BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In Friday’s eight-run victory over Purdue, Indiana baseball showed what it could be when it all clicks.
In Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Purdue at Bart Kaufman Field, Indiana demonstrated what has held it back and what traits might ultimately keep the Hoosiers out of the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana (28-22, 13-13) scored in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, but that was all the Hoosiers could muster in the scoring department. The Hoosiers are a good offensive team, but Indiana baseball coach Jeff Mercer lamented the habits that keep Indiana from being consistent.
“We hit some balls hard early that on most days are home runs, but we sometimes just have to adjust differently. We have to execute with guys on base,” Mercer said.
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Indiana’s offensive performance looks worse when you consider that first baseman Jake Hanley accounted for three of Indiana’s seven base hits. The top three spots in the order went 1-for-10 against Purdue pitchers Cole Van Assen and lefty Michael Vallone.
“My frustration, and I told them, was our inability to execute to a different game plan,” Mercer explained. “(Purdue) brings in the lefty with low slot ride and they moved the entire infield over. You’re going to have to shoot the ball the other way, hit the ball on a line to right field, and we were unable to do that,” Mercer explained.
Purdue, fighting for its life as far as Big Ten Tournament qualification is concerned, played a steady game and were able to create scoring opportunities Indiana could not replicate.
After Cooper Malamazian drove home Hanley for the opening run of the game for Indiana in the second inning, it was all Purdue in terms of scoring.
Purdue’s Eli Anderson singled home Ty Gill in the third inning to tie the contest. Purdue (30-20, 10-16) then took the lead in the fifth inning on a towering Aaron Manias home run to center.
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CJ Richmond singled home Brandon Anderson in the sixth to make it 3-1. In the eighth, Purdue slugger Logan Sutter hit a two-run home run to left to give Purdue the 5-1 edge.
All the while, Indiana created opportunities to push ahead, but the Hoosiers were unable to take advantage.
Some of it was bad execution, but some of Indiana’s issue were also just bad luck.
In the fifth inning, when Purdue’s lead was 2-1, Devin Taylor walked and Korbyn Dickerson hit a Van Assen offering into the right-center field gap. The speedy Taylor would have scored easily on the long shot, but it bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double and Taylor was compelled to stop at third. The Hoosiers were unable to drive Taylor or Dickerson home afterwards.
This inning was part of Indiana’s .143 average with runners in scoring position. The Hoosiers were 0-for-9 with two outs.
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Indiana’s pitching wasn’t bad, but wasn’t outstanding either. Starter Ben Grable pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out five batters. Gavin Seebold, a former starter, then went 3 2/3 innings in relief and struck out six.
It was Grable’s 11th start of the season, but the Hoosiers have not been able to put together a starting staff that has stood the test of time. Ten different Hoosiers have started a game this season.
“Ideally, you’re able to you’re able to do that. You’re able to line guys up and and have defined roles,” said Mercer on the pitching roles.
“I would love to be able to do that, but when the draft is always an impact, and then injuries here and there, so then you have to problem solve. You have to play the cards that you’re dealt,” Mercer said.
Realistically, to have a shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Indiana probably had to run the table of its remaining regular season games and make a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament.
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With the loss to Purdue, that isn’t a possibility. Indiana’s RPI remains in the 70s, not good enough to earn an at-large bid.
The series against Purdue concludes at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Bart Kaufman Field.
Alabama football completed Step 1. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday, earning its first College Football Playoff victory.
With the first round completed, UA has a tougher test ahead. No. 1 Indiana awaits in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. As Alabama celebrates its victory and begins to prepare, here’s what to know about the 13-0 Hoosiers.
The coach
To say that Curt Cignetti has done a good job at Indiana is perhaps college football’s largest understatement. Cignetti, who took over last season, has turned the Big Ten’s ultimate doormat into the nation’s top team.
Cignetti joined up from James Madison before the 2024 season. He immediately took a program that had grown stale under Tom Allen to the CFP, then turned around and did even better this year.
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“I just know that winning lifts all boats,” Cignetti said after the playoff field was announced. “In terms of fan support in the stadium, donations, all parts of the university, downtown when you pack the stadium, bring a lot of people to Bloomington, it helps their sales. A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation. The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I’d say right now the arrow is pointing up. We probably got a lot of momentum going in those kind of areas.”
Cignetti has a connection to Alabama as well. He worked as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 through 2011, helping set the groundwork for Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
In addition to Indiana in James Madison, he was a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon after leaving the Tide.
The quarterback
For the first time in program history, Indiana has a Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza beat out a group of finalists that included Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards this season, with 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 226 of his 316 passes so far.
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“Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff,” Mendoza told reporters Monday in Bloomington. “That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter. I believe this trophy is a little bit of a push of confidence on us, on the team, that we’re making history for the IU team in history to be 13-0 and also to bring home a Heisman Trophy to Bloomington.”
The junior, who hails from Florida, transferred into Indiana from Cal this year. He spent two seasons in Berkeley before joining the Hoosiers.
The season
Indiana was the losingest program in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering this season. Some predicted it would be a step back for the Hoosiers, who lost several key players from last season’s playoff team.
Instead, IU won its first Big Ten title since 1967. It enters the CFP undefeated.
“I think that if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we’re going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs, the team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it’s tough to make those predictions,” Mendoza said Monday.
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To cap off the season, Indiana, which had faced criticism for its strength of schedule throughout the year, pulled off a huge upset in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat then No. 1 Ohio State, earning the top seed in the CFP and a spot in the Rose Bowl.
Months after being named the 2024 Indiana Thoroughbred Owner’s and Breeder’s Association’s Horse of the Year for 2024, multiple stakes winner Demolisher was euthanized after a bout with laminitis.
“We went from the highest highs as Indiana Horse of the Year to the lowest low ever when we had to say goodbye,” said Resia Ayres, who bred and raced Demolisher with husband Ken.
Unraced at 2, Demolisher proved worth the wait as he won the first five starts of his career in 2024, topped by stakes wins in the Governor’s Handicap and the To Much Coffee Handicap. All five of those wins came at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He closed out the season with an unplaced start in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.
In March the son of Dominus was honored as ITOBA’s top Indiana-bred 3-year-old male and its Horse of the Year.
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“It’s about as high as we ever expected to have any of our horses,” Ken Ayres said at the time. “It’s hard to put words to it. Obviously, we’re super excited about it.”
For several years, the common refrain among some state lawmakers has been that they had no desire to tackle the issue until the federal government reclassified the drug. That argument will be removed if the president’s order receives federal regulatory approval as directed.
