My Two Cents: On the Brink, Hoosiers 'Just Want Another Game With My Boys'

Tom Brew | Jun 2, 2024

Purdue's Keenan Spence (44) is tagged out at home by Indiana catcher Jake Stadler during a May game. / Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It's win or go home for the Indiana baseball team now. After losing to Tennessee on Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament, one more loss now would put a bow on this 2024 season and, worse off, many of these guys will go their separate ways.

They want to win Sunday afternoon in an elimination game against Southern Miss, just for the chance to play again on Sunday night. These bonds among this tight-knit team run deep, and they don't want this to end.

It's that hard.

"To keep playing more games with our brothers, it matters a lot because we're not ever going to all be together again,'' Indiana catcher Jake Stadler said. "We weren't 100 percent sure we were going to get into the (NCAA) tournament, we so all kind of said our goodbyes last week (after getting eliminated in the Big Ten Tournament), and we cried and held each other. It was an emotional experience.

"Now we're playing more freely and we're playing for each other so we can play one more game with our brothers. That mentality of playing for your brothers, playing for your boys, that's huge. That can take us a long way.''

Indiana, the No. 3 seed here in Knoxville, beat No. 2 seed Southern Miss 10-4 on Friday. They get another crack at Southern Miss on Sunday to stay alive. The game is scheduled to start at Noon ET, and will be streamed on ESPN-Plus. There is rain in the forecast in Knoxville on Sunday morning, so it's possible the start of the game could be delayed.

The Hoosiers go into the game still feeling confident, despite the loss to Tennessee, a loaded team that earned the No. 1 overall seed. Indiana been hitting, scoring 10 runs on Friday and six more Saturday. If they can keep doing it, another win could be pending.

"I'm really pleased offensively, and I didn't think that we got discouraged or gave any bats away (after falling behind 9-0 to Tennessee),'' Mercer said after the Saturday loss. "I thought we did a good job overall and we have to take that into (Sunday). We've done a good job hitting fastballs. Offensively we were fine, we just left too many guys on base. We had opportunities with less than two outs a few times, and we could have made it more interesting. We stayed competitive.''

"This is a mature group that's been through the battles, so I have no doubt they'll come out and compete.''

Stadler has been a great story for Indiana. He was 3-for-5 in Friday's win, and 1-for-2 Saturday with a double and a hit by pitch. The redshirt junior from Greenfield, Ind. started his career at Purdue, but transferred to Indiana in the offseason. He's hitting .282 on the year, and has driven in 27 runs in just 149 at bats.

He wasn't expected to play much, but starting catcher AJ Shepard got hurt in the third game of the year and was lost for the season. Brock Tibbitts, the backup catcher, got hurt, too, and hasn't been able to catch. He's played first base, but can't get behind the plate.

So Stadler has carried the load, catching every game the past two months. He's great with the pitchers, and he's contributed at the plate, too.

Mercer loves all that he's brought to the team.

"Kudos to Jake. He's been terrific. He shows up every day and catches for two months, and he's been doing a great job,'' Mercer said. "He's been real good the last couple days. It shows a lot of character on his part, and he shows up and works every day. but it also says a lot about the depth of your recruiting.

"You have to coach every player every day because you don't know when they're going to need to play. Injuries are part of the game, so I'm. very proud of them for coming in and helping us when their name gets called. Whether its Game 1 or Game 30 or Game 60, you need everyone to be ready. Jake's done that for us. He's been great.''

If Indiana wins Sunday afternoon, they will play Tennessee again on Sunday night. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET.

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• TENNESSEE RIPS INDIANA: Indiana allowed 11 walks and six of them scored on homers as No. 1 overall Tennessee blitzed the Hoosers 12-6 Saturday night in the Knoxville Regional. Here is Tom Brew's game story, live from Knoxville. CLICK HERE

• BASEBALL LOVE STORY: Pitcher Ty Bothwell has done a lot of good things for Indiana baseball the past six years, but no moment could have topped Friday, when he won a game for the Hoosiers — and proposed to his girlfriend on the field after the game. Here's a great baseball love story for two Northwest Indiana kids. CLICK HERE

• HOOSIERS BEAT SOUTHERN MISS: Indiana got a great start from lefty Ty Bothwell and had three multiple-run innings in the first four in a 10-4 rout of Southern Mississippi in the first game of the Knoxville Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament. Here is Tom Brew's game story, live from Knoxville. CLICK HERE

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