IU baseball season preview: Hoosiers' bats will hit. Can the arms hold up for NCAA return?

BLOOMINGTON – Fresh off a season where IU baseball was a winner-take-all loss away from advancing to a Super Regional, the Hoosiers return to action for the 2024 season on Friday. Jeff Mercer is set to lead a program poised for another big year after going 43-20 and finishing second in the Big Ten in 2023.

Here’s what to know about this year’s version of the squad.

In the field

Indiana lost four starting position players from last year’s team.

• Shortstop Phillip Glasser (MLB draft): team-best .357 batting average, team-best 14 stolen bases, second-team All-Big Ten

• Center fielder Bobby Whalen (transfer to Virginia): .277 batting average, 3 HR, 39 RBIs

• Left fielder Hunter Jessee (transfer to Cincinnati): .281 batting average, 6 HR, 34 RBIs

• Catcher Peter Serruto (minor league contract): .265 batting average, 3 HR, 18 RBIs

Indiana returns five starters in the field in 2024.

• Junior first baseman/catcher Brock Tibbitts: .357 batting average, 10 HR, team-best 68 RBI, team-best .447 on-base percentage, second-team All-Big Ten

• Junior third baseman Josh Pyne: .295 batting average, 6 HR, 56 RBIs, third-team All-Big Ten

• Junior outfielder/DH Carter Mathison: .311 batting average, 10 HR, 49 RBIs

• Sophomore second baseman Tyler Cerny: .276 batting average, 10 HR, 43 RBIs, 10 stolen bases

• Sophomore outfielder Devin Taylor: .315 batting average, team-best 16 HR, 59 RBIs, team-best 1.080 OPS, first-team All-Big Ten, Big Ten Freshman of the Year

The new position players expected to fill in as starters are outfielder Nick Mitchell (Western Illinois transfer), second baseman Brandon Burckel (Houston transfer), redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski, catcher Jake Stadler (Purdue transfer) and freshman outfielder Andrew Wiggins.

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Mitchell was brought in to fill Glasser’s role as a leadoff hitter. The Carmel native was first-team All-Summit League in 2023 after hitting .354 with 17 doubles and six triples.

“When you lose a leadoff guy that was as prolific as Phillip was, to be able to replace him with someone who's of similar characteristics is incredibly valuable,” Mercer said.

Taylor comes in with the highest expectations at the plate. After the Cincinnati native breezed through the Big Ten as a freshman, he was voted the conference’s preseason Player of the Year and a second-team All-American by Perfect Game. With high expectations for Taylor’s second year in Bloomington, Mercer wants his young outfielder to stay patient.

“The reality is he's going to have to be willing to take his walks,” Mercer said. “He's going to have to want to hit the ball to all parts of the ballpark, which we've all seen him do. And he's going to have to trust his teammates to be able to do some damage to help him carry that load a little bit.”

Teams will certainly pitch around Taylor more carefully now that there’s a year of film on him. He’s expected to be a national star, and pitchers won’t be surprised by his ability this year.

With a nucleus that was fairly young in 2023, all signs point to the Hoosiers doing damage with their bats yet again in 2024.

On the mound

The big story at pitcher for IU is the loss of starting ace Luke Sinnard. Sinnard — who had a 4.27 ERA and set a single-season IU record with 114 strikeouts in 2023 — underwent offseason elbow surgery and is expected to miss all of 2024.

Mercer named sophomore Brayden Risedorph (4.47 ERA in 2023) the opening-day starter. Mercer expects Risedorph to be joined by sophomore Connor Foley (3.72 ERA), junior Ryan Kraft (2.48 ERA), senior Gonzaga transfer Jack Moffitt (7.34 ERA) and fifth-year senior Ty Bothwell (6.55 ERA) as stalwarts in IU’s starting rotation.

The biggest x-factor of the starting group is Foley. Foley is moving from reliever to starter this season. As a freshman, Foley had three saves and allowed a .163 batting average. It was a successful first season in Bloomington, but he was a bit of a one-trick pony.

“Last year I came into games just trying to attack, attack,” Foley said. “I had like one pitch — it was just throwing it by guys hopefully.”

Foley’s fastball is just shy of reaching triple digits on the radar gun, and he left a lot of batters hopeless in the box last season. Coming into 2024, there’s a concerted emphasis on Foley expanding his diversity of pitches.

“Forcing him to get a lot of those off-speed pitches out of his hands is a big deal,” Mercer said.

Sophomore Ethan Phillips (5.01 ERA), sophomore Evan Whiteaker (4.12 ERA) and senior Brooks Ey (10.72 ERA) figure to be key bullpen pieces for the Hoosiers. Junior transfer Julian Tonghoni also projects as a crucial arm out of the bullpen after having a 3.81 ERA at Boston College last year.

IU lowering its ERA from 7.04 in 2022 to 5.27 in 2023 was the main reason the program returned to the NCAA tournament. Without Sinnard, the rest of the Hoosiers’ arms will need to step up on the bump for another successful season in 2024.

Key games and series

The season starts with a bang for the Hoosiers, as they’ll take on three 2023 NCAA tournament teams at the Baseball at the Beach event at Coastal Carolina. Indiana takes on No. 14 Duke at 11 a.m., Friday. After that Indiana will go against hosting No. 18 Coastal Carolina at 3 p.m., Saturday. The weekend ends with a matchup against George Mason at 11a.m., Sunday. Each game will be streamed on ESPN+.

IU will begin March with a big weekend in the Frisco Classic in Frisco, Texas. IU plays No. 17 Alabama on March 1 to begin the weekend. The Hoosiers then play Dallas Baptist on March 2 and Arizona on March 3. Like IU, Dallas Baptist and Arizona both received votes in the preseason USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

The following weekend, Indiana hosts Troy for a three-game series at Bart Kaufman Field. Troy is another team that received votes in the preseason and is coming off a 2023 NCAA tournament appearance.

Two days after the Troy series, the Hoosiers head to Nashville to play at No. 6 Vanderbilt on March 12.

IU also has a pair of games against in-state foes Indiana State. The Hoosiers travel to play the Sycamores in Terre Haute on March 19, and a rematch will be played in Bloomington on April 2.

In Big Ten play, the most vital series of the year is likely when Indiana travels to face Maryland from April 5-7. Indiana’s series against Rutgers from April 26-28 is likely to be its most intriguing home Big Ten series. The Hoosiers do not play No. 20 Iowa in the regular season.

Final outlook

IU projects to make the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. The Hoosiers’ group of batters should wreak havoc on opposing pitching staffs all season long. IU will be tested with a challenging schedule right away in 2024.

IU was voted second behind Iowa in the Big Ten Preseason Poll. After finishing a game shy of a regular season Big Ten title last year, the Hoosiers are poised to compete for their first conference crown since 2019. If IU makes up for the loss of Sinnard and sees its batters take another jump, 2024 could be another fruitful season for the Hoosiers.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Hoosiers baseball begins 2024 season with NCAA expectations