Baseball looks to finish strong, retain high rank

As the spring semester ends, the IU baseball season is beginning to get juicy.

The Hoosiers have three more series against Big Ten opponents — Nebraska, at Northwestern and Ohio State — and two games against nonconference opponents in Kentucky and Evansville.

The Cornhuskers possess the best record of those teams (28-16) and currently sit in fourth place in the Big Ten. Though the Hoosiers are currently in third place in the conference, this series will help decide the seeding of the teams entering the Big Ten Tournament (May 23-26).

Before the Hoosiers travel to Evanston, Ill., IU will welcome its border rival, the Kentucky Wildcats, to Sembower Field on May 9. The Wildcats are ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 36-8 record, according to the Collegiate Baseball rankings.

After playing the Wildcats, IU will battle the Northwestern Wildcats in a three-game series. Currently, Northwestern is in last place in the Big Ten, so the Hoosiers will need to take at least two out of three in their final road series of Big Ten play.

In the final week of the regular season, the Hoosiers will return to Bloomington to face in-state foe Evansville during the week and Ohio State on the weekend.

That week at Sembower will be the final week of play at the stadium as the Hoosiers plan to move into their new stadium next year.

Although there is still plenty of baseball to be played, it looks as if the Hoosiers will qualify for the Big Ten Tournament.

If IU does make it, the team will seek to finish the season better than it did this past year, when its season was ended on an Illinois walk-off home run.