Indiana strives to continue winning streak this weekend against Penn State

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The Indiana Hoosiers lost their first game of the season to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Since that first game, Indiana split the series with Rutgers and swept Minnesota improving its record to 3-1.

Starting pitchers Tommy Sommer, McCade Brown and Ty Bothwell all had great outings. Furthermore, relievers John Modugno, Nathan Stahl and Matt Litwicki collectively allowed zero runs and only two hits through a combined 9 1/3 innings pitched.

The hitting was lackluster in game one as the Hoosiers only put one run up on the board. However, in the next three games, Indiana outscored its opponents 17-5. Eight of those 17 runs came in the last game against Minnesota, a positive outlook that hitters will become more accustomed as the season progresses.

Indiana will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions this weekend in a four-game series. Penn State last weekend split its series with Northwestern and currently is 2-2.

Game 1:

T. Sommer (IU): 1-0 / 0.00 ERA / 10 K's / 2 Walks / 8 IP

B. Dees (PSU): 1-0 / 3.60 ERA / 5 K's / 1 Walk / 5 IP

Game 2:

G. Bierman (IU): 0-1 / 4.50 ERA / 4 K's / 5 Walks / 4 IP

C. Larkin (PSU): 0-1 / 4.50 ERA / 8 K's / 0 Walks / 4 IP

Game 3:

M. Brown (IU): 1-0 / 1.29 ERA / 12 K's / 0 Walks / 7 IP

J. Henline (PSU): 0-0 / 2.25 ERA / 6 K's / 2 Walks / 4 IP

Game 4:

T. Bothwell (IU): 1-0 / 1.80 ERA / 10 K's / 2 Walks / 5 IP

TBD (PSU)

Indiana:

One player on Indiana to keep an eye on this weekend is LHP Tommy Sommer. In his last start against Minnesota, Sommer allowed zero runs, two hits, two walks and struck out a career-high 10 batters through eight innings. Sommer was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week and is projected to start the first game against Penn State tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Batting

#3 Drew Ashley: .375 Avg / 1 HR / 2 RBI

#2 Cole Barr: .333 Avg / .444 OBP

#5 Paul Toetz: .333 Avg / 1 HR / 3 RBI

#6 Grant Richardson: .294 Avg / 1 HR / 2 RBI

#21 Jordan Fucci: .235 Avg / 1 HR / 5 RBI

Pitching

#19 Tommy Sommer: 8 IP / 0.00 ERA / 10 K's / 2 Walks

#51 McCade Brown: 7 IP / 1.29 ERA / 12 K's / 0 Walks

#41 Ty Bothwell: 5 IP / 1.80 ERA / 10 K's / 2 Walks

Penn State:

C Josh Spiegel is undoubtedly a player to look out for this weekend. Spiegel, through four games, has a .533 batting average and three home runs, two of which were hit in the first game of the season against Northwestern. Spiegel also has an astounding 1.333 slugging percentage, 20 total bases divided by 15 at-bats. It will be interesting to see the matchup of stellar Hoosier pitching versus Spiegel throughout the entire weekend.

Batting

#41 Josh Spiegel: .533 Avg / 3 HR / 6 RBI

#2 Gavin Homer: .467 Avg / 1.156 OPS

#14 Matt Wood: .385 Avg / 1 HR / 3 RBI

#22 Johnny Piacentino: .286 Avg / 3 HR / 5 RBI

Pitching

#36 Tyler Shingledecker: 4 IP / 0.00 ERA / 9 K's / 1 Walk

#18 Mason Mellot: 3 IP / 0.00 ERA / 4 K's / 2 Walks

#44 Bailey Dees: 5 IP / 3.60 ERA / 5 K's / 1 Walk

Note: The schedule for this weekend has changed due to concerns about the weather. Instead of two games being played on Saturday, the doubleheader has been moved to Friday. The first game is set for seven innings and the second game is set for nine innings.

Who: Penn State (2-2) at Indiana (3-1)

Where: Bart Kaufman Field - Bloomington, IN

Game 1: Friday, March 12th @ 2:00 pm ET

Game 2: Friday, March 12th @ 5:00 pm ET

Game 3: Saturday, March 13th @ 1:00 pm ET

Game 4: Sunday, March 14th @ 1:00 pm ET

TV: Big Ten Network+

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