Pitching, defense, and dutiful at-bats lead to Indiana’s first Power-4 and weekend win of the season
By Carl James @jovian34 February 21st, 2026
Indiana Hoosiers 6, UCF Knights 1
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
“We’re gonna bunt. I’m gonna call bunt until we can bunt.”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer after the midweek game on Tuesday night
Jeff Mercer won a Big Ten title in his first season at IU. He took a group of power hitters and taught them to get on a plane and on fastball timing and Indiana lead the nation in home runs for most of the season. Last year saw the program’s career home run record broke by Mercer’s top recruiting success in Devin Taylor. But with power comes inconsistentcy. These teams also struck out a lot and had long droughts of innings without runs.
Mercer wants a more diverse offense. While Hogan Denny, Cooper Malamazian, and Jake Hanley all have home run power, Mercer wants an offense that can find multiple ways to score runs. So Saturday, under the spotlight of a Peak Events early season tournament with the eyes of the national media, Jeff Mercer in a key spot had his pre-season All-American in Hanley bunt to drive in a run.
The lineup looked very different Saturday, as third baseman and on-base machine, Will Moore was ill and listed as unavailable. Mercer moved the pieces around and gave outfielder Ayden Crouse a start in right field and batted him in Moore’s spot at the top of the lineup. Crouse, with a hit in one at-bat late against LSU Friday, had quietly improved his batting average to .333 on the season. Crouse got the tone set immediately for the Hoosier offense. He fought off six 2-strike pitches for foul balls before lacing a single to left field on a full count. Three of the next four batters also worked full counts on UCF starting pitcher Joey Trombley. Indiana would score two runs in the first and push Trombley beyond 40 pitches in the first frame.
The Hoosiers would finally run Trombley with only one out in the third inning when the slumping Jake Hanley followed the plan and also fought off pitches to earn a walk on a full count. Hanley drew two key walks on teh day. This setup a common occurence lately of Cooper Malamazian driving in runs by hitting singles up the middle with runners in scoring position.
As the Hoosiers kept finding ways to drive in runs, the pitching and defense really carried the day. While Indiana used eight pitchers Friday against LSU, they got the job done Saturday with only two arms: Sophomore lefty Brayton Thomas allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 5 innings, and grad transfer Reagan Rivera who got the save with 4 innings of scoreless relief allowing only two hits. Thomas went two innings beyond his career high. After some walks and a mound visit from pitching coach Matt Myers, Thomas started attacking hitters, including throwing strikes to batters in 1-2 and 0-2 counts. The agressive pitch calling continued with Rivera, which was a big part of keeping the pitch count down enough to allow two pitchers to split this game.
The Hoosiers committed no errors on the day and made several great plays at almost every position. Freshman Mateo Noto charged a ball and avoided a collision with Malamazian late in the game. Hogan Denny saved two runs in left field when he went back on a hard hit liner over his head and caught it. Rivera took care of all three outs in an inning by making what looked like an impossible grab and throw on a swinging bunt, then ended the inning on a comebacker starting a 1-6-3 double play from in front of the mound. T.J. Schuyler continues to impress with his catching and especially his arm behind the plate.
All together, this was the type of win coach Mercer has been preaching about. The team was dialed in on all aspects of the game every inning. The win gives Indiana a 2-4 record on the year (all 4 losses coming to top-10 teams), and its first win on a weekend and against a Power-4 program (UCF is in it’s second year in the Big 12). The Hoosiers wrap up the weekend in Jacksonville with their first non-exhibition game against in-state foe Notre Dame in the Jeff Mercer era Sunday morning at 11am.