BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana baseball team will play four intercollegiate games in their fall season, head coach Tracy Smith announced today. The Hoosiers will play host to Division II Northern Kentucky and junior colleges Lincoln Trail, Olney Central and Parkland in their four-game fall slate.

“This is the first time in my coaching career that I have decided to play games in the fall against outside competition,” Smith said. “We lost a number of pitchers to the Major League Baseball Draft and are resting some of our returning veteran pitchers this fall. We want make sure our hitters are seeing as much quality pitching as they can, and I know these other programs will have plenty of arms to challenge our guys.

“We simply have not been able to do the number of intra-squad games like we have in year’s past,” he added. “Plus, because our whole team is relatively young, we want to see how some of the newcomers are going to perform against someone in another uniform. The coaching staff is excited about it, and I know the players are too. It should be fun.”

All four games will be played at Sembower Field. The Hoosiers will take on Northern Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. and will then face Lincoln Trail on Sunday, Oct. 11, at noon. The following weekend, IU will wrap up its fall practice season with games against Olney Central, on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m., and Parkland, on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2:30 p.m.

The Hoosiers are coming off one of their finest seasons in program history, garnering their top conference winning percentage since 1938, winning the school’s second Big Ten Tournament Championship and advancing to the second NCAA Regional in IU history.