Indiana Baseball Travels to Nebraska as Big Ten Title Race Heats Up

Heading into its weekend series at Nebraska, Indiana is in a three-way tie for second place in the Big Ten standings with two series left in the regular season. Here's the full weekend schedule, pitching matchups, recent results and a few Cornhuskers to look out for.

Indiana third baseman Josh Pyne celebrates Sunday's win over Purdue. / Indiana Athletics

Indiana has two Big Ten series left, and each game is shaping up to be crucial to the regular season conference title race.

Coach Jeff Mercer and the Hoosiers won two of three games at Purdue last weekend, and now they're traveling to Nebraska for a three-game set beginning Friday. To conclude the regular season, Indiana hosts Michigan from May 16-18. And all of those teams are in the mix for a Big Ten championship.

Illinois currently sits atop the Big Ten standings with a 13-5 conference record. Indiana, Purdue and Nebraska are all just one game behind Illinois at 12-6, followed by Iowa at 13-8 and Michigan at 11-7. The league-leading Illini host Iowa this weekend before traveling to Purdue for their final series, so the conference title is certainly up for grabs for several teams.

Here's the full schedule for Indiana's series against Nebraska, taking place inside Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Neb.

Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET on BTN-plus

• Indiana LHP Ty Bothwell (6-2, 5.46 ERA) vs. Nebraska RHP Brett Sears (7-0, 2.18 ERA)

Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network

• Indiana RHP Connor Foley (4-1, 4.53 ERA) vs. Nebraska RHP Mason McConnaughey (6-3, 3.19 ERA)

Sunday, 1:05 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network

• Pitching matchup TBD

Indiana enters the series 27-19-1 overall and 12-6 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers are 11-3 in their last 14 Big Ten games and have lost just one conference series all year, which came against first-place Illinois.

After a 7-4 loss at Purdue in the series opener last weekend, the Hoosiers won 10-2 on Saturday and 5-4 on Sunday to win the series against their in-state rivals in West Lafayette, Ind. Junior Brock Tibbitts returned to the lineup against Purdue after missing roughly one month due to a lower leg injury, and he started a four-run, ninth-inning rally during Sunday's win. Tibbitts is 14 hits away from becoming the 25th member of the 200-hit club at Indiana.

Sophomore outfielder Devin Taylor has been especially hot lately, batting .462 (12 for 26) with four home runs, seven RBIs, nine runs, a double and a triple in the last six games. Nick Mitchell leads the Hoosiers with a .356 batting average, and he's one of five everyday starters batting above .300.

On the mound, Connor Foley, Ty Bothwell, Aydan Decker-Petty and Jacob Vogel were key to the series win at Purdue. Vogel tossed four scoreless innings while allowing just four baserunners to close out Sunday's game.

Case Sanderson leads the Cornhuskers with a .362 batting average and a .519 on-base percentage. Tyler Stone and Josh Caron are sluggers for the Hoosiers to watch out for, as they have a team-high seven and eight home runs, respectively.

Nebraska's Brett Sears has been the top starting pitcher in the Big Ten this season. He's tied for the conference lead with 78.1 innings pitched, and he leads all qualified pitchers with a 2.18 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. Mason Mcconnaughey should continue to challenge the Hoosiers on Saturday, as he's third in the Big Ten with a 3.19 ERA across 48 innings.

Not only does this series have major Big Ten title race implications, it will also help determine the NCAA Tournament field. Baseball America currently projects Indiana and Nebraska as the lone Big Ten teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, while D1 Baseball has Illinois and Nebraska in the field.

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