After losing the conference series to USC last weekend, followed by blowing a lead against No. 18 Louisville on Tuesday, Indiana baseball looks to recover this weekend with a three-games series against Michigan State.
Indiana (15-14, 6-6 in Big Ten) nearly pulled off a series victory against USC last Saturday, but surrendered a nine-run lead in the rubber match. Indiana got ahead early, putting 12 runs on the board across the first four frames, but the team was shut out in the last five innings while its bullpen erupted.
A short three-inning start from Ben Grable forced Indiana to turn to its bullpen for six innings of work. Pitchers behind Grable went on to let up 11 runs on eight hits and five walks. Indiana ultimately dropped the series deciding game, 14-12.
The struggles didn’t stop there for Indiana as the team gave away another lead on Tuesday night to Louisville. Indiana’s defense tallied five defensive errors, creating difficult jams for Indiana’s bullpen day. What should have been a tremendous resume win ultimately went down as a disastrous late-game loss.
Indiana now has an opportunity to pop back into the win column, looking to pick up its second Big Ten conference series win.
Michigan State (17-10, 4-5 in Big Ten) enters the series with some momentum, coming off of a win against Illinois and an exhibition win against the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.
While Michigan State dropped its weekend series against Illinois, the team was able to close the series with a strong victory. Michigan State’s offense battled hard, scoring three runs in the first inning, followed up by runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings, earning a 14-4 run-rule win.
Michigan State’s first four batters in the lineup combined to bat 12-for-19 in the contest, scoring 11 runs while collecting eight RBIs. That specific core of Michigan State’s offense consists of JT Sokolove, Ryan Mckay, Will Shannon and Sam Busch, who all possess a batting average north of .300 this season.
In addition to Michigan State’s strong offense, the team’s starting pitching has been extremely dominant this season. Most notably, lefty starter Joseph Dzierwa has been a nightmare for opposing teams. The 6-foot-8 lefty holds a perfect 5-0 record across seven starts this season, owning an impressive 1.27 ERA across 42.2 innings pitched. Dzierwa has the lowest ERA in the Big Ten conference amongst qualified pitchers.
Indiana’s offense will be ready to attack Dzierwa, having previously prepared heavily to face lefty pitching when the team went up against a Louisville pitching staff with several southpaws.
Indiana baseball head coach Jeff Mercer explained that he and his team had a hitters meeting on Wednesday afternoon, discussing the preparation to try and continue attacking strong lefty pitching against Michigan State.
“On Sunday we were (hitting) off of all left handed machines and all left-handed stuff,” Mercer said. “They’ve always got a bunch of lefties at Michigan State… if you’re a left-handed hitter and you want to be able to hit lefties, you have to hit early, or you have to be able to take the chase stuff late.”
Behind Dzierwa in Michigan State’s dominant pitching staff is righty pitcher Nolan Higgins. Higgins, the righty starter, has opened seven games for Michigan State this year, donning a 3.71 ERA over a span of 34.0 innings pitched. Despite pitching to a respectable ERA, Higgins has held a high walk rate compared to strikeout numbers, walking 19 batters while fanning just 20.
The two teams last faced in May 2023, in East Lansing. However, Indiana hasn’t hosted Michigan State since April 2015, where Michigan State took two out of three games.
Friday’s game has a first pitch set for 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Poor weather is expected to be in the area for all three games, potentially impacting the scheduling of the series. All three games will be broadcast on Big Ten Network and the IU Sports Radio Network.
