After staving off a series sweep at Michigan State to close the regular season, Indiana baseball begins postseason play on Tuesday in Omaha, Nebraska.
The No. 2-seeded Hoosiers face No. 7-seeded Illinois to open their Big Ten Tournament campaign. When the squads squared off in the regular season back on April 14-15, Indiana took the series two games to one.
Indiana finished the regular season with a 40-16 overall record and a 16-8 ledger in conference play. The 40-win mark was eclipsed for the ninth time in program history and the first time under head coach Jeff Mercer in his five-year tenure.
The Illini enter postseason play exactly at .500, with a 25-25 record. They were 12-12 in conference games this season.
The eight-team tournament follows a double-elimination format. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Given their strong regular season, the Hoosiers are safely in the field of 64 teams that advance to the NCAA Tournament, regardless of their performance this week in Omaha.
If Indiana defeats Illinois, its next game will be at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday –– playing the winner of No. 3 Iowa versus No. 6 Michigan –– the tournament’s first game, taking place at 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday. If Illinois wins Tuesday, then Indiana will play an elimination game versus the loser of the Iowa-Michigan game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The full tournament bracket can be found here.
Indiana’s postseason begins at 3 p.m. EST Tuesday versus Illinois at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. All games in the Big Ten Tournament will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and Indiana’s games can also be heard on IUHoosiers.com.
