Indiana drops first game of Big Ten Tournament to Rutgers, effectively ending its season

The Indiana baseball season is effectively over.

While the Hoosiers still have the second of their two pool play games left, because Rutgers defeated IU 5-2 in the pool play opener, Indiana has been eliminated from semifinal contention.

This is due to the interesting format that the Big Ten decided to use for its 2025 tournament, as the 12 teams who qualified for tournament action were split into four pools, with each team playing the other two in their pool throughout the week. After pool play, the team with the best records advances to this weekend’s semifinals with a chance to advance to the championship.

If all teams in a pool finish 1–1, the highest seed in the pool advances—meaning that even if Indiana defeats Iowa on Friday, the Hoosiers, as the No. 6 seed, would be ineligible to advance over No. 3 Iowa in the same pool.

That reality makes the loss to Rutgers all the more frustrating. In a game where Indiana failed to score until the final inning, the Hoosiers saw their postseason hopes effectively end. Without having done enough in the regular season to earn at-large consideration, the defeat to the Scarlet Knights closes the door on an NCAA Tournament berth and ends Indiana’s streak of appearances in the Big Dance at two.

The bats simply weren’t working. Indiana went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and failed to record a single RBI when a runner stood at second or third. The Hoosiers did manage 10 hits, but couldn’t capitalize in the moments that mattered most.

“We had opportunities with guys in scoring position multiple, multiple times, and we just weren’t able to be more in the middle of the field in the air,” Head Coach Jeff Mercer said. He also added “It’s something that we’re typically good at.”

Indiana baseball may usually pride itself on scoring its runners from scoring position, but it’s inability to get clutch hits doomed Mercer’s squad, and his comments reflect his frustration.

Indiana did score two runs in the ninth inning to avoid a shutout, but it was too little too late. Devin Taylor’s blast made it 5-2 with one out in the last frame, but Indiana couldn’t continue the momentum and fell to the 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights.

The first inning was the only frame other than the ninth that the Hoosiers didn’t leave a runner on base, as IU had opportunities in every other inning to score, but couldn’t muster a run until the game was out of hand. Indiana totaled 11 runners left on base, one of the highest marks in Mercer’s tenure with IU.

The eighth inning saw Indiana load the bases with one out, but fail to score a single run. This could’ve provided much-needed momentum at the time, but it cemented Rutgers’ clutch afternoon of pitching, particularly by starter Landon Mack.

“He leaned on the cutter and got contact on the ground,” Mercer said, giving praise to his opponent’s starting pitcher.

His final line was six innings pitched with zero runs allowed. The Hoosiers had five hits against Mack, but he didn’t issue a single walk, a theme that would continue even when Rutgers relievers entered the game. Indiana didn’t take a base on balls all game long, something that comes as a major surprise, especially considering the Indiana baseball program prides itself on being patient at the plate.

It wasn’t the pitching that was Indiana’s issue, as Ryan Kraft gave his team 6.2 innings of work with just four runs allowed. He said after the game that “getting ahead in the strike zone with [the breaking ball]” was key to his success throughout the ballgame.

Kraft had only allowed two runs in his first six innings, but the top of the seventh is when things went south. Kraft got the first two outs with just one runner on base, but an RBI single scored the Knights’ third run and knocked Kraft out of the game.

Gavin Seebold entered the game with a runner on first and two outs, immediately giving up a two-run homer to give RU a 5-0 lead just two batters after it was just 2-0. This was the final nail in the coffin, as with Indiana’s quiet bats, the Hoosiers couldn’t come back.

Indiana’s season has been up-and-down since February, with pitching commonly being the issue, but in a game that the Hoosiers had to have, timely hitting never came around.

While Indiana baseball made the Big Ten Tournament for a record 12th straight time, their 2025 showing didn’t get off to a good start, resulting in a 5-2 loss to the No. 10 seed Rutgers and an elimination from championship contention.

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