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(08/08/21 3:29pm)
Indiana football’s receiving corps in 2020 was headlined by the breakout of Ty Fryfogle and the consistency of Whop Philyor.
The Hoosiers were the fifth-best passing/receiving team in the Big Ten last season. With most of that production returning, and now that star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is healthy heading into the season, those numbers look to improve.
According to Pro Football Focus, Indiana had the third-highest team receiving grade (72.0) in 2020 in the Big Ten. Only Ohio State (81.5) and Penn State (74.4) were higher. In only eight games last season Indiana totaled 2,007 receiving yards, 16 touchdowns, and averaged around 251 yards a game. Not too shabby at all.
Although, one of the biggest questions regarding Indiana’s receivers will be the health of Penix. Coming off an ACL tear, Penix showed the ability to get the ball down field efficiently and accurately. Receivers’ production dropped dramatically after his injury and a lot of that is really ball placement and arm strength. Both of which are areas Penix excels in.
Let’s go through a few receivers and their interesting storylines heading into 2021.
(07/25/21 2:13pm)
Indiana’s Kane Wommack-led defense was around the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in 2020. However, the defense led the conference in two very telling categories, sacks (25) and interceptions (17).
That’s what Wommack’s defenses were known for. They got after you with an aggressive and smart secondary with a fast and strong front seven that got in the backfield. Now, with Wommack off to be the head coach at South Alabama, former Georgia defensive backs coach Charlton Warren holds the reins to the Hoosier defense. With huge transfer talent added to the front seven, many would agree and according to PFF's 2021 college football preview magazine defensive backs group remains the most talented and experienced in the Big Ten.
With most players on defense returning in 2021, the secondary will miss one key piece. That’s Jamar Johnson, the safety who was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft by the Denver Broncos. Johnson was the highest Pro Football Focus-graded defensive back on the Indiana roster last season, with a grade of 77.2.
With a new coordinator coming in and the leader of the secondary gone, shoes will need to be filled. A good cornerback depth has been established but questions at safety remain. Here’s a few players to watch for come Indiana's season opener at Iowa in September.
(06/04/21 3:54pm)
Collegiate baseball surely isn’t known for its in-conference weekend series in the Midwest. It’s known for Omaha — a week of the highest level of college baseball, the best eight teams in the country.
Indiana baseball has seen itself in the College World Series only once, 2013. Aside from 2019 national runner-up Michigan, recently, the Big Ten hasn’t found much success getting to the big stage. Since 2005, only those Indiana and Michigan teams from the conference have made the final eight in Omaha. So yes, the Big Ten is desperate for good baseball.
The margin for error is thin, but this season the conference made it even thinner by not allowing its teams to boost their resumes with non-conference games. Meanwhile, other conferences allowed their teams to schedule tough non-conference opponents to build stronger postseason resumes.
By 12:45 p.m. on May 31 Indiana’s baseball season was over. As the selection committee released the field of 64, only three Big Ten squads qualified: Nebraska, Michigan and Maryland. After a series loss over the holiday weekend to the Terrapins, the Hoosiers finished the season with a 26-18 record, finishing fourth in the conference just on the outside looking in on the NCAA tournament.
Yes, Indiana didn’t play as well as it should have in order to make the field but the Hoosiers' own conference didn’t help them out, at all. A conference-only schedule alongside no conference tournament left a lot of question marks on the season for all teams of what could have been. It made an already thin margin of error even thinner as teams had to play nearly perfectly every weekend.
In a normal season the Big Ten baseball teams tend to spend February and early March in warmer weather facing non-conference opponents in efforts of gaining a better RPI.
For example, before the cancellation of the 2020 season Indiana had an extremely tough non-conference schedule. The team started the season off in Baton Rouge against No. 11 LSU. IU also had games scheduled against No. 17 East Carolina, No. 13 Ole Miss, Kentucky, No. 2 Louisville, Memphis, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, and many more. Just playing these teams and grabbing a few wins is just huge for a Big Ten team.
But this season, for the Big Ten, your RPI is meaningless and unchangeable. How can the selection committee use that number if no outside teams play your conference? No one truly knew how good the Big Ten was this season, not even the selection committee, but you can’t blame them for that.
Nebraska, the Big Ten champions, finished this past year's season with the 42nd best RPI in the country and a 31-12 record. That was the best in the Big Ten by, well, a lot. Maryland had an RPI ranking of 61. This low RPI had a direct correlation with the scheduling. The RPI also affected Nebraska’s seeding in the tournament. They drew the No. 2 seed in the Fayetteville regional, home of the No. 1 overall seed Arkansas Razorbacks. This means the committee considered Nebraska as the No. 32 team in the field. I think we all know the Cornhuskers are better than that, by a long way.
For context, UConn, which finished its season with a worse record than Nebraska, 33-17, was granted a No. 2 seed in the South Bend regional — which is considerably easier than Nebraska's as Notre Dame is the No. 10 overall seed. However, UConn had a non-conference schedule which propelled the team to success and a better RPI.
UConn faced No. 5 Virginia, No. 9 Texas Tech, Coastal Carolina and Southern Mississippi. UConn finished the season with the 25th best RPI in the nation. It's safe to say that the RPI and non-conference have a direct correlation and gave the Huskies a better seed than Nebraska. Not to mention, the Huskies came out of a weak conference in the Big East as they handily won their conference and were the only Big East team to qualify.
The scheduling decision that was made back in November to play a conference-only schedule with no conference tournament made the most important aspect of a Big Ten team’s postseason résumé completely null and void. The decision was never changed or reconsidered as vaccinations began rolling out and COVID-19 restrictions began to ease across the country in late winter and early spring.
This is, of course, not to minimize the significance of the horrific pandemic which has affected each of us in unimaginable ways, but safe ways of travel and playing sports had been approved by the CDC and over the course of the season it was deemed more than possible as teams all over the country figured it out and were able to play non-conference teams to boost their résumé.
For years the Big Ten has been the weak link of college baseball. Some years, like 2021, the conference only got three teams in the field of 64 NCAA Tournament and if they were lucky maybe four or five. Honestly, for a Power Five conference that made around $780 million in revenue in 2019, that's embarrassing. I think it’s safe to say that college baseball isn’t one of the most revenue earning sports for the Big Ten but just look out how successful it is in basically all the other conferences and especially this season. These are missed opportunities on revenue with both scheduling and a conference tournament.
A big swing and miss if you ask me from the Big Ten administration.
This really raises the question to me — does the Big Ten really want its baseball teams to succeed?
When the Big Ten decided in November to play a conference-only schedule it looked like the other conferences may follow and join them but it turned out to never be the case. They were the odd one out, again. Remember, the Big Ten also jumped the gun on the 2020 football season as they were met with criticism for cancelling the fall season. So this isn’t new territory for the conference. Although, Big Ten football is a completely different animal than baseball as they met critics halfway starting the season in late October with a nine-game schedule — multiple of which were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Personally I, and I think many will agree, believe that a conference's duty is to have its teams', players' and coaches' best interests in mind — to want them to succeed, compete and win in an organized, safe and fair way.
Was the Big Ten holding its teams' best interest in heart and mind when making the decisions about the 2021 baseball season? Did the conference-only schedule and lack of a conference tournament really benefit the teams more than it hurt them?
Well, those are opinionated questions, but I really want you to ask yourself them. My personal thoughts are clear.
There’s no one to blame or necessarily hold accountable, but a lingering sense of being inflexible stains one of the most accomplished conferences in collegiate athletics.
Granted, the fate of the Hoosiers’ season was in their own hands in the last few weeks of the season. It was too long of a slump to end the season for Indiana as the Hoosiers lost nine of 13 games to close the spring. There’s no question that a non-conference schedule could have helped Indiana’s postseason argument, but at the end of the day the team didn’t win enough games to make the field of 64.
There’s no way to tell whether Indiana could have made the tournament if it swept or won the series against the Terps this past weekend but the season had begun to drift away long before that. Starting with the series at Michigan on May 14, something just felt a little off. Better play will be needed in the future to make the tournament. It’s simple as that.
Sometimes nothing can be everything. In sports this is especially true.
The Hoosiers will return a lot of key pieces in 2021 with a fire underneath them. Three key freshmen will return: John Modugno, Paul Toetz and Morgan Colopy; all three were named to the Big Ten freshman team. Obviously, the MLB draft will be interesting and the potential of the 2022 season will be clearer in the fall.
(05/25/21 2:34am)
It seems as if every week in the past month has been huge for Indiana baseball. But this weekend's pod series against first-place Nebraska, the Big Ten Champions, and Ohio State, the only team to sweep the Hoosiers in a series this season, felt different. All four games were scheduled to be on national television and the time was now. The Hoosiers needed to step up.
The Hoosiers had dropped three of their past four, including a mid-week slip up against Illinois on May 18. One aspect to highlight leading into this weekend’s pod was Indiana’s pitching.
Leading into the Michigan series, Indiana had the best team ERA in the Big Ten and one of the best in the entire country. The three-headed-monster rotation of Tommy Sommer, McCade Brown and Gabe Bierman was on fire and led the Hoosiers to being ranked No. 21 in the country. However, in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines some issues came to light in the rotation and bullpen. Hoosier pitchers gave up 24 runs to Michigan on the weekend and needed a quick turn around as the first-placed Cornhuskers and the Buckeyes came to town.
Sommer started for the Hoosiers on Friday in the 8-5 loss to Nebraska and struggled. Sommer was only able to go 2⅓ innings, which required Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer to use three out of the pen. Sommer gave up four hits in the outing along with walking three and giving up six earned runs. The bullpen pitched relatively well with right-hander Grant Macciocchi giving the Hoosiers four shutout innings with six strikeouts.
Macciocchi has been impressive on the hill in his past few outings. Against Illinois, he pitched three full innings giving up one hit and had four Ks. He also came into the game on Monday against the Buckeyes and pitched three scoreless with only one hit. He's a player to look out for next weekend in College Park, Maryland.
Friday was Indiana’s best hitting day of the weekend but paired with the poor pitching it just wasn’t enough. Jeremy Houston stood out, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Preseason All-American Grant Richardson also went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Saturday was better for the Hoosier hurlers but the hitters couldn’t keep pace and it resulted in a 3-1 loss to the Cornhuskers.
Indiana starter McCade Brown didn’t have his fastball, it looked uncontrolled and the velocity was a few notches lower than usual. But he stayed composed. Brown was impressive and departed after five innings giving up two earned runs and five hits along with striking out eight.
Chance Hroch was phenomenal on the bump for Nebraska and the Indiana offense looked uncomfortable. Hroch gave up three hits in a complete game and struck out 10 Hoosier hitters.
Indiana outfielder Grant Richardson was the sole bright spot in the batter's box going 2-for-4 with a solo homer in the ninth. But it was too little, too late against the now Big Ten regular season champions.
(05/13/21 2:03pm)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/60qqivGVwyUZCdbhQZGSfZ?si=1c61ff7930224e4e
Zak and William are joined by Indiana Baseball beat writer Matthew Byrne, who works for TheHoosier.com, and discuss the stellar weekend Indiana had going 3-1 in Piscataway New Jersey. The #21 ranked Hoosiers took two wins from Rutgers and one from Nebraska as they look to stay hot and continue their excellent hitting on the road in Ann Arbor Michigan. Michigan, who is now in third place will be the toughest matchup for Indiana all year.
(05/02/21 10:01pm)
Every kid in America dreams of being able to play a sport in the big leagues, but once you hit a certain age you realize that the opportunity may never come. Only a few people avoid the soul-crushing feeling of never having that opportunity.
Indiana junior safety Jamar Johnson is now one of the few. On Saturday, May 1, Jamar Johnson heard his name called in front of millions of Americans watching the NFL Draft.
The Denver Broncos, who have been in need of secondary help for a few seasons now, drafted the ball-hawk with the 164th pick in the fifth round of the draft.
(04/18/21 8:31pm)
In the past year nothing in life has been consistent, and we all know how hard it can be to live with that. Routines changing constantly, cancellations of our favorite events, and even not being able to see our loved ones.
Now imagine you’re playing baseball for a Power Five team that expects to make the NCAA tournament every year. The pressure is loaded. Games being canceled, not being able to play in full stadiums, isolated travel and rigorous COVID-19 testing has plagued college baseball this season.
For Indiana baseball players this isn’t any different — they sacrifice their normal student life to play the sport they love. It’s easy to feel jaded from how exhausting the past year has been and I know I do, but the team can’t. The team has to go out there every weekend and is expected to play consistent and fundamental baseball.
This season, the Indiana baseball roster has 28 freshmen and only six seniors. The Hoosiers are and always will be a team that relies on leadership, teamwork and consistency. It would be extremely difficult for any team in the country to have any sense of consistency in a COVID-19 season, but even more so for the Hoosiers because of the inexperience. This is why the key to the season will be the younger guys finding their footing and providing consistent contributions.
Indiana took two out of three at Northwestern this weekend, improving the team's record to 15-8. A few freshmen in particular have been and will continue to be critical to Indiana’s success this season.
(04/15/21 3:55pm)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4taIGkswi5xZ3IzVULSGW0?si=gV8O_6fmSTWqWjneW28W0g
Griffin, William, and Zak discuss the memorable moments from Indiana's 2-0 series win against Illinois and what it means for the team as a whole. The weekend was headlined by a combined no-hitter and a walk-off home run. Weekend hero and Indiana redshirt Senior catcher Collin Hopkins joins the group to discuss his weekend and dive deeper into who he is as a player, teammate, and person. This weekend could be the turning point in the season for Indiana Baseball. The interview with Collin Hopkins begins at the 36:50 mark.
(04/05/21 12:01am)
What was one of the more anticipated series in the Indiana Hoosiers’ front half of the season turned out to be a dud, as the Hoosiers lost a series in a sweep to the Ohio State Buckeyes in walk-off fashion. This past weekend was the first time Indiana has been swept in Big Ten play since May of 2018.
The series against the Buckeyes was expected to be competitive and featured highly talented Hoosiers pitchers Tommy Sommer and McCade Brown. In the other dugout stood the Buckeyes’ Garrett Burhenn, Seth Lonsway, and former Texas Longhorn Jack Neely.
Here I’ll dive into and analyze the incredible pitching that was on display as well as answer the question, “What went wrong?” for the Hoosiers in Columbus.
Recaps
Game 1 — Friday, April 2:
Indiana - 2
Ohio State - 3
Friday had the slow and steady pitching matchup we all expected. Buckeye right-hander Garrett Burhenn was phenomenal on the mound and the Hoosiers struggled to keep up with his fastball all game.
The Ohio State pitchers only gave up three hits the whole game. Aside from third baseman Cole Barr’s solo home run in the top of the sixth inning and first baseman Jordan Fucci’s double down the left field line in the fourth, the Hoosiers really struggled from the batters box. Indiana hit 3-for-30 (.100), which was, at the time, the worst batting average in a game for the Hoosiers all season.
Indiana outfielder Drew Ashley’s 39-game reached-base streak, which dated all the way back to the 2019 season, came to an end in an all-around rough day for the IU offense. Indiana ace Tommy Sommer (3-1) had a solid game on the mound despite picking up his first loss of the season.
Game 2 — Saturday, April 3:
****7-innings****
Indiana - 0
Ohio State - 6
Welp, scratch what I said earlier about Indiana having its worst hitting game of the season on Friday, as the Hoosiers hit 2-for-23 (.087) in Saturday’s first game. It really just seemed like the Hoosiers weren’t being aggressive enough. Four batters struck out looking and It’s almost as if the Hoosier hitters put glue on the soles of their cleats every time they went up to bat.
If I could describe the defensive effort in one word from the Hoosiers perspective it would be sloppy. Throwing errors, dropped fly balls and communication errors plagued the Indiana defense and led to three unearned runs for Ohio State.
Buckeyes left-hander Seth Lonsway had a gem of a game. Lonsway faced three batters and struck out all three, each on three pitches, in the second inning. This is known as an immaculate inning and to put in perspective how rare this really is, only 94 pitchers in MLB history have accomplished the feat where there have been 304 recorded no-hitters in MLB history.
Lonsway was impressive all afternoon, hardly behind in a count, and was pounding the strike zone. Seventeen of Lonsway’s 21 outs were strikeouts — and yes you read that correctly, 17 K’s. His off-speed and breaking balls sliced through one of the Big Ten’s best lineups and there was little the Hoosiers could do playing from behind. It was a complete game shutout gem for the Buckeye junior lefty.
So, halfway through the weekend series the Hoosiers were 0-2 against the Buckeyes and hitting a combined 5-for-53 (.094). Indiana was also shut out for the first time since a 4-0 loss at Illinois on May 3, 2019.
Game 3 — Saturday, April 3:
Indiana - 2
Ohio State - 5
Heading into game three of a four-game series in Columbus the Hoosiers needed a big game to gain some momentum. The Hoosiers hadn’t lost a series all season long and that was at risk here.
What was almost a carbon copy of Saturday’s opening game's first inning, Hoosiers pitcher Ty Bothwell worked efficiently and quickly to get the first two strikeouts before a solo home run to right field from Zach Dezenzo opened the game up for the Buckeyes. As for Neely, he was thorough and confident. The former Longhorn looked poised and despite giving up a pair of solo home runs — one to shortstop Grant Macciocchi and the other to third baseman Cole Barr — he was overall solid and before being relieved retained the Buckeyes lead.
Indiana fell behind early once again and this game felt a lot like Friday’s about halfway through and it ended in similar fashion. Indiana’s bats were a little warm in Saturday’s backend game of the doubleheader but hitting 6-for-33 (.182) just simply isn’t going to be enough.
The infield had been the Hoosiers' strength all season long but in the doubleheader Indiana was responsible for six errors, which is going to be hard for any defense to overcome. This loss guaranteed IU’s first series loss of the season.
Game 4 — Sunday, April 4:
Indiana - 3
Ohio State - 4
Sunday was the day the Hoosiers could leave Columbus feeling a little bit better about themselves and the rough weekend they had been having. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Hoosiers' fate. What was just a weird game all around ended on a Dezenzo walk-off single down the left field line to drive in the winning run.
Hoosiers right-hander Gabe Bierman had an awesome game, he seemed composed and very confident. The right-hander has been rattled early this season but avoided it on Sunday. Bierman whips his fastball and when his control is on he's tough to beat. Great to see him have some confidence and go out there and pitch seven great innings. Indiana reliever John Modugno came in with a two run lead but really struggled in his 1⅔ innings; he just gave up too many hits (5) and the eventual walk-off single.
What went wrong?
Shield your eyes, Hoosier fans. You may not want to read this, but Ohio State is a top five team in the Big Ten.
Coming into the game, the Buckeyes had a record of 8-7 and looked to be a middle-tier Big Ten team but they showed their full potential this weekend, especially on the mound. I am so impressed with how composed and confident the Buckeyes were on the mound. The Buckeyes’ starters showed trust in their fielders and an outstanding pitcher-to-catcher relationship. They seemed on the same page all weekend. Ohio State will be in Ann Arbor next weekend for a rivalry date with the Big Ten favorites, Michigan, so we will see how they stack up against another top-caliber opponent.
Indiana has had issues with errors in prior series (Purdue comes to mind) but when you face a good team like Ohio State the sloppy mistakes and mental lapses just can’t happen. You can’t expect to win a series that way. Yes, Ohio State is a good team, but head coach Jeff Mercer knows that the sloppy play just can’t continue.
Mental lapses like getting picked off at first base and dropped fly balls just simply can’t happen at the rate they did this weekend. Of course there will be errors and mistakes but it really just seemed like the Hoosiers were unfocused throughout the weekend. Indiana can’t get away with the mistakes and errors against opponents like the Buckeyes in the top half of the Big Ten. In May, the Hoosiers and Buckeyes will meet again in Bloomington along with the Cornhuskers of Nebraska, a team which is red-hot right now.
Finish! It seemed like a countless amount of times the Hoosiers had two outs and gave up runs or had two strikes and walked a guy. The Hoosiers hit 3-for-30 (.100) with runners in scoring position in the weekend series. You can’t do that and win in collegiate baseball. It just doesn’t happen. The Hoosiers will need to improve their situational baseball and fix these sloppy mistakes.
Indiana will host Illinois next weekend for a three-game series, as looking to bounce back and put this weekend against the Buckeyes in the rear view mirror.
(03/27/21 5:17pm)
It’s almost as if Indiana junior left hand pitcher Tommy Sommer was born to be great.
He grew up in a household with his mom Susie, a state champion softball player at Center Grove High School in Greenwood Indiana, while his father, Juergen, had created a legacy during his time at IU. Juergen Sommer walked on to the Indiana men's soccer team in 1987 and the rest was history. As a Hoosier, Juergen contributed to a national championship in 1988. In 1990 he was named Soccer American Goalkeeper of the Year, and he is third all-time at Indiana in saves and victories. This led to a professional playing and coaching career for Sommer.
The Hoosier Network contributor Austin Render got a chance to sit down with the father and son and discuss Juergen’s time at Indiana and Tommy’s recent success with Hoosiers baseball program.
Tommy was about 13 or 14 years old when he began to realize what his father had accomplished not only at Indiana but at a professional level. Tommy was able to go to many soccer events at Indiana and meet a lot of people in the sports industry.
"Every year my dad is a part of something really unique or special that I really admire and respect about him that I realize what he actually really did accomplish and the respect other people have for him.”
- Tommy Sommer, on sharing his father's legacy
While Tommy was not known for his soccer skills as a kid, Juergen remembers his wife Susie duct taping Tommy’s right hand to his hip so he would throw left handed. This clearly paid off in the long run. Baseball was something that Tommy fell in love with as a child and was something he always wanted to do.
Juergen and Susie began to notice Tommy had a future in sports when they would go all across the country for travel baseball. Juergen quickly recognized that Tommy was doing all the little things right and things that you would normally have to ask or remind a kid to do on and off the field. Tommy had the work, dedication and attention to detail in his blood.
Juergen also had to work hard and show dedication during his days at Indiana, as he walked on to the team. The former four-year starter will always credit and thank Hall of Fame head coach Jerry Yeagley for giving him a chance to prove himself.
Jerry Yeagley coached the Hoosiers men’s soccer team from 1973-2003 and led the team to 544 victories and six NCAA National Championships. Yeagley is considered to be one of the greatest collegiate men’s soccer coaches of all time.
“He was willing to take chances on people and he rewarded the athletes that performed for him whether you were a highly recruited athlete or you just showed up and walked on like I did. So, it’s one of the best experiences I’ve had in sports.”
- Juergen on Hall of Fame coach Jerry Yeagley
Juergen didn't even think of a professional career as an option until Yeagley gave him the opportunity and made the path possible. This led to Juergen being able to compete on the 1994 and 1998 United States World Cup teams and in 1995 Jurgen became the first American goalkeeper to play in the English Premier League as he signed with the Queens Park Rangers. It paved the way for American goalkeepers in the Premier League such as Tim Howard, Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller.
Juergen has the utmost admiration for coach Yeagley and compares the Hoosiers’ baseball head coach Jeff Mercer to him — a pretty honorable comparison.
“The passion, the fire, and you can see the fire in his belly, the level of competition...remind me a lot of the first-class program Jerry and Marilyn Yeagley, his wife, put together at IU.”
- Juergen on baseball head coach Jeff Mercer
Mercer, who is now in his third year at Indiana won Big Ten Coach of the Year in his first year at the helm when the Hoosier won the Big Ten regular-season title in 2019 and lost in the Louisville Regional of the NCAA tournament.
It is extremely high praise to compare Mercer to men's soccer coaching great Jerry Yeagley, but as Juergen said there is a fire under the coach and as the Hoosiers begin the season 10-2 in the midst of a three-game series against Michigan State in East Lansing, the hopes and expectations for Indiana baseball are higher than ever.
Tommy, who was late to fully commit to the Hoosiers out of high school, wanted to go through the whole recruitment process before deciding where to continue his academic and athletic career. Juergen never wanted to push Tommy to go to IU in saying, “he’s got to want to be there."
The 6-foot-4 lefty pitcher has confirmed he made the right choice, stressing how important to him it has been to be close to family and his home in Carmel, Indiana. Tommy has been a critical part of the Hoosiers’ success of late and has been on fire to start the season. The lefty has the best ERA among Hoosier starting pitchers this season — in four starts Sommer has a 3-0 record, an ERA of 1.85, a WHIP of 1.08, and a team second-best 27 strikeouts.
Tommy Sommer’s 2021 Appearances:
3/5 VS. Minnesota
8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 10 K’s, 2 BB; on 26 batters faced
Hoosiers won 5-2
Named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week
3/13 VS. Penn State
4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 K’s, 4 BB; on 20 batters faced
Hoosiers won 7-2
3/19 VS. Purdue
6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 12 K’s, 4 BB; on 28 batters faced
Hoosiers won 2-1
3/26 VS. Michigan State
5.0 IP, 6 H, 2R, 2 K's, 3 BB; on 23 batters faced
Hoosiers won 8-2
Tommy will be critical to the Hoosiers’ success this season — the time is now his.
Over the winter Tommy stressed rounding out his game, working on solidifying his mechanics, and developing a cutter. Sommer’s new cutter works great at forcing ground balls, getting swings and misses, as well as jamming left handed hitters.
The lefty’s fastball coupled with the changeup has always been his bread and butter but it opens up his game when he can use both sides of the plate with the off-speed. Tommy stresses commanding fastballs to both sides of the plate to open up his off-speed, getting weak contact early in at-bats and keeping his pitch count low. Tommy is masterful at getting out of jams, using his fielders to his advantage, and controlling his pitch count. The 2021 season is still early but Sommer’s early numbers and improvements show that he is here to stay and will continue to be a force in the Big Ten.
.@IndianaBase LHP Tommy Sommer has been solid thru 5. Sits 86-89 w/ FB, T 90, plane/angle from H3/4 with east-west command, CT at 80-81, CH same band, solid feel with attack mentality. #PGDraft pic.twitter.com/PZAwhtO87m
— PG College Baseball (@PGCollegeBall) March 26, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Juergen knows what it takes to get to a championship level as he did back in 1988. Juergen even jokingly said, “I don’t think I went to class for a week after” winning the national championship in Bloomington. Juergen wants his son to embrace the challenge of a COVID-19 season as well as show leadership.
”The bottom half of the roster is really what’s really gonna help you win a championship or go far in a tournament.”
- Juergen on his experience and advice to give to Tommy
Juergen stresses the importance of building a relationship with the younger guys on the roster and building the same sense of passion and commitment to the sport that the Indiana men’s soccer team had under the helm of Jerry Yeagley. Juergen sees that fire and passion in Mercer and his own son.
Juergen said that he “couldn’t be prouder” of his son and his accomplishments on the field and in the classroom at his alma mater. The Sommer family has greatness, accomplishments and hard work in their blood. His father had his time in Bloomington, and now Tommy looks to create his own legacy at Indiana. The tools, athleticism, talent, work ethic and passion are all there and it’s starting to show on the field.
From father to son and champion to champion, the time is now Tommy’s.
(03/20/21 11:54pm)
The Indiana Hoosiers baseball team (8-2) fell to the Purdue Boilermakers (2-8) by a score of 8-5 Saturday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington. Coming off a quiet 2-1 victory on Friday, the Hoosiers had McCade Brown on the bump and were primed for a big performance, but Indiana’s defensive struggles and Purdue’s big hitting propelled the Boilermakers to victory.
Here are my three takeaways from Saturday's game:
Control issues linger for Hoosier pitchers
All-American candidate sophomore pitcher McCade Brown had a tough third inning for the Hoosiers as the Boilermakers batted around and scored four runs. Purdue third baseman Tyler Powers led the inning off with a single and a collapse from Indiana followed. Three walks from Brown along with a wild pitch which led to one run being scored hurt the Hoosiers this inning.
Indiana had an opportunity to end the inning on a double play, but the Hoosiers committed an error when throwing to second which scored a run for the Boilermakers as second baseman Evan Albrecht trotted home. The error led to a two-run swing as Purdue scored two more in the top of the third. Stand-in head coach Dan Held — for the quarantined Jeff Mercer — said Brown “wasn’t able to control his offspeed today.”
However, Brown showed composure and responded well in the fourth and fifth innings. He retired six of the final seven batters he faced. He totaled 97 pitches on the day. Brown finished giving up five hits, four earned runs, four walks, and eight strikeouts on 25 batters faced.
Relief pitchers John Modugno, Braden Scott and Connor Manous also struggled with their command and allowed three runs in four innings.
Brown, along with the Hoosier bullpen, struggled with control as they pitched a 60.1 strike percentage. For reference, Purdue pitched 65.1 percent on nine fewer pitches.
Indiana also totaled six walks given up to Purdue’s three. The Hoosier bullpen had really been awesome all year long and this was the first game of the year where another team exploited the pitching weaknesses the Hoosiers have. Control is something that the Hoosiers must improve on over the season, though one game is not enough to panic.
Purdue hitters outmatch Hoosiers
The middle of the Indiana lineup has been very consistent this season and it's led by hot-hitting redshirt freshman second baseman Paul Toetz. He has been one of the most pleasant surprises for Mercer and his staff.
Toetz was on a team-best, nine-game hitting streak coming into the game and he extended it Saturday with two RBIs on a single and a double. But aside from Toetz, the Hoosiers really struggled to capitalize on runners on base and in scoring position.
The Hoosiers hit a better average on the day than the Boilermakers of .297 and .282, respectively, but they left 11 runners on and hit .267 (4-for-15) with runners in scoring position. It will be hard for Indiana to win games where the offense struggles in capitalizing with runners on base.
Purdue definitely played its best game of the season so far as their star for the day was right fielder Miles Simington, who had two hits for two RBIs and no strikeouts on six at-bats.
The Boilermakers offense was rolling the whole day and it would be difficult for any Big Ten opponent to stop them. They haven’t had an offensive performance like that all season and credit is due to them for making adjustments after Friday's game.
One thing noticeable about the Boilermakers is how well they played team baseball. Purdue was making unselfish plays, bunting very well and strategically, as well as communicating well on defense.
Mistakes are hard to overcome for Indiana
The defensive errors the Hoosiers committed are extremely hard for the offense to overcome. In baseball, one poor inning can kill you and it really seemed like the rough third inning really opened up the Boilermakers eyes for the rest of the game.
Defense has been IU's strength so far and it really let the team down Saturday. The errors and poor pitching really became too much for the Hoosiers to come back from. The Hoosiers' offense hasn’t woken up fully this season yet, and until they begin to give pitchers a little bit of a cushion, games like this will happen.
“Today it let us down and we played some sloppy defense,” Held said of the team's defense.
The team should be all right, but there are some issues. It would have taken a near perfect performance for the Hoosiers to beat Purdue on Saturday.
The Hoosiers will face Purdue again on Sunday to finish the series and then next weekend they will be in East Lansing visiting Michigan State for a three-game series.