Indiana Baseball Beats Michigan State, Secures No. 2 Seed in Big Ten Tournament
Indiana had hoped to claim a Big Ten regular-season championship this weekend at Michigan State, but came up a little short after losses to the Spartans on Thursday and Friday. Indiana won on Saturday, but finished a game behind Maryland in the league race.
The Hoosiers claimed a 6-5 win over the Spartans, their 40th of the season. Indiana posted its first 40-win regular season since the 2013 team won 40 regular-season games. The Hoosiers won 40 overall games in 2018, with 37 coming in the regular season. It is the ninth time an Indiana team won 40-plus games in a single season.
The win got them the No. 2 seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, Neb. They will play No. 7 seed Illinois on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET in the double-elimination tournament.
The complete Big Ten Tournament schedule is below.
On Saturday, the Hoosiers wrapped up the regular season with an impressive win. Freshman Devin Taylor posted his fourth multi-home run game of the season – third in Big Ten play – and moved into No. 3 on the all-time Big Ten freshman home run charts with his 15th and 16th long balls of the season. He also reached the 10-home run mark in Big Ten play, just the sixth Hoosier to reach double figures in conference play. His three RBIs moved his season total 56, which ranks No. 6 on the rookie charts at IU.
In all, Taylor was 3-for-4 with one walk, three RBIs and two runs scored. Sophomore Carter Mathison had two hits, two runs scored and one RBI. He hit his ninth home run of the season and added one walk. Freshman Tyler Cerny doubled, scored one run, and had an RBI. Seniors Phillip Glasser and Peter Serruto also collected RBIs in the contest.
Senior Ty Bothwell allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings in the start. He scattered five hits and one walk to go along with two strikeouts. Sophomore Luke Hayden (2-0) picked up the win in relief with 1 2/3 innings of one-run work. He struck out one and scattered three hits and one walk. Freshman Connor Foley (3) earned the save with eight strikeouts in three innings of work. He allowed two runs on three hits with three walks.
The Hoosiers finished 40-16 on the season and 16-8 in the Big Ten.
Big Ten Baseball Tournament Schedule
All games are at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. All games are televised on the Big Ten Network.
Tuesday, May 23
- Game 1: No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 6 Michigan, 11 a.m. ET.
- Game 2: No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 7 Illinois, 3 p.m. ET.
- Game 3: No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 8 Michigan State, 8 p.m. ET.
Wednesday, May 24
- Game 4: No. 4 Nebraska vs. No. 5 Rutgers, 3 p.m. ET.
- Game 5: Iowa-Michigan loser vs. Indiana-Illinois loser, 8 p.m. ET.
Thursday, May 25
- Game 6: Maryland-Michigan State loser vs. Nebraska-Rutgers loser, 11 a.m. ET.
- Game 7: Iowa-Michigan winner vs. Indiana-Illinois winner, 3 p.m. ET.
- Game 8: Maryland-Michigan State winner vs, Nebraska-Rutgers, 7 p.m. ET.
Friday, May 26
- Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs Winner Game 5, 3 p.m. ET.
- Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs Winner Game 6, 8 p.m. ET.
Saturday, May 27
- Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 9, 10 a.m. ET.
- Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs Winner Game 10, 2 p.m. ET.
- Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs Loser Game 11, 6 p.m. ET.
- Game 14: Winner Game 12 vs Loser Game 12, 10 p.m. ET.
Sunday, May 29
- Game 11: Championship game, 3 p.m. ET