Quick Series Review
The Indiana Hoosiers baseball program recently finished up an up and down long weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky, splitting a four-game series with the WKU Hilltoppers. The four games shaped out as follows:
Friday, 2/27: Indiana – 1, Western Kentucky – 4
Saturday, 2/28 (Gm 1): Indiana – 3, Western Kentucky – 1
Saturday, 2/28 (Gm 2): Indiana – 12, Western Kentucky – 14
Sunday, 3/1: Indiana – 7, Western Kentucky – 3
After this series, the Hoosiers stabilized a bit in country-wide ELO rankings provided by warrennolan.com. They entered the year ranked 54th in the country by ELO, a respectable ranking for a team facing a lot of question marks along with high upside. After some early season woes, the Hoosiers then fell 20 spots in ELO and ranked 74th in the country.
Now, after some strong performances and this series split against a good team in Western Kentucky, the Hoosiers sit back at an ELO ranking in the 50’s, ranking 58th in the country.
Thoughts and Analysis
Indiana at the Plate:
Over the entire series, the Hoosiers collectively posted a batting average of .296 and an on-base percentage of .349. Pairing those figures with 11 total extra base hits across the four games, and the Hoosiers had a good long weekend at the plate. I am still hoping for more total power from the team top to bottom (Indiana’s team-wide OPS is still just .760), but this weekend showed that there is promise and talent riddled throughout this roster.
One star from the long weekend is redshirt freshman Brayden Ricketts, who DH’d the entire series. He absolutely raked all series long. He finished with a batting average of .600, an OBP of .667, and tallied 7 total RBI’s over the four-game series. His best game was in game four, where he went 3/3 with 2 walks, 5 RBI’s, and slugged his 2nd homerun of the season.
Indiana needed someone to step up and bring power to the plate after Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson departed for Major League Baseball. They already had Jake Hanley, but needed more protection and pop to complete the team. With players like Denny Hogan and Cooper Malamazian playing well thus far in 2026, there was reason to be excited, but now with Ricketts’ emergence, the Hoosiers have potential to be a truly potent offense this season.
Indiana on the Mound:
Often, the biggest thing holding back Indiana’s baseball program over the years has been finding consistent pitching. This series against Western Kentucky, however, does bring some hope. Taking away the 14-12 loss in game three, which was not pretty, the Hoosiers actually pitched quite well.
Keeping that game in, the Hoosiers pitched to an ERA of 5.56, which is actually better than team ERA has been in years’ past. Once you remove the poor game 3, however, team ERA drops to 2.42. Now THAT is a number we can all get behind, and the Hoosiers showed flashes of what they could become under new pitching coach Matt Myers. On top of that strong ERA number (again, removing game 3 from the equation), the Hoosiers struck out 23 total batters and only walked 10. Any time the strikeout to walk ratio (K/BB) is above 2, you know you are doing something right. Hopefully, this is something for the Hoosiers to build upon.
One star from the long weekend is graduate student Tony Neubeck, who pitched a gem in game one. He twirled 5.1 total innings, allowed 1 run on 4 hits, struck out 5 batters, and walked 0. He also only threw just 71 pitches, displaying great efficiency. Neubeck is a transfer in his first year with the Hoosiers after previously battling injuries – but performing very well – with the Missouri Tigers. I am sure Neubeck is looking for a refreshing restart with his new team and, now healthy, will be looking to dominate on the mound once again.
Other IU Baseball Articles:
–Indiana Baseball Season Preview