The Indiana baseball team has a rough start to their 2025 season going 0-4 in their first tournament. The Hoosiers, who were ranked No. 25 at the start of the season, quickly slipped from the rankings and found themselves in a tough hole to climb out of. After a weekend in Cary, North Carolina though, they may be a little close to digging themselves out.
The Hoosiers had three games in North Carolina this weekend vs. Fordham, Harvard, and Big Ten for Northwestern. Even in their losses, the Hoosiers saw some offensive explosions in their first weekend of play that clearly carried over into their second weekend.
Indiana took care of business in their first two games easily with a 15-2 win over Fordham and a 14-4 win over Harvard. Their third and final game of the weekend actually took place today, Monday, February 24, and was the one that brought the most drama for the Hoosiers.
In Indiana's game vs. Northwestern, the Hoosiers were lucky enough to play in nice weather with the sun shining, something they aren't going to experience a lot of when they get home to Bloomington. The Hoosiers got down 2-0 early against the Wildcats on a sac fly in the first inning and a fielders choice in the second inning.
While the Hoosiers had a chance with runners on the corners in the bottom of the first inning to add a score as well, with two outs, Tyler Cerny ground out to the catcher to end the inning. It wasn't until the fourth inning that the Hoosiers were able to get on the board.
In the bottom of the fourth, Andrew Wiggins singles through the left side of the field and was moved over on a sac bunt from Cerny. Jake Stadler then walked in the next at-bat, putting two on and only one out in the inning. Jasen Oliver came up to the plate next and flew out in the infield, leaving two outs in the inning with Jake Hanely coming up to bat. Hanley knocked a ball to left field for a double, scoring Wiggins, making it a one-run ball game.
It wasn't till the seventh inning that the Hoosiers ended up tying the game on a Korbyn Dickerson single. In the eighth inning, Indiana actually ended up taking the lead with an RBI by Joey Brenczewski, leaving the game at 3-2 with a chance for Indiana to get out of the game in the top of the ninth. Unfortunately, the Wildcats came back to tie the game in the top of the ninth and Indiana couldn't score in the bottom of the inning, and to extra innings the game went.
The Hoosiers were able to hold the Wildcats in the top of the tenth inning to give themselves a shot at walking off the game. Indiana did just that off of some clutch hits at the right time. The Hoosiers ended up winning the game 4-3 on a walk-off single by TJ Schuyler, his first career hit.
First career hit ✅
— Indiana Baseball (@IndianaBase) February 24, 2025
Walk-off winner ✅
Perfect 3-0 weekend ✅
T.J. Schuyler came through in the clutch! pic.twitter.com/xURZGxeffY
A perfect weekend in North Carolina moved the Hoosiers from 0-4 to 3-4, making them one win away from a .500 record. Indiana will return to action on Wednesday, February 26, at 2:00 p.m. EST for their home opener against Xavier, a team they lost to 8-6 in their opening weekend of the season.