OMAHA. Neb. – Rutgers baseball opened the 2025 Big Ten Tournament with a bang, upsetting No. 6 seed Indiana 5-2 at Charles Schwab Field.
 
The Scarlet Knights (29-27) slugged three home runs and received a gem from starting pitcher Landon Mack to take down the Hoosiers (31-24).
 
It all started on the mound for RU with true freshman Landon Mack setting the tone. Pitching on just four days of rest, Mack delivered a six-inning gem, keeping Indiana off the scoreboard, yielding just five hits and striking out six with no walks. 

"I've got all these guys behind my back and it means something different to them. And that's what motivates me to go out there and do what I do to my fullest potential," Mack said of the team's performance. "I love being part of this team and the culture that we have. To be able and go represent my home state – I'm just blessed to have this opportunity and have fun with it."

After centerfielder Peyton Bonds had to exit the game in the second, true freshman Jack Sweeney was called into action. On the first pitch of his first at-bat, Sweeney lined a solo homer into the Indiana bullpen to give Rutgers a 1-0 lead in the fourth. 

"I was just really happy for him," Ty Doucette said of Sweeney's home run. "He's a great kid; everybody loves that guy. To see him come through there, that was awesome. That was pretty cool."

Doucette would follow up Sweeney's homer with a solo shot of his own in the sixth to pad the lead at 2-0. RJ Johnson Jr. singled in an insurance run in the seventh, forcing IU to make a pitching change. Brennan Hyde greeted Indiana's new pitcher with a two-out, two-run home run to make it 5-0 and firmly put the Scarlet Knights firmly in control of the game. 

True freshman Nolan Peel followed Mack, pitching scoreless seventh and eighth innings. With one out in the ninth, the Hoosiers hit a two-run home run to make it a three-run game. Rutgers turned to Quinn Berglin, who picked up a strikeout and induced a weak grounder for the game's final out. 
 
Up next for Rutgers is a showdown with No. 3 seed Iowa at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday. With a win, the Scarlet Knights would advance to the semifinals. A loss would eliminate them from the tournament.

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