Friday, April 29
Bloomington, Ind.
2 p.m.
Northwestern
at
Indiana
SCHEDULE UPDATE: 'Cats Travel to Indiana for Weekend Series
4/28/2016 1:11:00 PM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL AT INDIANA | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | WATCH | LIVE STATS | |
| Friday, April 29 | Indiana | 2:00 p.m. CT | Bloomington, Ind. | BTNPlus | Live Stats | |
| Friday, April 29 | Indiana | Following Game 1 | Bloomington, Ind. | BTNPlus | Live Stats | |
| TBD | Indiana | TBD | Bloomington, Ind. | - | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook | ||||||
*SCHEDULE UPDATE: Due to inclement weather forecast, Northwestern and Indiana will play a doubleheader on Friday, Apil 29, beginning at 2 p.m. CT.
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern baseball will take to the road this weekend for a three-game Big Ten Conference series at Indiana beginning with a doubleheader on Friday, April 29 at 2 p.m. CT.
Northwestern (10-30, 2-13 B1G) travels to Indiana (23-15, 8-4 B1G) for the first time since the 2013 season. The Wildcats and Hosiers games on Friday will be streamed on BTNPlus/BTN2Go.
Indiana holds a 79-100-2 lead in the all-time series meetings.
ON THE BUMP
Reed Mason will make his 11th start of the season on Friday night. The senior left-hander is 2-5 on the campaign and boasts a 4.30 ERA. Mason has shouldered the Wildcats' pitching load this season, tossing a team-high 52.1 innings and striking out 39 batters.
Joe Schindler (1-1, 5.62 ERA) will make his third start of the campaign in Saturday's contest. The right-handed pitcher has pounded the strike zone in both of his starts this season, ringing up six batters against Nevada (Feb. 19) and five against Minnesota (April 24).
Last weekend against the Gophers, the Eugene, Oregon native threw 3.1 hitless innings in his first start since Feb. 19.
Northwestern has not yet announced a starter for Sunday.
THE OPPONENT
Indiana enters the weekend having won three of its last five games, including a pair of wins over Michigan State last weekend (April 22-24) in East Lansing.
The Hoosiers have leaned on its pitching staff this season. Indiana ranks second in the Big Ten Conference for ERA with a low mark of 2.84 and has a pair of pitchers in the top 10 for the same statistical category.
Caleb Baragar (3-2), who the Wildcats will face on Saturday, has made ten starts this season and ranks second among conference pitchers with a 1.95 ERA. The southpaw has 56 strikeouts in 60.0 innings and has kept opposing hitters to a .180 batting average.
LHP Kyle Hart (8-2, 2.57 ERA) will start for Indiana in the series opener. Hart boasts the seventh best ERA in the conference and has thrown a team-high 66.2 innings, which includes a pair of complete games.
Evan Bell (0-3, 3.77 ERA) is scheduled to make his 11th start of the season on Sunday.
At the dish, Indiana has a team batting average of .265 and a slugging percentage of .396. Logan Sowers leads the Hoosiers at the plate with a .337 average and has 12 extra-base hits this season, which includes seven homeruns. Ryan Fineman has a .299 average and leads the team with 45 hits.
REED ON THE ROAD
Reed Mason has really turned it up on the road in Big Ten games this season. In starts at Ohio State (March 25) and at Nebraska (April 8), Mason tossed at least 6.0 innings and struck out six batters in both contests. He did not allow more than three runs in both games.
CHASING 200
Senior first baseman Zach Jones is just four hits shy of reaching the 200-hit plateau for his career. The Glenview, Illinois native is batting .263 on the season with 42 hits, including 10 extra-base knocks.
Jones has a .302 batting average for his career.
IRON 'CATS
Northwestern's left side of the infield has not changed its look this season. Sophomore third baseman Connor Lind and freshman shortstop Jack Dunn have started and played in all 40 of the #B1GCats games.
Freshman second baseman Willie Bourbon has started 39 games and played in all 40, while junior Matt Hopfner has started and played in 38 contests.
HOPPY BEING HOPPY
Week-in and week-out, junior Matt Hopfner continues to impress at the plate. The Wildcats' right fielder is hitting a team-best .372 on the season with a .514 slugging percentage. Hopfner's .372 clip at the plate ranks him seventh in the Big Ten. The Edina, Minnesota native also ranks in the top ten among Big Ten batters with 55 hits this season.
MID-SEASON TEAR
Sophomore Connor Lind and junior Joe Hoscheit have caught fire in Northwestern's last ten games. Lind is batting .357 with 15 hits during the stretch, while Hoscheit has 13 knocks for a .342 batting average and a .579 slugging percentage. The duo has combined for five extra-base hits in the last ten games and 12 RBIs.
GETTING THE JOB DONE
Since opening Big Ten play at Ohio State on March 25, Northwestern has seen a handful of relief pitchers step up when their number has been called from the pen.
Justin Yoss has made six relief appearances since the Ohio State series opened up and has 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings pitched with five strikeouts. Yoss also picked up the win against Bradley (April 13) after working a perfect inning of relief.
Josh Davis has rung up eight batters in nine innings of relief since the Big Ten opener. Davis has only allowed a pair or runs in the nine games he has appeared in and has only allowed one extra-base hit.
Richard Fordon has kept hitters off balance since returning to the Wildcats lineup on April 17 after suffering an injury. The big lefty has struck out four batters in 3.1 innings and is holding opposing batters to a .200 batting average.
TENFOLD
Northwestern has tallied 10-or-more hits in 20 games this season, including two games last week (11, vs. Penn State and 16, at Chicago State). Northwestern has matched its single-game high mark of 17 hits in a contest on three occasions this season – vs. Butler (March 5) and at San Diego State (March 11/March 12).
Northwestern has 367 hits this season, which places them sixth among Big Ten teams.
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