Indiana Baseball: Hoosiers picked fourth in Big Ten preseason poll

The Indiana baseball team is coming off a regular-season Big Ten championship and looking for a rare repeat as the 2020 season is less than a month away.

The Hoosiers were somewhat of a surprise Big Ten champion last year in head coach Jeff Mercer’s first year with the team. Mercer came over after Chris Lemonis left to take the same position at Mississippi State after three years leading the Hoosiers.

Indiana had slowly risen to one of the best teams in the Big Ten under Lemonis and Mercer was then able to lead them to a 17-7 conference record and regular-season championship in 2019.

The Hoosiers had a record-setting ten players drafted in the ’19 amateur draft including Matt Gorski in the second round to the Pirates, Big Ten pitcher of the year Andrew Saalfrank in the sixth round to the Diamondbacks, and Tanner Gordon just five picks later to the Braves.

It was a very successful year for the Hoosiers, but one that ended with a disappointing showing in both the Big Ten tournament and regional tournament. Indiana went just 1-4 in the postseason to bring their promising season to a screeching halt.

Mercer and company will look to duplicate their regular-season success and make it back to a regional in hopes of having a better ending to the 2020 season.

Despite the loss of their top three pitchers in Saalfrank, Gordon, and Pauly Milto and two of their top five hitters, the Hoosiers are still picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten by D1 Baseball. Picked ahead of Indiana was Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio State. Everyone in the Big Ten is trying to duplicate what the Wolverines did last year when they made a memorable run to the College World Series finals were they came up just short against Vanderbilt in the finals.

Michigan should be loaded once again and Minnesota and Ohio State have had a lot of success in the past couple of years. Indiana is right in that mix, but it all depends on how Mercer can replace the pitching lost to the draft.

If the new guys can step up, Mercer has shown to get the most out of his teams and the Hoosier could be well on their way to their seventh regional berth in eight years. That included their run to the College World Series in 2013 when they were led by current Chicago Cub Kyle Schwarber.

The Big Ten once thought of as an afterthought in college baseball, is now, thanks to Michigan, on the map and the Hoosiers are hoping to take full advantage. They get their opportunity right away when they travel to LSU for a three-game series to open the season. It will show the Hoosiers very early if they are ready to play with the big boys.

If we learned anything from last year’s baseball season is anything can happen and Indiana is hoping they are the ones that are the beneficiary of it this year. With Mercer at the helm, it seems anything can be possible.