The Indiana baseball program is not trending in the right direction.
The Hoosiers endured a wildly disappointing weekend, as they were swept at the hands of rival Purdue in West Lafayette. All three losses were extremely frustrating, as Indiana held leads in the later innings of all three ball games.
Indiana swept by Purdue after leading late in all three games
On Friday, Indiana held a commanding 9-4 lead through 7 innings. They just needed six more outs to cruise to victory. However, the IU bullpen completely collapsed and allowed a 7-spot in the bottom of the 7th inning. Purdue went on to win by a score of 11-9.
In Saturday's contest, Indiana was up 4-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. They were just three outs away from evening up the series. But then the wheels fell off. The Hoosiers surrendered five runs in the bottom of the 9th to lose 5-4. It was a gut-wrenching defeat.
Brandon Rogers delivers the walk-off double ‼️@PurdueBaseball secures back-to-back comeback wins over rival Indiana and earns its first series victory over the Hoosiers since 2022 🙌 pic.twitter.com/pjv86dpi5y
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 9, 2026
In the series finale on Sunday, Indiana plated five runs in the top of the 6th inning to take a 7-6 lead. But the Boilers would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning before scoring three more in the 7th. Indiana ultimately lost 11-8.
Indiana baseball has lost its way this season
Indiana has seen Big Ten success under head coach Jeff Mercer, as they entered the season with a conference record of 100-70 (.588) with Mercer at the helm of the program. That winning percentage jumps to .603 (47-31) when looking at the last three seasons of Big Ten play. However, the Hoosiers will finish nowhere near those numbers this season.
The Hoosiers are now a measly 7-20 in Big Ten play this season, which equates to a lowly .260 winning percentage. As it stands, Indiana sits in 15th place in the Big Ten and is in legitimate danger of finishing the season in last place in the league. That is quite a step back from the previous 7+ seasons under Mercer. Indiana has finished worse than 6th in the Big Ten just once (2022) under Mercer.
The program is going in the wrong direction, and this weekend's ugly sweep at the hands of Purdue doesn't do Mercer any favors. The Hoosiers wrap up the regular season campaign next weekend on May 14-16 against Illinois in Bloomington.
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