Indiana to Host Detroit Mercy for Two Games

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– Indiana will close out the month of March with two home games against Detroit Mercy on Friday (March 27) and Saturday (March 28) at Andy Mohr Field.

The Hoosiers hold a 25-7 (7-2 B1G) mark while Detroit Mercy is 7-18 (1-2 Horizon) entering the weekend.

QUICK HITTERS:

The Hoosiers' prolific offense ranks top-15 nationally in a number of statistical categories: T-No. 10 (.369), No. 8 On Base Percentage (.475), No. 6 RBI (259), No. 7 Scoring (9.03), No. 6 Runs (289), No. 4 Stolen Bases (83), No. 3 Triples (16).
Avery Parker and VanBrandt each have 10 home runs on the season thus far. Josie Bird is just behind them with nine. Parker needs one home run to tie and two home runs to break the program's career record of 45.
The two games against Detroit Mercy are Indiana's last two games for the month of March where Indiana has been 10-3 for the month. After not playing at all at home in February, the Hoosiers will have played 11 of 15 games this month at Andy Mohr Field after this weekend.
Against Portland State in the Littlewood Invitational (Feb. 12), VanBrandt hit for the cycle as part of a 5-for-5 day where she also totaled two home runs.

LAST TIME OUT:

Indiana enters the series with Detroit Mercy after a 3-1 showing in their last weekend. Indiana picked up the sweep on the road at Maryland before falling to No. 16 Oregon in a wild game on Monday (March 23).
The Hoosiers' sweep at College Park marked its first sweep of the season and put them at 3-0 in Big Ten series play after finishing victorious in their first two series against Minnesota and Rutgers.
Indiana was in a close game on the Friday, being tied 5-5 through six innings before home runs from Alex Cooper and Madalyn Strader elevated the team to an 8-5 lead and eventual win.
In the series' second game, Indiana picked up its 14th win by run rule this season, taking the game, 10-2 in five innings. Indiana owned steady control of game three, too, winning by a final score of 7-2.
Against No. 16 Oregon, Indiana originally led 7-0 before Oregon tied it at 7-7. Indiana would take the lead again at 9-7 after four innings before Oregon scored a barrage of runs in a 24-12 win.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:

Detroit Mercy holds a 7-18 record prior to this weekend's two-gamer in Bloomington. The Titans have played in tournaments at DePaul, Western Kentucky, Texas Tech, North Alabama, Alabama A&M and Northern Kentucky.
In the Titans' first conference series of Horizon League play last weekend, Detroit Mercy went 1-2 taking the first game at Youngstown State but dropping the latter two.
Next weekend's series against IU Indy (April 3-4) will be its first home games of the season at Buysse Ballpark.
At the plate, Trinity Fessler leads the team with a .367 batting average and has four extra base hits along with 12 RBI to her name. Abby Klaft follows with a .303 batting average plus 14 RBI to go with it.
The Titans have four pitchers on their staff with Savannah Schultz and Erin Flynn getting the most usage. Schultz has a 5-8 record with 21 appearances. She owns a 5.23 ERA with 58 strikeouts this year.

SERIES HISTORY:

Indiana is 4-1 all time versus Detroit Mercy. The last two meetings came in 2003 when the two teams split the series, 1-1.

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Players Mentioned

Josie Bird

Alex Cooper

Avery Parker

Madalyn Strader

Indiana University Athletics