4/22/2019 other sports Edit

The Indiana Athletics 3-2-1: April 15-21

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

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IU baseball head coach Jeff Mercer has his program sitting first in the Big Ten standings after a 2-1 series win at Michigan State over the weekend. (Stu Jackson / TheHoosier.com)

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1 - Indiana baseball claims first place in the Big Ten standings, but back-loaded schedule awaits

IU moved to 27-13 overall and 9-3 in the Big Ten after winning last weekend's three-game series at Michigan State 2-1, giving it a 0.5-game lead over Nebraska and Michigan.

However, challenges await over the final four weeks of the regular season.

Indiana hosts Minnesota (April 26-28) and Rutgers May (14-16), both tied for fifth in the conference. A pair of road series at seventh-place Illinois (May 3-5) and Michigan (May 10-12) also loom, with mid-week games against No. 7 Louisville (May 14) and Kentucky (May 7).

Exciting baseball is on the horizon, but Indiana will have its work cut out for itself.

2 - Historic finish at the Big Ten championships for Indiana women's golf

A final team score of 578 (+2) at TPC River's Bend in Maineville, Ohio, earned IU a tie with Illinois and Purdue for second at the Big Ten Championships and its best finish at the event since placing second in 2004.

Individually, senior Erin Harper carded a 4-under for third place on the individual leaderboard and the best finish by an IU golfer since 2004. Her 6-under 66 in the final round on Sunday tied the program record for best 18-hole score. She was named to the Big Ten Women's Golf Championship All-Tournament team for her performance.

The Selection Show for the NCAA Women's Golf Championship takes place Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30 p.m. ET on the Golf Channel. Indiana is seeking its first regional round appearance since 2016.

3 - Indiana women's tennis enjoys a historic league performance of its own

After losing the doubles points, IU won all six singles matches to clinch a 6-1 victory over Maryland on Sunday's senior day in Bloomington. The victory moved IU to 16-10 overall and 6-5 in Big Ten play.

The 6-5 mark in conference play is significant, because it marks the first time since 2014-15 that the Hoosiers finished an above .500 conference record.

Additionally, the win secured Indiana a seventh-place finish in the Big Ten standings and a spot in the conference tournament, which only qualifies the 14-member league's top 10 finishers. Big Ten Tournament play begins Thursday April 25 in Lincoln, Neb. The No. 7 seed Hoosiers open against No. 10 seed Iowa that day at 3 p.m. eastern time.

TWO QUESTIONS THIS WEEK

1 - How good can Indiana wrestling's attendance be next year?

The IU wrestling team's average attendance of 1,286 per match ranked 21st nationally, according to figures were compiled by Alex Steen of TheOpenMat and Jason Bryant. This included a season-high 1,962 taking in the Hoosiers' match against No. 1 Penn State on Jan. 27.

It's impressive considering Indiana didn't end up playing home games in its brand-new $17-million facility, Wilkinson Hall, until Jan. 13. The building has a max capacity of 3,000.

Although Hoosier alum Angel Escobedo led the program to a 6-12 record in his first season as head coach, there's clearly some excitement around the program and about its future.

2 - How safe is the softball stolen base record?

Second-year head coach Shonda Stanton helped the Hoosiers snag 112 in her first season, most since 1987. This season, they reached 121 in their loss at Wisconsin Friday night, breaking the program record of 120 in '87.

Believe or not, Indiana could realistically break it next year. Currently at 128, only four will be lost with utility player Sarah Galovich graduating. Two of the three multi-sport athletes signed in the 2019 class also competed in track, so it has the speed coming in and the speed returning to do it.

ONE PREDICTION: Tommy Sommer starts for IU baseball against Ball State at Victory Field in Indianapolis Tuesday night

The left-handed sophomore set season highs in both innings pitched (6.0) and strikeouts (10), the strikeouts also a career-high, against the Cardinals at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington last week.

Although he did pitch 1.1 relief innings against Michigan State in the first game of Sunday's double-header, I think Mercer goes with what worked well last week unless he decides its best for Sommer to rest.