Taryn Kern named Big Ten Freshman and Softball Player of the Year
Indiana softball freshman Taryn Kern was unanimously named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in addition to the league’s Player of the Year award amidst five Hoosiers who earned All-Big Ten honors in the annual postseason awards, the league announced on Wednesday morning. Kern leads the Hoosiers with two unanimous selections to the All-Freshman Team and as Freshman of the Year and the All-Freshman Team in addition to being awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year and to the First Team All-Big Ten.
Indiana’s Taylor Minnick was also named to the First Team All-Big Ten alongside Kern while redshirt-junior Cora Bassett, freshman Avery Parker and Sarah Stone earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors. Parker and freshman Cassidy Kettleman were also selected to the league’s All-Freshman Team with classmate Kern. Sophomore utility player Brianna Copeland rounds out the honors with the Sportsmanship Award for her leadership and dedication to her teammates on and off the field.
Kern has consistently led the Hoosiers on She leads the Big Ten in eight offensive categories: slugging percentage (1.022), OBS (.605), OPS (1.627), RBI (67), home runs (22), runs scored (65), walks (41), and hit by pitch (20). She is also ranked third in batting average (.438). Not only is she an offensive force in the conference, but she is putting up big numbers at the national level, highlighted by her 22 home runs on the season where she is tied for the most homers in the nation. Kern is also on track to set a new Big Ten record for home runs by a freshman (23) as well as set a new single season record (24). The San Jose, Calif., native has set single season program records in home runs, RBI and runs scored and is the only Hoosier to win two individual postseason awards in program history. She has tallied six Big Ten weekly awards including three Player of the Weeks, and six Freshman of the Week honors. She began the season with three consecutive weekly honors and finished the regular season with three straight league awards.
Minnick earned back-to-back All-Big Ten honors after she was named to the Second and Alll-Freshman Team in her first season with the Hoosiers. She is currently ranked second in the Big Ten in three categories: slugging percentage (.768), OBS (.549), OPS (1.317). In addition, Minnick ranks in the top five in RBI (52) and batting average (.413). The Bloomington, Ind., native and Edgewood HS graduate holds a .413 batting average on the season for the second highest on the team. She has tallied 57 hits with 14 doubles, one triple, and 11 home runs. In addition, Minnick has earned 34 walks with 10 hit by pitches as she has totaled 106 bases on the season.
Bassett earned back-to-back All-Big Ten honors after being named to the First Team in 2022 with the Hoosiers. She has started in all 55 games and has helped lead the Hoosiers to a 23-game program record win streak as a leadoff hitter in the lineup. The Newburgh, Ind., native holds a .331 batting average on the season on 55 hits. She has hit three leadoff homers out of her five on the season holding a .455 on base percentage and a .524 slugging percentage. This season she has recorded 13 doubles, two triples and five home runs for 25 RBI. She also leads the team in stolen bases with 18 out of 19 attempts. Last season, Bassett set the Indiana single season records for doubles (19) and tied the single season record for runs scored (57). This season she has now scored 62 runs and has hit 13 doubles.
Parker holds a .326 batting average on the season starting in all 55 games played for the Hoosiers. She has recorded 46 hits with 36 runs scored. The Westfield, Ind., native has tallied nine doubles, one triple, and nine home runs for 36 RBI in her rookie season. The freshman utility player has also had stellar performances from behind the plate this season recording a .962 fielding percentage with three double. She earned her first weekly award after a stellar performance where she hit .500 on the week in the Hoosiers wins over Butler and conference sweeps against Purdue and Ohio State to extend the win streak to 21 straight games. The freshman held a 1.636 OPS on eight hits with two doubles and two home runs. Parker totaled seven RBI and scored eight runs on the week and was perfect from the field and behind the plate with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
Stone is an RBI machine. She has totaled 59 RBI on the season ranking second in the league and first in sacrifice flies (8). She has recorded 44 hits including 12 doubles, two triples and seven home runs. The Bedford, Ind., native has scored 20 runs and is 5-for-5 on stolen bases this season. The first baseman has recorded 332 putouts with five assists while holding a .983 fielding percentage. Stone tallied eight RBI in IU’s sweep over Rutgers and earned Big Ten Co-Player of the Week after batting in 10 runners, with five hits, one double and three home runs in Indiana’s conference opener against No. 22 Maryland. Stone had a team high 1.364 slugging percentage with a 1.781 OPS on the weekend.
Kettleman has made her way into the starting lineup this season, making 25 starts for the Hoosiers. She has recorded 14 hits with 19 runs scored. The Amherst, Ohio, native hit her first career home run in Indiana’s series sweep at Rutgers. The rookie utility player has had an incredible performance in the outfield recording 48 putouts and four assists with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. She has been applauded for her all-effort diving plays and full layouts in left field. Indiana softball (40-15, 18-5 B1G) will play No. 7 Penn State (31-15, 11-11 B1G) in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals in Urbana-Champaign, Ill., at Eichelberger Field on this afternoon at 2:30pm on the Big Ten Network. Penn State beat 10 seed Michigan 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the Big Ten Softball Tournament.
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino invited to the 2023 NBA Draft Combine
Indiana University men’s basketball standouts Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino are among 78 players who received invitations to attend the 2023 NBA Draft Combine which takes place May 15-21 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis in Chicago. The 2023 NBA Draft is June 22 in Brooklyn.
Jackson-Davis was a consensus first-team All-American and winner of the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s top power forward. He started 32 games this season and averaged 20.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game. He is the first Division I men’s basketball player to average at least 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks in a season in over 25 years. A 6-9 forward from Greenwood, Jackson-Davis finished his Hoosier career third on the all-time program list for career points (2,258) and double-doubles (50). He holds the school record in both career rebounds (1,143) and blocked shots (270). TJD became the fifth player in Big Ten men’s basketball history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
Hood-Schifino, a 6-6 guard from Pittsburgh was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year this past season. He started all 32 games played and averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 0.8 steals per game. His 117 assist total was fourth highest in IU history among first year collegians and he placed third in scoring, second in assists, and fourth in rebounds among Big Ten freshmen. He was a four-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week and was Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring 35 to lead IU to a win at Purdue.
Players will have interviews with NBA teams and participate in five-on-five games as well as shooting and strength and agility drills from May 15-21. Coverage of the event begins Wednesday, May 17 on ESPN2 from 2-6 p.m. ET, and continues Thursday, May 18 from 4-8 p.m. ET on ESPN2, with host John Schiffren, analysts Cory Alexander and Bobby Marks, and Andraya Carter providing in-depth analysis and interviews with participants and NBA team personnel. The NBA Draft Combine will also be available on the ESPN App. Strength and agility drills and shooting drills will be broadcast live on the NBA App on Monday, May 15 from 3-5 p.m. ET, with host John Fanta showcasing the event’s top prospects. Additionally, a select number of standout players from the 2023 NBA G League Elite Camp, which takes place May 13-14 at Wintrust Arena, will be invited to participate in the Combine.
Indiana University Baseball wins at Xavier
A fever pitch of scoring opened the game, before the Indiana baseball team gritted out an 8-6 win on Wednesday afternoon against Xavier at Hayden Field. IU piled up eight runs over the first five innings, before XU trimmed the lead to two runs in the eighth but could get no closer. Indiana (35-14) scored in each of the first five innings with two in the first inning and one in the second inning before Xavier (30-19) got two runs in the bottom of the second. Two more in the third and fourth innings pushed IU’s lead to 7-1. The Musketeers got two back in the bottom of the fourth, IU added one run in the fifth and Xavier made it a two-run game with three in the eighth.
Sophomore Brock Tibbitts paced the offense with his third career multi-home run game. He was 2-for-3 with two home runs, walked once, drove in four RBIs and scored three times. Sophomore Josh Pyne and freshman Tyler Cerny each hit home runs in the game. Pyne added a sacrifice fly to produce his 10th multi-RBI game of the season. Senior Ty Bothwell (3-1) allowed one run over three innings of work with four strikeouts to earn the win. He walked one and allowed two hits in his fifth start of the season. Freshman Connor Foley fired two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and stranded two inherited runners in the fifth inning. Freshman Brayden Risedorph (5) picked up the save by throwing the final 1 2/3 innings of work scoreless. He allowed one hit and struck out two to earn the save in the third straight game for Indiana. Teddy Deters drove in four of the six Xavier RBIs with a home run and triple in the game, while Jared Cushing also hit a home run. Nick Boyle (1-2) took the loss with five runs allowed on three hits over three innings of work.
Indianapolis Colts to play the New England Patriots in Frankfurt, Germany during the regular season
For the first time in seven years and only the second time in franchise history the Indianapolis Colts are heading to Europe. The NFL announced Wednesday the New England Patriots will host the Colts on Nov. 12 at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany in Week 10 of the 2023 season. The rest of the Colts’ 2023 schedule will be announced Tonight at 8pm with television coverage on NFL Network and ESPN2
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks played the NFL’s first game in Germany last season at Allianz Arena in Munich. Deutsche Bank Stadium, also known as The Waldstadion, is home to the German Bundesliga’s Eintracht Frankfurt. It was built in 1925 and most recently renovated in 2005. The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt on Nov. 5, one week before the Colts-Patriots game. Frankfurt is located along the River Main (pronounced: “Mine”) in the west-central German state of Hesse. With a population of 791,000, it’s the fifth-most populous city in Germany, and is home to Europe’s second-busiest airport behind London Heathrow.
The Colts last played overseas in 2016 against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London. That’s the only other international regular season game in which the Colts have played; the team has played three international preseason games: 2000 in Mexico City (vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, Azteca Stadium), 2005 in Tokyo (vs. Atlanta Falcons, Tokyo Dome) and 2010 in Toronto (vs. Buffalo Bills, Rogers Centre). Beginning in 2022, the NFL mandated that each of its 32 teams will host a home game at an international site at least once every eight years. AFC teams will host those games in odd-numbered years (when, with the 17-game schedule, they nine home games), while NFC teams will host in even-numbered years.
Indiana University Women’s Tennis players Lauren Lemmonds and Saby Nihalani named to CSC All-District Team
Indiana women’s tennis graduate students Lauren Lemmonds and Saby Nihlani were named to the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Team, the organization announced on Tuesday morning. This award recognizes student-athletes for their excellence in the classroom and on the court. The All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Those selected for the first, second and third team Academic All-America will be announced on June 1. Each CSC member is eligible to vote to determine the selection for the All-America teams. Voting is currently open until May 16.
Nihalani held a 10-6 record at the No. 2 singles slot and a 10-7 record at No. 1 doubles. She held a win streak of six straight games with her doubles partner, redshirt-sophomore Lara Schneider. Lemonds went 4-6 on the season in the No. 5 and 6 singles spots. She was 4-7 consistently in the No. 2 doubles spot for the Hoosiers this Spring.
Indiana University Men’s Tennis player Jagger Saylor named to CSC All-District Team
Indiana Men’s Tennis junior Jagger Saylor was named to the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Team on Tuesday. The distinction recognizes the top student-athletes for excellence in the classroom and on the court. Honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Those selected for the first, second and third team Academic All-America will be announced by May 31.
The selection process is determined by votes from College Sports Communicators members. Voting is currently open and will take place until May 16. Saylor was a consistent contributor for the Hoosiers this spring. The junior was a regular at the No. 5 singles spot. He went 6-12 in singles matches this year and was 5-3 in doubles play.
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