Examining The Series
The Indiana Hoosiers are entering their final series of the season this weekend. They start play on Thursday, May 14th and continue on Friday, May 15th and Saturday, May 16th. Coming off of a sweep from Purdue last series, the Hoosiers do not have much to play for this series other than ending the year on a high note. To read more about the Hoosiers’ last series against Purdue, check out Campbell Manahan’s detailed recap here.
For the past several series, the Hoosiers still had an outside shot at qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament. Now, they are officially eliminated and face an Illinois team who is looking to keep their hot streak going as they have won five straight games. Let’s look at each team a bit closer:
Indiana: The Hoosiers now rank 124th in the country by RPI rankings and have fallen to 138th in the country by ELO rankings, which is a more analytical way to rank teams. They are 2-8 in their last 10 games and currently sit tied for last in the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 7-20.
Illinois: The Fighting Illini rank 81st in the country by RPI rankings and also land at 81st in the country by ELO rankings. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and currently are 8th in the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 13-14. They are solidly qualified for the Big Ten tournament at this moment in time.
Indiana Stats and Figures
18: Freshman Owen ten Oever is just 18 years old – the youngest on the team – but is currently 4th on the team in OPS on the season with a mark of .962. He has simply been phenomenal this season and projects to be a huge contributor for the future.
14th: The Hoosiers sit 14th in the Big Ten by team-wide ERA with a mark of 6.71. There’s not much else to be said, really. This is one of the major reasons for Indiana’s lackluster season and represents the #1 area that needs to change should the Hoosiers want to compete on the national stage again in the future.
Prediction and Next Series
I was close on my previous prediction against Purdue. I predicted a 2-1 series loss and the Hoosiers ended up getting swept. It’s a tough way to be wrong, but it’s how this season has been for Indiana in 2026. Against a hot Illinois team who is looking to stay hot going into the Big Ten Tournament, I don’t see this changing. I am predicting a 2-1 series loss again for Indiana.
After the Illinois series, the Hoosiers’ season will be over. Thank you to everyone for following along with me each series as we previewed the matchups and kept up with the team. Hopefully next year the Hoosiers are playing into June again!
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