Indiana baseball (7-10, 1-3 Big Ten) squandered yet another prime opportunity to boost their resume Friday, as a 2-0 lead halfway through turned into a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Oregon Ducks (15-3, 3-1 Big Ten).
For Indiana, it is their third consecutive conference loss, and their third one-run loss of 2026. In each of those one-run defeats, Indiana had the lead in the sixth inning or later.
Indiana’s first two one-run losses can be attributed to bullpen failures and defensive collapses. That was not the case Friday. Instead, it was a no-show from the prolific lineup fresh off of a 12-run breakout against Wright State on Tuesday.
Both runs scored by the Cream and Crimson were quite simply matters of luck. Brayden Ricketts— who collected two of Indiana’s five hits—doubled in the top of the first with two outs, then proceeded to advance 180 feet without a ball being put in play. Back-to-back wild pitches from Will Sanford brought in Ricketts with the first run of the game.
In the top of the fourth, Jake Hanley led off with a single. Hanley proceeded to advance 180 feet, once again, without a ball being put in play. Sanford threw more wild pitches to send Hanley 90 feet away from home plate. Landen Fry brought in Hanley with an RBI single, giving Indiana a 2-0 lead.
Those four wild pitches were the only downsides of Sanford’s performance Friday. The Oregon ace pitched 6.2 innings of 2-run ball, only giving up three hits while fanning 10 Hoosiers.
Indiana for the game went just 5-for-33 (.151) while striking out 13 times. They also went a pitiful 1-for-15 (.067) with runners on base. If you take out Ricketts and Fry, Hoosier bats were 1-for-25 (.040) with 11 strikeouts.
The Ducks—who were blanked by RHP Reagan Rivera through four innings—finally made the Hoosiers pay for their offensive shortcomings in the middle innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, with a runner on first and two outs, LHP Conner Linn was one strike away from getting out of the fifth inning unscathed. Ahead in the count 0-2, Linn plunked Naulivou Lauaki, allowing the inning to continue. Leadoff batter Ryan Cooney immediately followed with an RBI double to get the Ducks on the board.
In the very next inning, shortstop Maddox Molony took RHP Gavin Seebold deep for a long solo home run to tie the game at two. That was the first run Seebold surrendered all season, and it was a costly one at that.
Oregon took the lead in the bottom of the seventh off a sacrifice fly from Cooney, scoring Burke-Lee Mabeus, putting the Ducks in front, 3-2.
Indiana ultimately couldn’t get the tying run across, as in the top of the ninth, Will Moore grounded out to second with the tying run in scoring position. Indiana stranded at least one runner on base in each of the last four innings Friday.
After Tuesday’s performance, in which Indiana excelled batting with runners on base, this was certainly a step back for Jeff Mercer and company. Exactly one month into the regular season, the Hoosiers are still struggling to find consistency.
Indiana will throw their ace, LHP Tony Neubeck, to the hill Saturday afternoon, as the Hoosiers look to even the series with the Ducks. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. EST.
