Indiana Hoosiers
Overall Rank: #44
Conference Rank: #4 Big Ten
Coach Jeff Mercer takes over an Indiana program that reached the Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament last season. Coach Mercer steps into a pretty good situation even though there are some big holes to fill. Luke Miller and Logan Sowers combined to belt 23 homeruns and will not be easy to replace. Jonathan Stiever and Tim Herrin were two of the regular starters last season and a large group of underclassmen will be asked to help pick up the slack.
2018: 40-19, 14-9
2018 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Jeff Mercer
Key Departed Players:
Luke Miller, IF, .309 BA, 13 HR, 34 RBI
Logan Sowers, OF, .299 BA, 10 HR, 34 RBI
Jonathan Stiever, P, 3.41 ERA, 5-6 W/L, 100.1 IP, 97 SO
Tim Herrin, 3.22 ERA, 6-0 W/L, 64.1 IP, 39 SO
Key Returning Players:
Matt Gorski, OF, .356 BA, 8 HR, 40 RBI, 24 SB
Scotty Bradley, IF, .326 BA, 7 HR, 19 RBI
Ryan Fineman, C, .284 BA, 7 HR, 37 RBI
Matt Lloyd, UTL, .275 BA, 9 HR, 41 RBI
Logan Kaletha, OF, .261 BA, 8 HR, 31 RBI
Pauly Milto, P, 2.03 ERA, 8-2 W/L, 79.2 IP, 66 SO
Projection:
The pitching staff will reload around Pauly Milto. As a junior last season the 6-3 pitcher made 14 appearances with 13 starts and recorded an 8-2 record with a 2.03 ERA. Players like Cam Beauchamp bring some experience to the mound as well. The junior started ten games last season, sporting a 3.78 ERA. Despite losing their top two homerun hitters, there is a lot of power left from the Big Ten’s top homerun hitting team last season. Matt Gorski will see plenty of All-American accolades rolling his way after hitting .356 with eight homeruns, 40 RBIs and 24 stolen bases last year. Scott Bradley also hit over .300 and added seven homeruns. Ryan Fineman, Matt Lloyd and Logan Kaletha are not the most consistent batters, but they combined to hit 24 homeruns with 109 RBIs. That is a lot of power coming back and if the pitching can manage to replace Stiever and Herrin, this is an Indiana team that should get back to the NCAA Tournament and could even make things very interesting at the top of the Big Ten.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
