May 8, 2009
NU Game Notes vs. Indiana (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern looks to snap a six-game winless streak as it travels to Indiana for its final road series of the Big Ten season. Friday's game gets underway at 2 p.m. Central time, while the contests on Saturday and Sunday begin at noon and are being televised live by Big Ten Network.
Gametracker can be accessed for all three games via NUsports.com
The Wildcats are still in the mix for a Big Ten tournament berth with two weekends remaining in the conference season. NU enters the series with Indiana 3.5 games behind Purdue for the sixth and final spot in the tournament field.
Northwestern has played the conference leader each of the past two weeks, winning one game at Ohio State before dropping all three contests at home against Illinois last weekend. The Wildcats nearly rallied all the way back from a 15-3 seventh-inning deficit against the Illini on Saturday, getting the tying to the plate with no one out in the ninth before coming up just short.
Following the three-game set with Indiana, NU closes out its regular season at home against Michigan next weekend.
Scouting Indiana
The Hoosiers (22-24, 11-6 Big Ten) have not played since dropping two of three games at Purdue last weekend and enter the series with NU in fourth place in the conference standings. Freshman Alex Dickerson leads Indiana with a .376 batting average, 13 doubles and 13 home runs. All-America candidate Josh Phegley is hitting .368 with 13 homers and a team-best 55 RBI. IU ranks second in the Big Ten in team batting average (.326), slugging percentage (.484) and on-base percentage (.401). Junior right-hander Eric Arnett paces the pitching staff with a 2.86 ERA and a 10-1 record. Tracy Smith is in his third season as the head coach of the Hoosiers.
Series History: Indiana leads, 88-75-2.
Last Season: The Hoosiers and the Wildcats split a four-game series in Evanston May 9-11, 2008. NU won the opening game 8-5 before Indiana won the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 2-1. The 'Cats took the nightcap 10-8 before the Hoosiers won Sunday's wild finale 14-12 in 10 innings.