Adjustments prove fruitful in potential postseason resume highlight road win
By Carl James @jovian34 February 26th, 2026
Indiana Hoosiers: 10, Xavier Musketeers 4
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
The Indiana coaching staff made a couple of key changes to how they deployed players Wednesday. The result was a comfortable lead in the middle innings and a relatively stressless win for Indiana on the road.
Pre-season All-American Jake Hanley has gotten off to a rough start this season at the plate. The sophomore first baseman was hitting .172 on the young season. With Will Moore healthy again and Ayden Crouse excelling at the top of the order, Mercer slotted in Moore second in the order, bumped Hogan Denny into the cleanup spot, left Cooper Malamazian 5th and drop Hanley to fifth. The move paid off. Hanley went 3-for-5 on the day, drove in three runs and upped his batting average to .235 on the season.
Freshman Ivan Mastalski took the mound for the open. Mastalski allowed 1 run in 1.2 innings and had two men on base with two outs when the coaches elected to pull him in the second inning. They used junior Jacob Vogel to get the last out of the inning and end the threat with no more damage. Expecting to need Vogel multiple times in Bowling Green this weekend, they wen to freshman Xavier Carerra in the third.
Not sure if this will become a pattern, but using Vogel to shut down a potential bad inning before it gets out of hand makes some sense. Four of IU’s 5 losses came in part because two relievers combined for a disaster inning.
Will Moore settled in nicely to his new spot as second in the order. This is a lineup that needs lots of baserunners as it does not have as much power as Hoosier teams in the past. Moore got on three out of five times, but his walks came with the bases loaded and his hit was a two-run homer so he also lead the team in driving in runs with 4.
Carrera was awarded the win for his one inning of scoreless relief in the third as the Hoosiers put up four runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead and never look back.
The coaches did want to secure this win after seeing so many leads disappear in late innings, so they used backend ace Gavin Seebold to get the last 6 outs, which he did with an efficient 23 pitches. I assume that means he will not be the primary option against Western Kentucky Friday, but could be used in the Saturday doubleheader. My guess is this moves Reagan Riveria to be the arm that matches up with starter Tony Neubeck on Friday.
Hoosiers open with Western Kentucky Friday at 4pm ET. I will be live blogging the Friday game from the audio feed (no known video available). Chris Feeny and I plan to be on-site for both Saturday games.