Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers Win Season Finale at Maryland, But is it Enough?
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – It was hard to tell if Indiana's final game of the regular season still had a lot of meaning to it, but the Hoosiers sure played like it did, beating Maryland 7-3 to finish the season with a 26-18 record, good for fourth place in the Big Ten.
And now the question remains for the NCAA Tournament selection committee: Have the Hoosiers done enough to get a bid into the field?
Nebraska won the regular season title to claim the league's automatic bid. Michigan and Maryland seem to be OK, but with the Big Ten playing a conference-only schedule, it's going to be interesting to see how much the selection committee punishes the league for that.
"When you look at the totality of our schedule, I feel like we're certainly deserving, but there's just no way of knowing how they're going to treat the Big Ten,'' Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said. "We've had four or five teams in the field the last few years, and we've had teams that have been successful in the NCAA Tournament.
"But we'll have to wait and see on Monday.''
It's been five years since the NCAA only took three teams into the field. That was in 2016, when Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio State made it, and that was also the last year that Indiana wasn't part of the field.
In 2019, five Big Ten teams made the field, champion Ohio State, plus Nebraska, Michigan, regular season champ Indiana and Illinois.
In 2018, four teams got in, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue and Ohio State. There were five teams in the field in 2017, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Maryland and Nebraska.
This weekend was huge for the Hoosiers, who have struggled down the stretch against a brutal back-loaded schedule against all of the league's best teams. In the past four weekends, they went 1-3 against Nebraska, 1-2 against Michigan and 1-2 against Maryland.
The Hoosiers played well on Sunday, getting quality pitching throughout and a bunch of timely hits, including two home runs from designated hitter Jordan Fucci. He hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie, and then hit a solo shot in the seventh.
The Hoosiers scored seven runs and had 14 hits. All nine starters had at least one hit, Fucci went 3-for-4 and senior left fielder Drew Ashley and freshmen Kip Fougerousse and Morgon Colopy had two hits each. Fougerousse homered in the sixth right after Fucci.
"Hitting is contagious sometimes, and we had a few hits early to get us going and then we kind of exploded there,'' Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said. "It was nice to see their confidence up after we've been struggling a bit, and everyone contributed, which was great.
"I felt great for Jordan, he's just continued to work hard and he's been through it all. It was a nice way to close out the season for him.''
John Modugno got the start with Tommy Sommer not available this weekend because of a finger injury. He pitched four innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run. Nathan Stahl pitched three innings and allowed just one run on three hits as well, and Braden Scott slammed the door shut, pitching two scoreless innings and striking out four Terrapins to secure the big win.
"We pitched it really well (Sunday), but we pitched well all weekend, really,'' Mercer said.
Mercer was still kicking himself after the Hoosiers wasted an opportunity to get a win during the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday. The Hoosiers took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Grant Macciocchi had pitched a perfect seventh inning, his 15th straight scoreless inning this year, but got dinged for a run in the eighth on a bloop double. In the ninth, Maxwell Costes, one of the best power hitters in the Big Ten, homered to tie the game.
"Grant was really good, and that homer was a one-pitch thing,'' Mercer said. "He was great otherwise. Our guys had been beating him with sinkers in all day, but he's a good player at he got us.''
Maryland won the game in the 10th without even getting a hit. Macciocchi walked and batter and then hit two others, and was replaced by Stahl, who walked in the winning run.
"That was a tough way to lose, because those guys have been so good all year long,'' Mercer said. "That's hard, but we also wasted several opportunities early. It was a tough day, that's for sure.''
Bouncing back on Sunday was huge, and now it's wait-and-see. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced at Noon ET on Monday, and can be watched on ESPN2.
2021 NCAA baseball tournament dates
- Selection show: Noon ET Monday on ESPN2
- Regionals: Friday, June 4 through Monday, June 7
- Super Regionals: Friday, June 11 through Monday, June 14
- CWS Opening Celebration Day — Friday, June 18
- First day of CWS games — Saturday, June 19
- CWS Finals — Start Monday, June 28 (best out of 3)
- Final championship game — Tuesday/Wednesday, June 29/30
Related stories on Indiana baseball
- BIG TEN STANDINGS: Here are the final Big Ten standings for the 2021 season. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here is Indiana's complete 2021 baseball schedule, with links to every game story by Tom Brew all season long. CLICK HERE
- JEREMY HOUSTON FEATURE: Indiana shortstop Jeremy Houston has devoted five years of his life to Indiana's baseball program, and he's been going out in style down the stretch. CLICK HERE
- RICHARDSON ALL-BIG TEN: Indiana outfielder Grant Richardson was a first-team All-Big Ten selection this season, the league announced on Sunday. CLICK HERE