The Hoosiers were somewhat of a surprise Big Ten champion last year in head coach Jeff Mercer’s first year with the team. Mercer came over after Chris Lemonis left to take the same position at Mississippi State after three years leading the Hoosiers.
Indiana had slowly risen to one of the best teams in the Big Ten under Lemonis and Mercer was then able to lead them to a 17-7 conference record and regular-season championship in 2019.
The Hoosiers had a record-setting ten players drafted in the ’19 amateur draft including Matt Gorski in the second round to the Pirates, Big Ten pitcher of the year Andrew Saalfrank in the sixth round to the Diamondbacks, and Tanner Gordon just five picks later to the Braves.