As Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer emerged from a lengthy postgame meeting with his team, his frustration was evident.
The Hoosiers had just suffered another maddening loss, this time a 13-11 defeat to Northern Kentucky at Bart Kaufman Field on Tuesday night. It was a game that encapsulated Indiana’s season in a nutshell—flashes of brilliance, plenty of fight, but ultimately too much inconsistency to come out on top.
“The reality is we weren’t good enough,” Mercer said postgame. “There are times this season where we’ve played five-to-seven-inning stretches of some of the best baseball that I’ve seen us play at Indiana. And there are times that we’ve played really poor defense, and it’s cost us games.”
That inconsistency has been Indiana’s defining trait in 2024. The Hoosiers have looked like a team capable of winning the Big Ten on one night, only to look unrecognizable the next.
They’ve had games where pitching has carried them and others where they couldn’t get anyone out. When the offense has exploded, the pitching or defense has let them down. And when the defense has stabilized, something else has faltered.
Tuesday’s game against Northern Kentucky was no different.
The struggles started early, as freshman right-hander Henry Brummel allowed the first four hitters to reach base before being pulled in favor of sophomore Ryan Rushing. It was clear from the outset that Indiana’s pitching staff was running on fumes.
After a four-game weekend in DeLand, Florida, Mercer and pitching coach Dustin Glant were forced to turn to a bullpen that had been heavily taxed. Eight different pitchers took the mound for Indiana, but only redshirt junior Pete Haas found success, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings over the final three frames.
Offensively, the Hoosiers did plenty to win the game. They tallied 14 hits, their ninth double-digit hit performance of the season, and drew 10 walks.
Freshman Jake Hanley continued his impressive start, reaching base four times and extending his team-leading hit total to 21, the best among Big Ten freshmen. Andrew Wiggins, who has been on a tear of late, hit his first home run of the season and drove in three runs.
But despite putting up 11 runs, Indiana couldn’t capitalize when it mattered most. Indiana left 14 runners on base, including the tying run at second in the bottom of the ninth.
“We have to put together a consistent run of quality baseball in all phases of the game,” Mercer said. “Until we get the ability to play well in all of those phases, we’re going to play really, really well for a day or two and then struggle on the backside.”
Indiana’a season has been a story of extremes. In the season opener against UNLV, Indiana’s pitching was fantastic, allowing just four runs, but the offense mustered only two runs on nine hits. A few days later, the offense exploded for 12 runs in a rematch against UNLV—but the pitching collapsed, surrendering 13 runs in a 10-inning loss.
Indiana briefly looked like it had found some consistency in Cary, North Carolina, where it went 3-0 with dominant wins over Fordham and Harvard, plus a tight victory over Northwestern.
But the very next game, in the home opener against Xavier, the Hoosiers again fell apart. They out-hit the Musketeers 11-7 but committed three costly errors in an 8-4 loss.
That pattern has repeated itself over and over again. Last weekend in Florida, Indiana had moments of brilliance, run-ruling Mount St. Mary’s twice and shutting down a solid Stetson team 8-1. But when Indiana faced Stetson again the next day, defensive lapses and inconsistent pitching reappeared in an 8-4 loss.
It’s a frustrating cycle—one that has left Mercer and his team searching for answers.
One major issue Mercer pointed to Tuesday night was Indiana’s lack of a changeup. The Hoosiers relied on pitchers with just two offerings—fastball and breaking ball—and Northern Kentucky took advantage.
“I thought that was probably the main issue that we had with a lot of those guys, not having a third pitch to be able to get weaker outs and weaker contact,” Mercer said. “The main situation there is not having the confidence or the conviction or the execution or the skill to be able to throw a changeup.”
Now, Indiana (6-7) turns its attention to the start of Big Ten play. The Hoosiers travel to Penn State this weekend for a three-game series, hoping to find some semblance of consistency as the grind of conference play begins.
The pieces are there. The offense has been potent, ranking near the top of the Big Ten in walks and run production.
Hanley has been one of the conference’s best freshmen, and Wiggins is heating up at the plate. Additionally, Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson have looked like two of the Big Ten’s best outfielders to begin the year.
The defense has improved after a shaky start. And on their best days, the Hoosiers have looked like a team capable of competing with anyone.
But the question remains: Can Indiana put it all together?
“We’re just tremendously inconsistent,” Mercer said.
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