Wednesday night was a special one at Bart Kaufman Field.
Indiana picked up an 8-6 victory over Evansville, securing the 300th win of head coach Jeff Mercer’s career.
A milestone that Mercer was unaware he even reached, sharing after the game that his players had to return their player of the game card as a memento of the impressive achievement.
“It was very genuine,” he said. “It meant a lot to me.”
The game itself was as typical a performance from the 2026 Hoosiers as you’d expect. The offense enjoyed a burst of power and the starting pitching controlled things early, but the bullpen made things interesting late.
Caleb Koskie, who entered the evening riding a 17-game hit streak, extended that streak to 18 games with a two-run home run in the first inning for his sixth of the year and third in the last two games. It’s the longest hitting streak for a Hoosier since Alex Dickerson’s 21-game stretch in 2010.
Jake Hanley and Brayden Ricketts each rocked solo shots to extend the lead to 4-0, allowing starting pitcher Conner Linn to work with plenty of cushion.
“He got settled and he really rolled,” Mercer said. “He was as good as you can imagine.”
Linn had his strongest outing of the year, pitching a season-best five scoreless innings, four without allowing a hit while also striking out seven, his best tally of 2026.
“I don’t think people understand how big of a start that was for Conner,” Koskie said of the Kokomo, Indiana native. “Getting five innings (was) huge for the team.”
For Linn, his midweek effectiveness didn’t come easy, as he’s had to clean up some of his mechanics. Pitching coach Matt Myers has worked with Linn to keep his front side closed. Linn made the adjustments, and got the results.
Reagan Rivera replaced Linn for the sixth inning, holding a 5-0 lead. With the starter’s departure, the Hoosiers’ grip loosened.
Rivera allowed a two-run home run to Evansville’s Reid Haire for the Purple Aces’ first runs of the game. Rivera, though, settled down, working through 2.1 innings without any further damage. The offense pieced together a three-run seventh inning to re-stabilize the advantage. Ayden Crouse scored on a throwing error, Hanley added an RBI on a sacrifice fly to left and Cooper Malamazian snuck a hit past the infield for an RBI of his own.
As has been the case in most games, the Indiana bats have done their part, doing damage with long balls and putting together multi-run innings to give their bullpen an 8-3 lead heading into the final frame. As has also been the case, the bullpen hasn’t always lived up to their end of the bargain.
Xavier Carrera started off the top of the ninth, but couldn’t get an out. He walked his first two batters before being replaced by Ivan Mastalski.
Mastalski faced just two batters. Spike Magill launched a three-run home run off the light pole in left-center field to make a significant dent in the Hoosier advantage, cutting the deficit to two. All of a sudden, it was a ball game again.
After allowing the big fly, Mastalski surrendered a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Mercer’s hand was forced—bring out the big guns. Gavin Seebold took over and slammed the door.
The graduate student walked the first batter he saw, but kept it at that, recording the final three outs with two Ks and a fly out to earn his second save of the season.
Mercer had to earn No. 300 the hard way. But the skipper of 10 years at the collegiate level knows better that no win comes easy, and he can’t do it on his own.
The 40-year-old reflected on his head coaching journey after the game, including the inspiration he drew from his own father, a head baseball coach himself.
“I saw the way he impacted people’s lives,” he said. “That’s what you try to do…a lot of memories came flooding back pretty quick.”
Indiana, now 16-21 on the season, has a day off before hosting Abilene Christian for their final non-conference series of the season. Friday night’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.
