Examining The Series:
The Indiana Hoosiers baseball program is having as close to a roller coaster season as you can get. Once something promising starts to build, a drop comes. On the flip side, once you think a crater is in the distance, the Hoosiers get hot. Another example of this is the Hoosiers losing to the Indiana State Sycamores on Tuesday after putting together an incredibly impressive series win against Minnesota over the weekend.
Now looking to regain confidence after the tough loss, the Hoosiers travel to Lincoln to take on the #24 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The games this weekend are as follows:
Friday, March 27 @ 7:00 PM ET
Saturday, March 28 @ 3:00 PM ET
Sunday, March 29 @ 1:00 PM ET
All games can be seen on B1G+ and will take place at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Looking into both teams as they stand today, we see the following:
Indiana: Indiana’s RPI falls 5 spots after losing to Indiana State and now sits at 89th in the country. By way of ELO ranking – a more analytical way to measure team performance – the Hoosiers fell 16 spots after the loss and now are ranked 82nd in the country. They are currently 13th in the Big Ten by record and are no doubt looking to climb their way back up the standings.
Nebraska: The Cornhuskers are having a great year and currently rank 28th in the country by RPI. When looking at ELO, Nebraska matches their poll ranking and lands at 24th in the country. They are currently 4th in the Big Ten by record and look primed to challenge in the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana Stats and Figures:
19: The Hoosiers have hit 19 homeruns thus far during the 2026 season, ranking them 15th in the Big Ten out of 17 total teams. We knew power at the plate had potential to be a major issue for the Hoosiers entering the season and it is beginning to come into fruition. It is difficult to win games consistently if you can’t hit for power. The days of Billy Beane’s “just get on base” philosophy – while genius in its day – is now outdated. In today’s game, you need to hit for power to win, and the Hoosiers are simply not doing that at the moment.
#1: The Hoosiers rank #1 in the Big Ten in one very promising category, the average age of hitters, at an age of 20.4. Thus, while the homerun stat above is frustrating to see, the fact that the Hoosiers have the youngest hitters in the Big Ten brings promising news for growth in the future. If the Hoosiers can retain their young talent from transferring, there is hope that next year and the year after could prove fruitful as players grow and get older.
Prediction and Next Series:
The loss against Indiana State was disappointing and hurt the momentum that IU was seeing after their strong series against Minnesota. It is difficult to see the tide turning against a very good Nebraska team in their home stadium. I could unfortunately see the Hoosiers getting swept here, but will lead with my heart and say that they grab one win over the Cornhuskers.
After their trip to Lincoln, the Hoosiers travel to Evansville, Indiana for a one game series against the Evansville Purple Aces (a phenomenal baseball name, in fairness) on Tuesday before hosting Rutgers in Bloomington for a weekend series.
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!
All ranking metrics courtesy of warrennolan.com. All other metrics courtesy of baseball-reference.com