Examining The Series:
The Indiana Hoosiers baseball program faced off in a three-game weekend series against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, taking 2 of 3 games in the series, with their two wins coming dominantly. This was an encouraging Big Ten win for the young Hoosiers and one they no doubt are looking to build upon into their Tuesday matchup against Ball State, along with future series to come as well. Regarding the Ball State matchup, the game information is as follows:
Tuesday, April 7 @ 6:00 PM ET in Bloomington, Indiana
Looking deeper into rankings for both teams, we see the following:
Indiana: Indiana now sits at 105th in the country by RPI ranking and 105th in the country by ELO ranking, which is a more analytical way to measure team performance. The Rutgers wins did not do much to move the needle by way of ranking, as Rutgers’ RPI currently sits at 162nd in the country.
Ball State: The Cardinals are having a tough season thus far in 2026. Their record is 15-15 and they currently rank 186th in RPI ranking and 182nd by way of ELO. They come into Bloomington on a four-game losing streak that they no doubt are hoping to break against the Hoosiers.
Indiana Stats and Figures:
2 Low-Ranked Losses: Indiana has had trouble in Tuesday games against weaker opponents. They lost to 199th-ranked Indiana State on March 24th and lost to 197th-ranked Evansville on March 31st. These losses are backbreaking and need to turn to wins in the future. Now, as the 186th-ranked Ball State Cardinals come to town for a Tuesday game, the Hoosiers absolutely must win.
2 Players Above 1.000 OPS: The Hoosiers have had trouble hitting the ball for power during the 2026 season, but two players have been seeing strong success nonetheless. After the Rutgers series, Hogan Denny (1.040) and Jake Hanley (1.017) now lead the team in OPS and are the only two players with an OPS above 1.000. The long-term goal would be for more players to join this club, but it is promising to see these two Hoosiers absolutely raking at the plate in 2026.
Prediction and Next Series:
The Hoosiers must win this game. They can’t allow another low-ranked team to win if they want any chance to salvage their season, especially in the Hoosiers’ home stadium. I am predicting that the Hoosiers build off of their strong performance against Rutgers and beat Ball State 8-1.
After the Cardinals come to town, the Hoosiers travel to College Park, Maryland to meet up with the Terrapins for a three game weekend series. Be on the lookout for a preview of that series later this week!
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