 89th by ELO rankings and land at 118th by RPI – again, with ELO likely being a better tell of true ranking right now early in the season.
At risk of being too dramatic, this is a must win for the Hoosiers baseball program. This team has true, legitimate, talent, but needs to get clicking soon before it’s too late. For a program like Indiana, making the NCAA Tournament should be a minimum expectation. At this rate, the Hoosiers have their backs against the wall and will need to string together wins soon in order to have a fighting chance.
Predicting The Winner:
I believe that Indiana knows their backs are against the wall and that this game is pivotal to capture momentum. I understand Indiana faced very tough competition in the vast majority of their first 7 games of the season, and would like to show some grace to the Hoosiers as well, knowing the talent is there to turn things around. I believe the Hoosiers gain some confidence through this game and run with momentum into their next series this weekend.
Give me 6-3, Indiana wins.
Players To Watch:
Hitting: Freshman Landen Fry has been a joy to watch this season for the Hoosiers and has been a major bright spot for a team looking for power at the plate. He currently leads the team with a 1.133 OPS and has been the Hoosiers’ hottest hitter to start the season. It’s early, and Fry has about half the number of plate appearances as a typical Hoosiers’ starter, but the results are too strong to ignore right now.
Pitching: Indiana’s team ERA right now is hovering around 7.00. Yes, 7.00. They have pitched 60 total innings and have allowed 52 runs. Some of those runs are unearned, which takes us down to ~7.00, give or take. Fueling this team ERA is a team BB/9 of 6.9 compared to a K/9 of 7.1. This means that for every strikeout the Hoosiers generate, they also walk basically the same amount of players. This is the most simple and easy recipe for a loss game in and game out. If the Hoosiers wish to get back on track, it starts and ends here.
Schedule Coming Up:
From Friday to Sunday, the Hoosiers take on Western Kentucky in a road four-game series that could further decide the initial direction of Indiana’s season. Details are below from iuhoosiers.com.
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