THREE THINGS WE LEARNED THIS WEEK
1 - It's been a long time since Indiana baseball last lost a series.
Losses at Illinois Friday and Saturday gave the Hoosiers their first series defeat since Tennessee in late February.
For perspective, IU played 40 games in the 70 days that streak stayed alive and still manage to avoid a series loss.
There is a positive that came from this weekend, though.
Sunday's 9-2 win over Illinois gave Indiana some confidence back heading into this week and also avoided a series sweep. The late February series in Knoxville remains the only time this season the Hoosiers have experienced that.
2 - Softball learns its opening Big Ten tournament opponent, and it won't have to travel far.
On Sunday, IU softball found out it will face 10th-seeded Penn State Thursday at Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. eastern time.
This marks the first time ever that the Big Ten softball tournament is being held in Bloomington.
The winner of the game will advance to face second-seeded Northwestern in Friday's quarterfinals.
Statistically speaking, Penn State has the fifth-lowest batting average (.249), produced the fifth-fewest runs (84) and sixth-lowest ERA (4.77) in league play.
3 - Women's golf is NCAA regional bound
For the sixth time under head coach Clint Wallman, the IU women's golf team has qualified for an NCAA regional.
The Hoosiers will head to East Lansing, where Forest Akers West Golf Course will host 18 teams. Those teams will play 18 holes each day, May 6-8, with the top six advancing to the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas in two weeks.
Here's the list of teams, in order by seed:
1. Stanford
2. Arizona
3. Kent State
4. UCLA
5. Michigan State
6. Campbell
7. Illinois
8. Baylor
9. North Carolina
10. Georgia
11. Louisville
12. Augusta
13. LSU
14. Indiana
15. Long Beach State
16. Xavier
17. Harvard
18. IUPUI
TWO QUESTIONS THIS WEEK
1 - Can Indiana baseball regain first place in the Big Ten standings?
A conference regular season title remains viable, but the meat of the schedule is going to present some challenges.
2 - What will Alexandra Staiculescu's impact be for IU women's tennis?
With a current Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) of 10.75 and having achieved a career-high of 11.29 (August 2018), she is the program's highest rated since the creation of the UTR.
Staiculescu also ranks as the No. 9 junior in Romania.
ONE PREDICTION: Indiana Baseball's series at Michigan this weekend will determine the Big Ten regular season champion.
The Hoosiers currently sit 2.5 games behind the Wolverines for first place. Not to overlook Tuesday's midweek matchup with Kentucky, but there's a lot more on the line in Ann Arbor than in Lexington this week.
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