Examining The Series
The Indiana Hoosiers baseball program just finished a massive series win over the weekend against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Minnesota has been playing well this season, but the deeper analytics told us that this was a much more even matchup than records would suggest. The Hoosiers were not daunted in the slightest and won the series 2 games to 1.
As they now enter a one-game series against the Indiana State Sycamores on Tuesday evening, the teams match up as follows:
Indiana: Indiana’s strong performances against the Golden Gophers rocketed them up in analytical rankings. By RPI, the Hoosiers land at 84th in the nation with one of the toughest schedules in the country, but by ELO ranking – a more analytical way to measure team performance – the Hoosiers rank 66th in the nation, rising up by 27 spots after their weekend performances.
Indiana State: The Sycamores are having a tough season thus far. They rank 205th in the country by RPI and 193rd by way of ELO rankings. They are 4-6 in their last ten games and have played the 201st toughest schedule in the country.
The two teams will face off on Tuesday, 3/24 at 6:00 PM ET. The game can be seen on B1G+.
Indiana Stats and Figures
1.016 OPS: Jake Hanley, arguably the Hoosiers’ best player, had an extremely strong series against Minnesota. He raised his OPS to now sit at a team leading 1.016 on the season. Hanley has also shown great plate discipline on the season and continues to rocket his stock upwards towards a future in Major League Baseball.
3.49 ERA: Tony Neubeck, arguably the Hoosiers’ best pitcher, threw a gem on Saturday. He went for 6 innings, allowed just 2 runs, and struck out 8 while only walking 2. He brought his 2026 ERA down to 3.49 on the season, which leads all Hoosier starting pitchers. Neubeck has battled injuries through his college career, but is experiencing an immensely strong bounce back year during his first season with the Hoosiers.
Prediction and Next Series
The Hoosiers are riding a strong wave of momentum after their series win against Minnesota. I don’t see that slowing down against a Sycamore squad that is having a tough season. I think the Hoosiers win this one by a score of 8-1 and bring extra confidence into a pivotal weekend series.
Speaking of that weekend series, the Hoosiers travel to Lincoln to take on the #24 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers for a weekend series where the Hoosiers need to win at least one game. We’ll cover that more during our Nebraska preview later this week. Stay tuned!
Stay locked in with Hoosier Huddle for recaps of IU baseball games and series along with previews examining each one ahead of time. Go Hoosiers!