Indiana Hoosiers
Overall Rank: #36
Conference Rank: #2 Big Ten
Indiana had a very good debut season under Coach Jeff Mercer. Coach Mercer’s team won the Big Ten regular season title and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers did not have a great tournament, losing to Illinois State and Louisville with a win over Illinois-Chicago in-between. Of course that success had a lot to do with the players inherited by Coach Mercer, but he certainly brought a fresh approach to the team. Indiana ranked second in the country with 95 homeruns on the year and the hope is Indiana can continue their development and make a bigger impact in the NCAA Tournament in 2020.
2019: 37-23, 17-7
2019 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Jeff Mercer
Key Departed Players:
Matt Lloyd, UTL, .280 BA, 17 HR, 59 RBI
Matt Gorski, OF, .271 BA, 12 HR, 46 RBI, 18 SB
Scotty Bradley, IF, .258 BA, 10 HR, 28 RBI
Pauly Milto, P, 3.95 ERA, 8-6 W/L, 107.0 IP, 100 SO
Tanner Gordon, P, 3.81 ERA, 6-6 W/L, 87.1 IP, 90 SO
Andrew Saalfrank, P, 2.84 ERA, 8-1 W/L, 73.0 IP, 98 SO
Key Returning Players:
Drew Ashley, IF, .284 BA, 4 HR, 32 RBI
Grant Richardson, OF, .264 BA, 9 HR, 37 RBI
Cole Barr, IF, .255 BA, 17 HR, 51 RBI
Elijah Dunham, OF, .310 BA, 8 HR, 29 RBI
Projection:
The Hoosiers lost a lot of production and had ten players selected in the draft, but there are some key pieces returning. Cole Barr is back after tying for a team high with 17 homeruns. He also added 51 RBIs. Elijah Dunham, Grant Richardson and Drew Ashley are all experienced hitters. The Hoosiers will need to get some production out of their experienced newcomers. Junior college transfers Cooper Trinkle and Hunter Combs continue the pipeline from John A Logan College to Bloomington. Collin Hopkins comes from Western Kentucky and Jordan Fucci has had some successful seasons at Samford. Along with the incoming freshmen and some lesser experienced players who are ready to step up, Indiana should again have a very potent offense. On the mound is where IU could run into some major problems. Regular starters Andrew Saalfrank, Tanner Gordon and Paul Milto are all gone. Sophomore Gabe Bierman and junior Tommy Sommer each started five games last season and showed plenty of potential. The Hoosiers also add Kentucky transfer Grant Macciocchi to provide a bit more experience to the pitching staff. This will be a relatively young team, but there is a lot of talent and that should be enough for the Hoosiers to return to the NCAA Tournament.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
