Indiana baseball went 3-1 in its final non-conference weekend series of the season in DeLand, Florida, picking up two mercy-rule wins over Mount St. Mary’s and splitting two games with Stetson. The Hoosiers improved to 6-6 after scoring 50 runs in their latest four-game stretch, racking up 19 extra-base hits and 24 walks.
As many expected, outfielder Devin Taylor found his form after a slower-than-expected start to the season. However, what far fewer people anticipated entering the season was that fellow outfielder Korbyn Dickerson would go toe-to-toe with Taylor and create a two-headed monster that terrorizes pitchers. The duo combined to hit .436 (24-for-55) with eight home runs (each player hit four), 22 RBIs, and 18 runs scored in Florida. They hit back-to-back home runs on two occasions.
Through 12 games, Dickerson leads Indiana in batting average (.426), OPS (1.360), hits (23), home runs (seven) and RBIs (22) after a redshirt freshman season at Louisville where he turned in a pedestrian .658 OPS with no home runs and three RBIs in 21 games, primarily entering off the bench. It remains to be seen if Dickerson can sustain this production over the course of a full season, but early returns suggest that head coach Jeff Mercer and his staff found a hidden gem in the transfer portal.
He routinely posts exit velocity numbers north of 108 miles per hour and is on track to be a top-100 selection in the 2025 MLB Draft. Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell may end up regretting not giving Dickerson a shot — the Hoosiers host the Cardinals on April 1 and I’m sure Dickerson will have plenty to prove. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and Dickerson provides protection for Taylor at the top of Indiana’s lineup.
With Taylor penciled into one of the top two spots of the lineup on most days, opponents may opt to pitch around him and face the hitter behind him instead of taking their chances with the future first-round pick. However, since Dickerson has proven to be just as dangerous, teams are now forced to pitch to Taylor. It’s a situation similar to what MLB teams dealt with when facing the 2024 New York Yankees, who usually had Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back. This makes Indiana’s loaded lineup, which I wrote about at length in my season preview, even more dangerous.
So, too, does Andrew Wiggins. The Indianapolis native saw increased playing time in the late stages of last season and has found his footing in the Indiana lineup as a patient hitter who punishes pitching mistakes. He is second in the Big Ten with 15 walks and is slashing a solid .367/.592/.433 with seven RBIs to begin his sophomore season, projecting as a long-term answer at the leadoff spot.
Indiana scored 12.5 runs per game in DeLand, and this pace obviously isn’t sustainable. The offense will have off days — every team does. But by and large, the Hoosiers’ bats should be among the Big Ten’s best as the season wears on. Indiana begins conference play at Penn State this weekend, and it has become clear that the team’s success will largely be dictated by the consistency of its pitching staff and defense.
The Hoosiers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory versus Xavier last Wednesday on account of poor team defense, just one example of an opponent being allowed to stay in a game because of poor pitching execution and/or ill-timed defensive mistakes. Indiana showed some of the same red flags in Surprise, Arizona, as well — Xavier allowed a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning but immediately regained the lead in the top of the tenth. In the Hoosiers’ second meeting with UNLV, they again tied the game in the ninth and failed to hold the lead in extras.
Indiana needs consistency in all three facets of the game to be successful in Big Ten play. It’s not rocket science — this rings true across all levels of baseball. The Hoosiers will need to be strong on the mound and in the field when they host Northern Kentucky at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The Norse and the Hoosiers both concluded their 2024 seasons at the Knoxville Regional, though they did not meet head-to-head in Tennessee.
Northern Kentucky, like Indiana, sits at .500 this season after winning the Horizon League Tournament last year. Freshman right-hander Henry Brummel (5.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) will make his first career start as Indiana looks to improve to 7-6 before facing a formidable Penn State team that came up just short of winning the Big Ten Tournament last year. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and the IU Sports Radio Network.
