Assembly Hall reset sparks Indiana's most 'complete' series of the season

They weren’t supposed to be there—a baseball team, sneakers squeaking on the polished hardwood of Assembly Hall, shooting jumpers beneath banners they didn’t hang.

But Jeff Mercer had a feeling.

So before Indiana baseball’s weekend series against Michigan State, he pulled his players out of their routine and into the heart of campus history. No speeches. No scouting reports. Just a ball, a hoop, and a quiet reminder of what playing for Indiana really means.

“I asked the guys, ‘How many of your parents or family members grew up watching Indiana basketball? A lot of them raised their hands,’” Mercer said after the series. “What did they appreciate?” What did they enjoy about watching those teams?’”

The answers came quickly.

They were teams. They played hard. They played together. They had fun.

“That’s what people have come to know about Indiana sports. That’s what they expect from us,” Mercer said. “That’s the level we have to play at together as a team.”

That moment of reflection—of understanding what the Indiana name carries, not just as a school but as a standard—wasn’t followed by a speech.

It was followed by jump shots.

They laughed. They competed. They let go. And maybe that’s what unlocked it—because when they stepped back onto the diamond, something clicked.

What followed at Bart Kaufman Field wasn’t just a weekend series win. It was a demolition. A baseball team playing as one, dominating in every facet of the game.

Over the next three games, the Hoosiers delivered their most complete performance of the season—38 runs, a dominant sweep of the Spartans, and a team that looked whole.

“It was great,” outfielder Korbyn Dickerson said of the Assembly Hall trip. “I think part of the issue this season has been a lack of camaraderie. Going to play basketball with the guys and being competitive in a different way helped us put a smile on our faces.”

RELATED: Series Recap: Indiana sweeps Michigan State with statement weekend in Bloomington

From the first pitch of Sunday’s opener to the final out of Monday’s doubleheader, Indiana played with the kind of cohesion that had eluded it through much of the early season.

A 6–4 win on Sunday set the tone—built on grit, precision and a relentless string of quality at-bats.

And then came Monday.

In back-to-back seven-inning run-rule victories, Indiana outscored Michigan State 32–4. The Hoosiers didn’t just win—they dismantled one of the Big Ten’s top pitching staffs with surgical precision.

Five home runs. Eleven extra-base hits across the weekend. And a .427 team batting average in the series—proof this wasn’t just about power. It was about approach, discipline and buy-in.

“I thought our at-bats were professional all weekend, up and down the lineup,” Mercer said. “I really could not be more pleased. It was about as well as we could play.”

He meant that—not in a routine “we played well today” kind of way. Mercer has coached this program through Big Ten titles, NCAA Regionals and record-setting offensive seasons. But this weekend felt different.

It was more than the runs, more than the hits or the crisp defense, or the brilliant work done by the pitching staff. It was the energy.

You saw it in the dugout. You felt it in their execution—at the plate and in the field.

For a team that had started the season sluggish and recently slipped back into inconsistent habits, this wasn’t just a series win. It was a realization.

“We’re a better team than we’ve shown,” Mercer said. “We’re a better team than maybe we thought we were. All of a sudden, you realize you can compete at this level.”

Dickerson and Tyler Cerny combined to hit .538 over the three games, driving in 11 runs and scoring 11 more.

Freshmen Will Moore and Caleb Koskie each hit their first career home runs on Monday—Koskie driving in six in the second game. Fellow first-year Cooper Malamazian added the only extra-base hit on Sunday, a double, and continued his emergence as one of the Big Ten’s top young infielders.

The freshmen weren’t just surviving—they were leading.

And the pitching? Balanced and steady. No pitcher threw more than 85 pitches. Only one went over 50. In a grueling 24-hour, three-game stretch, Indiana used just eight total arms—and none appeared overworked. Indiana didn’t walk a batter in the first game of Monday’s doubleheader—the first time that’s happened all season.

It was clean, efficient, energized baseball that felt sustainable. And for Mercer, that’s the point.

“You could just see everybody on the same page and clicking,” he said. “It was pretty awesome.”

No stat line can capture the soul of what this weekend meant for the Hoosiers. It was a turning point—not just because of the wins, but because of how they won, and why they finally played like the team they knew they could be.

“Once you see it, and once you do it, now that becomes the expectation,” Mercer said. “You have to hold that line. You have to hold that standard.”

Maybe they won’t take a trip to Assembly Hall before every series. Maybe they won’t always score 38 runs in three games. But now, the Hoosiers know what it feels like to be at their best.

“It was one of the best days, if not the best day, I’ve seen at Indiana in my seven years here,” Mercer said. “Just a really complete performance all the way around.”