Hoosiers will not reach semifinals and will conclude the season Friday
By Carl James @jovian34 May 21st, 2025
“We had opportunities with guys in scoring position multiple, multiple times, and we just weren’t able to be more in the middle of the field in the air. It’s something that we’re typically good at.”
— Head Coach Jeff Mercer
Indiana Hoosiers 2, Rutgers Scarlett Knights 5
Inning by inning details in the Live Game Blog | Box Score
OMAHA, NE – Indiana outhit the Scarlet Knights 10-9 on Tuesday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, but came up short 5-2 dropping the Pool C opener to 10-seeded Rutgers. Both teams started pitchers on just four days of rest, and both arms performed well. Rutgers freshman ace Landon Mack got the better end of the deal, going six scoreless innings.
After the game, Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer felt that Indiana hitters should have done a better job of getting the ball into the air against Mack. He said they scouted how Mack did against Penn State and Maryland, and were hoping to better emulate the Nittany Lions who were able to use the middle of the field. “We had opportunities with guys in scoring position multiple, multiple times, and we just weren’t able to be more in the middle of the field in the air. It’s something that we’re typically good at.” Mercer credited Mack with a solid performance, “He leaned on the cutter and got contact on the ground.”
Indiana’s senior left-handed pitcher Ryan Kraft allowed a solo homer in the fourth inning and then got roughed up in the seventh inning as his pitch count got north of 80. Kraft was excellent during his first six innings of work. After the game Kraft said, “Getting ahead in the strike zone with [the breaking ball].” Kraft said they mixed where in counts they were throwing the breaking pitch throughout the game.” His catcher Jake Stadler also had high praise for his battery mate, “the ability to land multiple pitches for a strike at any point of the at bat is really important.” Reflecting on the off-season Stadler said of Kraft, “I pretty much caught every bullpen he threw.” as Kraft made the adjustments that allowed him to become such an effective pitcher especially in the conference portion of the season.
Indiana left 11 men on base, compared to Rutgers leaving only 4. Neither team walked a single batter, though the Hoosiers did manage three more baserunners thanks to hit-by-pitches. Senior catcher Jake Stadler got one of those and a sacrifice bunt, “I’m normally not much of a power guy, and hitting in the nine spot, just being able to bunt, take a hit-by-pitch, and just do whatever it takes for me to get on base.” The last of those plunks did lead to a run as Indiana did manage to score runs with one out in the ninth inning. Will Moore took a hit by pitch, and Devin Taylor belted a home run.
It was too little, too late as the Hoosiers squandered a massive opportunity in the 8th inning against the Rutgers bullpen. Three consecutive hits by Hoosier freshman loaded the bases with one out, but the Hoosiers were unable to plate a single run. Junior second baseman Tyler Cerny watched strike three to end the inning.
Seven of Indiana’s ten hits on the day came from freshmen. “They did a great job.” Mercer recounted, “We’d been gone for some time traveling. We’d been to Michigan and then came straight here as we were already a third of the way. The last two days we were able to spend a couple of days, one at Iowa, and I really appreciate [Iowa head coach] Rick [Heller] for letting us do that. Then at Iowa Western here. Going back through our drill work. It’s a really big deal for those young guys that had struggled a little bit to get back into their drill work and how we teach the swing, and applying that back into the game.”
“We’ve played four or five freshmen almost the whole year.” Hogan Denny was last week’s B1G Freshman of the Week and Jake Hanley was named B1G Freshman of the Year. “A big kudos to Jake Hanley. We’ve had two of the last three,” referencing Devin Taylor. Mercer also noted that both Taylor and Hanley hail from the Cincinnati area. “There were a lot of guys out of high school who thought that Hanley would be more of an arm than a hitter.” When asked if Hanly might also pitch as a sophomore, Mercer said, “That’s a great question. He and I have talked about it a little bit. A lot of it will depend on his desire to do that or not do that. Anytime that you have a two-way guy like that the fear is just injury.”
Indiana will conclude its season against Iowa here in Omaha on Friday at 3pm CT. Having lost Tuesday, in the pool-play format, there is no way for Indiana to advance. The Pool C representative will be the winner of the Rutgers/Iowa game tonight (Wednesday at 7pm CT).
The complexion of the Friday game will depend on the result of tonight’s game. If Iowa wins, you would expect Iowa to not using any key pitching on Friday. Barring winning this tournament, Iowa’s season is also coming to an end as their RPI is in the 70s and they lost their one major resume component by getting passed by Oregon and UCLA for the B1G regular season title last weekend. Given that, if Iowa loses tonight, both teams would be in the same place Friday, with no reason to hold any pitching back. Indiana would love nothing more than to avenge the series sweep Iowa inflicted on Indiana a few weeks ago.