With the season just days away, we are here to preview the 2019 season for Indiana baseball.
Missing the NCAA Tournament just once in the last six years, the Indiana baseball program has become one of the noteworthy programs in the country each year.
Constantly advancing to the regional round of the tournament, they have yet to get back to the College World Series since their appearance in 2013, but look to do that this year.
The Hoosiers, a projected preseason three seed for this years NCAA Tournament, has a mix of young and old talent to take them there.
Leading the Hoosiers is first-year head coach, Jeff Mercer. The 33-year-old takes over for Chris Lemonis, after two years at Wright State. Recently Mercer was named the no. 5 coach in the country under 40 years old.
With five of the top 20 Big Ten prospects, they are looking to improve on a 40-19 record from a season ago.
Headlined by junior outfielder Matt Gorski (.356/.404/..554), the top ranked prospect in the conference, the Hoosiers also return seven of their top eight hitters form a season ago.
Matt Lloyd (.275/.356/.458), one of the best hitters on the roster, also is a crucial member of the pitching staff as their closer, as he went 4-2 with a 1.54 ERA and had seven saves last year.
The pitching staff, which led the Big Ten in team ERA and finished second in strikeouts, returns Pauly Milto. (8-2, 2.03) and Cam Beauchamp (4-1, 3.78) who will lead the starting rotation, with Cal Krueger (7-2, 3.02) as one of the best relief pitchers in the Big Ten, with all 27 appearances last year coming in relief.
Indiana has the talent and depth all over the diamond to make this a special season for the Hoosiers.