IU baseball will look to match its longest win streak of the 2018 season at seven wins when it welcomes Wright State at Bart Kaufman field.
The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will be played on Wednesday and will mark the conclusion of a nine-game homestand for IU.
IU started the stretch of home games by losing its first two games against Cincinnati and Pacific. However, IU turned it around to improve their record to 15-4 heading into Wednesday’s game.
The Hoosiers have not faced Wright State since 2004. The Raiders come into the matchup with an 11-7 record.
Here are three things to know about Wright State before the game.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Raiders stand in second place in the Horizon League, only behind the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Despite their .611 winning percentage, Wright State is not in the top-100 of the RPI rankings.
WSU has only faced one top-20 opponent when it took two of three games against Louisiana in February. The only common opponent IU and WSU have faced is Cincinnati, to whom IU lost 8-3 while the Raiders beat them 14-8.
DEPTH IN THE LINE-UP
Five Raiders that have had at least 20 at-bats this season own a batting average over .300.
The Hoosiers are averaging an impressive line of over six runs per game. However, the Raiders are averaging more than half a run more.
Despite the depth in the line-up, no Raiders are ranked in the top-100 Perfect Game college prospects rankings.
Another major component of the success of WSU thus far is on-base percentage as the Raiders have combined for a team average of .391.
POTENTIAL STARTER
For the previous two midweek games that WSU has played, junior Bear Bellomy has been the starter and is likely to start against IU.
Bellomy has appeared in five games this season while starting those previous two midweek games.
His earned run average is 10.66 and he owns a 1-1 record. He has struck out eight batters in 12.2 innings pitched.
No starter has been named for IU either. Despite Coach Chris Lemonis penciling in sophomore Cameron Beauchamp as the Sunday starter, there are plenty of options for the midweek starter spot.
It is likely that Wednesday’s starter will be freshman Connor Manous, sophomore Andrew Saalfrank, freshman Tommy Sommer or senior Brian Hobbie.
Stefan Krajisnik
