Indiana baseball (8-12, 1-5 Big Ten) is coming off a winless weekend on the road and bounced back in a big way on Tuesday afternoon, defeating powerhouse Vanderbilt (13-9, 2-1 SEC), 5-1.
After a really tough weekend in Eugene, Oregon for the Hoosiers, Jeff Mercer’s squad followed it up with their most impressive victory of 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s hard to see any future win topping Tuesday’s beatdown.
This game was never in doubt because it never felt like Vanderbilt got close to catching Indiana. On an uncharacteristically cold 38-degree day in Nashville, the bats for Indiana braved the cold with ease.
Sophomore Hogan Denny led the way for the cream and crimson. Denny finished 4-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles, and four runs driven in. Denny took full advantage of the wind blowing out to right field, as both of his home runs were opposite field shots.
After Denny’s 1-of-10 weekend in Eugene, Tuesday’s performance showed what this offense is capable of when Denny is swinging a hot bat.
Indiana’s fifth run came courtesy of Jake Hanley, who drove in Denny in the top of the sixth with an infield single. Initially called out at first base, the call was overturned after a challenge from Mercer.
For the game, Indiana racked up 10 hits with six of them being for extra bases. Five players reached base multiple times in what was an extremely balanced showing from the offense.
However, the Indiana pitching staff was the real calling card for the Hoosiers’ dominant showing Tuesday. Left-handed pitcher Conner Linn got his first start in an Indiana uniform, and the southpaw delivered with 3.2 scoreless innings while fanning five Commodores.
Right-handed pitchers Jacob Vogel, Ivan Mastalski, and Gavin Seebold combined to toss 5.1 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen. The trio combined to allow only five hits while striking out four.
Seebold, who closed out the game with a scoreless bottom of the ninth, improved his ERA to 1.02 in 17.2 innings pitched. The graduate student has a strong case for the team’s MVP just over a month into the season.
It was a bend-don’t-break mentality for the Hoosier pitching staff. Five of Vanderbilt’s nine hits went for extra bases, and it had 16 opportunities with runners in scoring position. Vanderbilt finished 1-for-16 (.063) with RISP.
Indiana, who has also struggled with RISP this season, finished 3-for-13 (.231) Tuesday. While not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, they got the big hits when they needed them.
The Hoosiers have continued to dominate their midweeks. Indiana is now 4-0 in those games, outscoring its opponents, 42-12. For having struggled so much in conference play so far, the Hoosiers continued strong showings in midweeks could be a strong resume booster for them down the road.
Indiana will be back home over the weekend for a very important conference series against Minnesota (15-5, 1-2 Big Ten). The series begins Friday night at Bart Kaufman Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern.
