BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Seventh-year head coach Jeff Mercer and the Indiana Baseball program announced the 2025 schedule on Friday (Dec. 6th) afternoon. IU is set to play a traditional 56-game slate, beginning Friday, February 14th against UNLV in Surprise, Ariz.
With the Big Ten adding four west coast schools to the conference, the league expanded its schedule to a 30-game, 10-series slate. Big Ten play will now begin on the first weekend of March and last through the final week of the regular season.
“Annually, we work to build a schedule that challenges and prepares us to compete at the top of the conference and for postseason play. We believe we have done that again this year,” Mercer said. “With the addition of the four west coast universities, we have added tremendous competition as well as expanded our conference schedule from 24 to 30 games. We look forward to competing this spring and having a successful season.”
The traditional non-conference series during the 11-week league period will remain in place given the odd number of programs in the Big Ten. IU’s off weekend – from conference play – in the regular season comes at the beginning of May with the Hoosiers set to travel to Abilene Christian (May 2-4).
IU’s first three non-conference weekends will take the team to Arizona, North Carolina and Florida. The Hoosiers will open at the College Baseball Classic in Surprise, Ariz. with games against UNLV (2), Xavier and national powerhouse Oregon State.
The second weekend of the season will send IU to the USA Baseball facilities in Cary, N.C. to play Fordham, Xavier and Big Ten foe Northwestern. IU’s game against the Wildcats will be considered a non-conference contest in the official league standings. On the final week of February, IU will head to DeLand, Fla. for two games against host Stetson and two neutral site contests with Mount St. Mary’s.
On the schedule at Bart Kaufman Field includes Big Ten series against Ohio State (March 12-14), USC (March 28-30), Michigan State (April 4-6), Maryland (April 18-20) and Purdue (May 9-11). The Hoosiers will host 23 games in Bloomington including eight midweek games.
Louisville (April 1) is the premier home game on the schedule but IU will also host NCAA Tournament teams from 2024 in Northern Kentucky (March 4), Evansville (March 18) and Indiana State (April 8). IU will also return to Victory Field to host Ball State (April 23).
Road weekends in league play take Mercer and company to Penn State (March 7-9), UCLA (March 21-23), Illinois (April 11-13), Iowa (April 25-27) and Michigan (May 15-17). In addition to its road series at Abilene Christian, IU will play midweeks away at Indiana State (March 11), Evansville (April 29) and Cincinnati (March 13).
IU is boosted by the return of All-American outfielder Devin Taylor. Junior shortstop Tyler Cerny, sophomore second baseman Jasen Oliver and junior third baseman Josh Pyne all return in the field while senior left-hander Ryan Kraft leads the way in a new look lineup on the mound.
2025 Schedule Breakdown:
Overall
Home Games: 23
Away Games: 23
Neutral Games: 10
Big Ten
Home Opponents: Ohio State, USC, Michigan State, Maryland, Purdue
Away Opponents: Penn State, UCLA, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan
Notes
Season Opener: Indiana vs. UNLV (Feb. 14, 2025); Surprise, Ariz.
Home Opener: Indiana vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 19, 2025)
Big Ten Opener: Indiana at Penn State (March 7, 2025)
Opponents
2024 NCAA Tournament Teams:
– Oregon State, Stetson, Northern Kentucky, Evansville, Indiana State, Illinois
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