TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State returns to the road this weekend as they travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State for two games as well as Marist in a pair of neutral site contests. The Sycamores will play two game Friday beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET with Marist followed by a nightcap with the Bulldogs. The team will then face the Bulldogs again on Saturday before wrapping up the weekend Sunday with the Marist. Both games against MSU will air live on SEC Network+.
LEADING OFF
Indiana State comes into the weekend with a 2-1 record on the season after knocking off Youngstown State and Austin Peay at the Governors Inn Classic during opening weekend. The Sycamores fell to Illinois State in the Friday night game before taking the final two games of the Classic.
Marist (2-1) comes into the weekend after winning their opening weekend series with Bucknell. The Red Fox team took the Friday and Sunday matchups. Mississippi State holds a 3-2 record with wins over Western Illinois and Texas Tech. The Bulldogs are coming off a 13-8 loss to Morehead State in their last outing.
SERIES HISTORY WITH THE FIELD
The Sycamores are 1-7 all-time against Mississippi State with the last meeting coming in 1989. The lone win against the Bulldogs came in 1978 under Bob Warn when ISU knocked off MSU 8-5 in Starkville. This weekend will be the first meeting with Marist in program history.
MILESTONE REACHED
Indiana State head coach
Mitch Hannahs reached 100 career wins over the weekend at the Austin Peay Invitational. In his fourth season at the helm of the Sycamore baseball program, Hannahs has put together a 100-66 record and an NCAA tournament appearance. He is the sixth coach in program history to reach 100 wins. Long time skipper Bob Warn leads all coaches with 1,070 career wins at ISU.
BOMB SQUAD
The Sycamores had six home runs over the weekend at the Austin Peay Invitational. The Trees were led by redshirt junior
Dane Giesler who finished with two of them.
Tony Rosselli,
Jeff Zahn,
CJ Huntley and
Tyler Friis each his one for Indiana State.
SPEED TREES
The Sycamores showed their speed on the base paths in the opening weekend, swiping six bases in seven opportunities. Leadoff man
Tyler Friis stole four bases on his own while
Tony Rosselli and
Jeff Zahn each picked up one.
OFF AND RUNNING
Missouri Valley Conference baseball teams have opened the 2017 season with a combined 18-8 (.692) record against non-league opponents. Wichita State is the lone unbeaten team at 3-0, while Missouri State, Dallas Baptist and Southern Illinois sit 3-1 overall. Illinois State, Indiana State and Bradley also have a winning record so far this season (2-1).
ELITE COMPANY
The Missouri Valley Conference's winning percentage against non-league opponents during the opening weekend (.727) ranks second nationally, sitting just behind the SEC and ahead of the Pac 12.
Non-Conference Winning %
1. Big 12 28-11 (.718)
2. Pac 12 27-11 (.710)
3. SEC 41-17 (.707)
4. MVC 18-8 (.692)
5. ACC 35-20 (.636)
IT'S BACK
It didn't take long for Sycamore fans to know that baseball was in their air Friday afternoon. In the first pitch he saw, leadoff man
Tyler Friis went deep for the Sycamores.
2016 NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAM WINS
The MVC has a combined record of 9-1 against teams that competed in last year's NCAA Tournament. The league has a 3-0 mark against Stetson and Utah Valley and 1-0 records vs. Oral Roberts, Rhode Island and Rice. The lone defeat was an Evansville loss at No. 6 Vanderbilt (7-4).
WARD COMING OFF FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN CAMPAIGN
Right-hander
Tyler Ward became the 12th player in school history to pick up the honor and the first since Ryan Keafabber in 2014. Ward went 6-5 in his rookie season with the Sycamores, holding a 3.81 ERA with a save and 40 strikeouts. He earned 12 starts in 2016 and made 18 total appearances on the mound for ISU, who finished the season 35-21 overall and second in the Missouri Valley Conference. He went a season-long eight innings in Indiana State's 3-2 win over Illinois State where he struck out five. He fanned a season-high six in a win over Bradley on May 14 and picked up the start in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament matchup versus Missouri State.
SYCAMORES PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLL
Indiana State has been picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll as voted on by the league coaches. The Sycamores are coming off a 35-21 season a year ago and a second-place finish in the conference after a 13-8 MVC campaign. Dallas Baptist tallied 59 points and were named the favorite over second-place pick Southern Illinois (53 points), as the Salukis tallied three first-place votes. Missouri State (51 points) finished third, while Indiana State and Wichita State finished tied for fourth with 36 points. Bradley was selected in sixth place with 25 points, followed by Evansville (20 points) in the seventh slot and Illinois State eighth (8 points).
2016 MLB DRAFT
In the history of Indiana State baseball, 125 players have been selected in the MLB Draft. Last season the Sycamores padded that number as
Hunter Owen and
Andy Young were each selected. Owen was drafted in the 25th round by the Pittsburg Pirates and Young was picked up by the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 37th round. Both were named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Team last season. Young posted a .299 batting average this season for the Sycamores with six home runs and 34 RBI. Young added 16 doubles and three triples with 106 total bases. He led the team and finished fourth in the MVC with 55 runs scored. Young started all 56 of the Sycamores' games at third base. Owen led the Sycamores and the entire MVC with a .350 batting average with six home runs and 47 RBI. Owen added 20 doubles (fifth in the league) and a triple as he earned a start in all 56 games. He boasted a team-best .567 slugging percentage with four sacrifice flies and was a perfect 5-of-5 on his stolen base attempts.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
In 2015, ESPN and the Missouri Valley Conference announced a 10-year extension to their current media rights agreement that will provide increased coverage of conference events across ESPN platforms through the 2023-24 academic year. Fans can keep tabs on the Sycamores through The Valley on ESPN3. As part of the deal, ESPN, the MVC and its 10 member institutions will work jointly to develop in-house production capabilities at each campus that will provide significant coverage for multiple sports on ESPN3.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, be sure to visit
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on
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