{"id":88104,"date":"2025-04-15T23:05:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/its-frustrating-indiana-goes-from-rolling-to-reeling-within-a-week\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T23:05:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:05:27","slug":"its-frustrating-indiana-goes-from-rolling-to-reeling-within-a-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/its-frustrating-indiana-goes-from-rolling-to-reeling-within-a-week\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s frustrating\u2019: Indiana goes from rolling to reeling within a week"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this time last week, Indiana<\/a><\/strong> baseball was flying high. Fresh off a sweep<\/a> of Michigan State<\/a><\/strong> and winners of four straight, the Hoosiers looked like a team rediscovering its identity.<\/p>\n

Seven days later, they look like a team still searching for answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard, it\u2019s frustrating,\u201d head coach Jeff Mercer said postgame. \u201cLast week at this time we were playing great baseball. You feel like you turned a corner last week \u2026 but it\u2019s a hard game.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a cool Tuesday evening at Bart Kaufman Field, Indiana\u2019s frustrating season earned another bruising notch \u2014 this time a 7-5 loss to in-state foe Indiana State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Series Recap: Indiana drops pivotal road series at Illinois<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite surrendering just a single extra-base hit all night, Indiana\u2019s season-long struggles in close games reappeared, dropping the Hoosiers to 5-10 in games decided by three runs or fewer.<\/p>\n

It was a game that unraveled in the fifth inning \u2014 four Indiana State<\/a><\/strong> runs on five well-placed singles and two costly walks flipped a 2-0 Indiana lead into a 4-2 deficit.<\/p>\n

The Sycamores didn\u2019t overwhelm with power. In fact, they barely hit the ball hard. But they made contact, ran well and forced Indiana into high-pressure moments the Hoosiers couldn\u2019t escape cleanly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one big inning hurt,\u201d Mercer said. \u201cWe gave them some freebies, and then they were able to find some holes and execute, and they did a good job with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana used nine different pitchers across nine innings in a bullpen game that lacked rhythm and consistency. None of the nine pitched more than two full innings.<\/p>\n

Sophomore left-hander Ryan Rushing drew the short straw, saddled with the loss after things unraveled in the fifth. While the box score showed 11 hits allowed, 10 of them were singles \u2014 a night full of jam shots, infield rollers and bloops that found outfield grass.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you get \u2018baseballed,\u2019\u201d Mercer said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Indiana, \u201cthe way it goes\u201d is starting to feel too familiar.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers managed just seven hits on the night, with nearly half coming in a frantic ninth inning. Four of Indiana\u2019s five runs came via the long ball, including junior star Devin Taylor\u2019s sixth-inning blast that tied the program\u2019s all-time home run record at 47.<\/p>\n

Still, the solo shot only trimmed the deficit, and the situational hitting woes remained. Indiana finished just 2-for-14 with runners on base and an anemic 2-for-11 with two outs.<\/p>\n

Even in the final frame, with the tying run at the plate, Indiana couldn\u2019t deliver the moment it desperately needed. Redshirt senior Jake Stadler\u2019s fly to center field sealed the Sycamores\u2019 win \u2014 and another missed opportunity in a season piling up with them.<\/p>\n

What makes it sting even more for Indiana is the contrast to last week\u2019s optimism.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers had just finished throttling Michigan State in a dominant three-game sweep, outscoring the Spartans 38-8. Then they edged Ball State in a midweek test. The NCAA Tournament felt like a plausible conversation again.<\/p>\n

MORE: Assembly Hall reset sparks Indiana\u2019s most \u2018complete\u2019 series of the season<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But since then, Indiana has dropped three of its last four, including two of three this past weekend in Champaign. In just seven days, the postseason outlook has dimmed considerably. Now, Indiana finds itself in a grind just to stay above water in the Big Ten standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you lose, there\u2019s frustration,\u201d Mercer said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not frustrated, then you don\u2019t care enough. Anytime you lose, it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s a hard pill to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now at 4-4 in midweek contests and reeling from a slide that\u2019s undone a week of momentum, the Hoosiers return to Big Ten play with even higher stakes. For a team running out of wiggle room and time, the frustration is real. The effort is evident. But the wins \u2014 they\u2019re not coming easy.<\/p>\n

And that, more than anything, is what\u2019s eating at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, you work your whole year to go out and win. As a coach, you work your tail off every day to go out to win,\u201d Mercer said. \u201cAnytime you don\u2019t have the success you want, it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post \u2018It\u2019s frustrating\u2019: Indiana goes from rolling to reeling within a week<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this time last week, Indiana baseball was flying high. Fresh off a sweep of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}