Game 5  ► Saint Louis (2-2, 0-0 A10) at Indiana State (3-1, 0-0 MVC)

February 24, 2009  ►  Terre Haute, Ind.  ►  Sycamore Field (2,500)  ►  WISU 89.7 FM

Setting The Scene

            Indiana State (3-1) will play its first home game of the season on Tuesday, when the Sycamores welcome the Saint Louis Billikens (2-2) to Sycamore Field for a non-conference mid-week match up.  First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST, with freshman Cordell Greene taking the mound for ISU against SLU's Zach Outman.

            The Sycamores are coming off a busy opening series at The Citadel that saw the team play in three extra inning games in the four game set and score 33 runs against the Bulldogs.  ISU opened the season with a 12-8 come-from-behind win in Friday's season opener and then swept both games of a Saturday double-header as both games went into extra innings.  The Bulldogs ruined the Sycamores' hopes for a perfect weekend in Sunday's series finale, however, as they pulled out a 5-4 win in 12 innings of play.

            The Sycamores started the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2000 season, when ISU started 3-0 with a season-opening sweep over Murray State under head coach Bob Warn.   ISU's 3-1 start is its second in three season under head coach Lindsay Meggs, as the 2007 squad started that season 3-1 in games against Georgia State and South Dakota State.

            Junior college transfer Ben Ferrell hit .556 in the season-opening series for ISU, while senior Brady Shoemaker hit .412 with a home run and four RBIs. Reliever Matt Shelton finished the weekend with a 2-0 record and allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings of work out of the bullpen as he recorded the wins in both games of Saturday's double header.

            Saint Louis opened the season with couple of wins in a trip to play a couple of tough teams in its season-opening trip to California.  The Billikens sandwiched wins against CSU Bakersfield and UC Santa Barbara between a doubleheader sweep at the hands of CSUB. The trip ended on a high note when the Billikens topped UC Santa Barbara 8-7 on Sunday.

            Senior Ryan Bennett, the team's top returning hitter from 2008, leads the club with a .421 average after the first weekend of play. Junior Danny Brock is hitting .385, while junior Ben Braaten posted a .353 average and a team-leading seven RBIs in the opening weekend. Junior Andrew Guerra is slugging .733 and leads the team with two home runs.

About The Coaches

Lindsay Meggs (UCLA ?93) begins his third season as the Sycamore skipper (47-59) in 2009.  In his first season, Meggs coached the Sycamores to a 26-26 mark overall and a 7-17 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. Last year, the Sycamores were 18-32 overall and 9-15 in the Valley playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.  Meggs took the reigns of the Sycamore baseball program in 2006, coming to ISU after spending 13 seasons as head coach at California State-Chico.  While there, he guided the Wildcats to two NCAA Division II National Championships and compiled an overall record of 538-228-4.

Darin Hendrickson (SIUE ?95) enters his second season as head coach of the Saint Louis University baseball program. Last season, the Billikens registered 20-plus wins for just the fourth time in the last 10 years and it was also just the second time since 1996 that the Bills posted at least 24 victories. Prior to coming to SLU, Hendrickson led Central Missouri to three conference regular-season and tournament championships and twice had his team reach the semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament. During his four seasons at he reins, the Mules posted a 209-46 record (.820).

Scouting The Billikens

►        Saint Louis University is located in St. Louis, Mo., and has an enrollment of 12,309 students.  The Billikens are members of the Atlantic 10 Conference and play their games at The Billiken Sports Center (500).

►        The Billikens finished with an overall record of 24-29 during the 2008 season.  In conference play, Saint Louis posted a 9-17 record which placed the Bulldogs 10th in the league standings.

►        The Bulldogs return five starters and 10 letterwinners from last year's squad.  Senior infielder Ryan Bennett is the top returner at the plate, as he posted a .357 average in 2008 while knocking out two home runs and driving in 15.  Senior right-hander Scott Turmail returns as the lead on the mound, after posting a 7-6 record and a 3.12 ERA in his junior season. 

►        Saint Louis is 2-2 on the young season. In its season-opening trip to California, the Billikens sandwiched wins against CSU Bakersfield and UC Santa Barbara between a doubleheader sweep at the hands of CSUB. The trip ended on a high note when the Billikens topped UC Santa Barbara 8-7 on Sunday.

►        Last weekend, Saint Louis had nine field players and six pitchers make their debuts in a Billiken uniform. Two of the Billikens' top three hitters, junior college transfers Danny Brock and Ben Braaten, appeared in all four games. Sophomore lefty Andrew Buckham and junior newcomer Bryant Cotton earned starts on the mound.

►        Junior right fielder Andrew Guerra hit two home runs in a game for the first time in his career Friday at CSU Bakersfield. His solo shots in the fourth and eighth innings helped propel the Bills to an 8-7 victory over the Roadrunners. Guerra, who last season established a school record with 21 doubles, is hitting .333 with a team-best .733 slugging percentage.

Off To A Strong Start

ISU had to battle hard to start the season 3-0 and needed two overtime games to achieve the feat.  The Sycamores started the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2000 season, when ISU started 3-0 with a season-opening sweep over Murray State under head coach Bob Warn.   ISU's 3-1 start is its second in three season under head coach Lindsay Meggs, as the 2007 squad started that season 3-1 in games against Georgia State and South Dakota State.

We're Gonna Need More Time

Nine innings of play just weren't enough for the Sycamores and the Bulldogs last weekend, as three of the four games in their season-opening series went into extra innings.  Both games of Saturday's double-header needed extra frames, but ISU picked up a 9-6 win in 10 innings in game one and an 8-7 in 11 innings in game two.  The fourth and final game of the set also needed some extra time, but this time The Citadel picked up a 5-4 win in 12 innings.  Overall, the two teams played a combined 32 innings in the four-game set and the Sycamores out-scored the Bulldogs 33-26 in the series.

Some Strong Debuts For New Sycamores

Several ISU newcomers made their presence known in the team's season-opening series at The Citadel.  Junior transfer Ben Ferrell (Hutchinson CC) had a great first season in an ISU uniform, as he hit .556 with five hits and four RBI in three games played.  Junior transfer Luke Fieser (Columbia Basin CC) also hit well, as he posted a .300 average while collecting five RBI.  Freshman Kyle Burnam rounded out the impressive debuts at the plate, as he picked up six hits including his first career home run and added four RBI for the Sycamores.  Junior pitcher Scott Harlan (Cosumnes River CC) also got into the act, as he went 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in five innings of work.

Catch Those Thieves

ISU players were off and running in the team's opening series at The Citadel.  In fact, the Sycamores could not be caught as they went a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts in the four-game series against the Bulldogs.  Brady Shoemaker led the way with two swipes, while Ben Ferrell, Kyle Burnam, Pascual Del Real, Nick Ciolli and Ryan Strausborger each added a steal to help the Sycamores sprint out to a 3-1 start.

Bombs Away

The Sycamores wasted no time hitting the long ball against The Citadel, as they pounded out four home runs in their four-game season opening series against the Bulldog.   Senior Brady Shoemaker picked up right where he left off last season, as he hit his 10th career home run.  Fellow senior Brian Jett also went deep, as he picked up the fifth home run of his career.  Junior Ryan Strausborger also got into the act and freshman Kyle Burnam hit his first career home run in the opening series for ISU.

That's A Good Day's Work

Senior reliever Matt Shelton started the season off right for the Sycamores, as he picked up both wins of a Saturday double-header at The Citadel.  The right-hander from Loves Park, Ill., finished the weekend with a 2-0 record in two appearances for ISU.  In five innings of work, Shelton allowed just two hits and walked one while striking out five Bulldog hitters.  In game one of Saturday's double header, Shelton threw two innings of scoreless relief while giving up one hit and striking out two to help ISU to a 9-6 victory in 10 innings.  He followed that up by throwing three innings of scoreless relief in game two of the double header, allowing just one hit while striking out three in an 8-7 win in 11 innings.

Shoemaker Slugs The Sycamores To Wins

Senior outfielder Brady Shoemaker hit .412 (7-for-17) with a home run and four RBI last weekend for Indiana State, as the Sycamores opened the season 3-1 on the road at The Citadel.  The Brazil, Ind., native also waked five times for the Sycamores, scored four runs and was a perfect 2-for-2 in stolen bases while posting a slugging percentage of .588.  In Friday's season opener, Shoemaker went 1-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI against the Bulldogs.  However, he saved his best performance for game one of Saturday's double header, as he launched his first home run of the season and the 1oth of his career at Indiana State and finished the day 4-for-5 with three RBI to help ISU to a 9-6 win in 10 innings.

Success In The Holy City

Indiana State has had a lot of success in Charleston, S.C. the past two seasons, as they have a 6-2 record overall against teams from the “Holy City”.  The Sycamores went 3-1 in their season-opening series at The Citadel this season after defeating the Bulldogs in a single game last year 4-3.  Following that mid-week tilt last season, ISU took on the College of Charleston for a four-game set.  The Sycamores won the last two games of the series against the College of Charleston to leave the trip with three wins against teams from the Holy City.

Sycamores Picked Sixth In MVC

The Indiana State baseball team picked up 34 points in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason baseball coaches poll, which placed the Sycamores in sixth place in the annual survey of the league's head coaches. Missouri State, last year's Missouri Valley Conference runner-up, was been tabbed as the league favorite in the preseason poll, receiving eight of nine first-place votes. The Bears tallied 80 points and were a sound favorite over second-place pick Creighton (66 points).  Last year's league champion Wichita State secured the remaining first-place vote and 63 points overall to finish in the third position.  Southern Illinois was selected in fourth place with 45 points, followed by Bradley in fifth (39).  Following the Sycamores in sixth place were Northern Iowa in seventh (33), Illinois State in eighth (28) and Evansville in ninth (17) to round out the final three positions in the poll.

A Wealth Of Senior Leadership

Head coach Lindsay Meggs will have no shortage of senior leadership on the field and on the mound this season.   A total of 11 seniors grace the Sycamore roster this season, with 10 of those seniors coming from junior colleges.  Only senior pitcher Matt Shelton has spent his entire career at Indiana State and has earned three letters for his work throughout his career.  Six of those 11 seniors will see their time in the field, while five will test their skills on the mound for the Sycamores.

Getting The Job Done In The Classroom

Indiana State baseball players not only work hard on the field, but they also work extremely hard in the classroom.  A total of 23 players on the Sycamores roster were named to the Fall 2008 Athletic Director's Honor Roll.  A student-athlete earns Athletic Director's Honor Roll status with a grade-point average (gpa) of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester.  To make things even more impressive, five of those players recorded perfect 4.0 GPA's in the fall semester:  Matt Bayes, Brady Shoemaker, Ben Ferrell, Brian Jett and Koby Kraemer.

A Little Home Cookin'

Indiana State head coach Lindsay Meggs has not had to look very far to find top notch baseball talent, as four players currently on the roster call Terre Haute home.  Junior Nick Ciolli (North Vigo HS), sophomore Bryan Chestnut (West Vigo HS) and freshmen Brandon Dorsett (North HS) and Joe Meggs (North HS) are all local products and each knows how competitive baseball is in the Wabash Valley.

A Little Home Cookin'

Indiana State head coach Lindsay Meggs has not had to look very far to find top notch baseball talent, as four players currently on the roster call Terre Haute home.  Junior Nick Ciolli (North Vigo HS), sophomore Bryan Chestnut (West Vigo HS) and freshmen Brandon Dorsett (North HS) and Joe Meggs (North HS) are all local products and each knows how competitive baseball is in the Wabash Valley.

Road Warriors

One look at last season's results and you can see why the Sycamores loved playing at Sycamore Field.  ISU played 35 games away from home last year and played just 15 on their home turf, with several games being cancelled due to inclement weather.  The Sycamores were 8-7 at home compared to just 10-25 on the road and won their last five games in a row at home to end the season after a three-game sweep of Missouri Valley Conference foe Illinois State to end the year.

What A Summer For Ciolli

Indiana State junior Nick Ciolli was named the Top Prospect of the Alaska Baseball League and was named an Alaska Baseball League First Team All-Star after a standout summer in the highly competitive summer collegiate league.  Ciolli spent his second summer playing for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks and played in all 36 of the team's games.  Ciolli finished the summer with .352 average and led the team with 50 hits.  The Terre Haute, Ind., native hit nine doubles and drove in 11 runs 23 while walking 25 times for an on-base percentage of .446.

Lazar Named To ISU Hall of Fame

Former Sycamore hurler Dan Lazar was recently inducted into the 17th class of the Indiana State University Athletics Hall of Fame on Feb. 14, 2009.  Lazar was a left-handed pitcher for the Indiana Sycamores from 1963 to 1965. The Sycamore hurler led Indiana State in strikeouts (50) and wins (5) during the 1963 season, in strikeouts (60), wins (6) and innings pitched (64.0) during the 1964 campaign, and in strikeouts (52), wins (2), innings pitched (53.1) and ERA (0.84) during the 1965 season.  Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 15th round of the June 1965 draft, Lazar played professionally for five seasons and spent parts of the 1968 and 1969 season with the Chicago White Sox, appearing in 17 games.

A Record Setting Day For Shoemaker

Brady Shoemaker had a record setting day for the Sycamores on the final day of the 2008 season, as his walk-off grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Indiana State to their first series sweep of the season and a 12-8 victory over Illinois State at Sycamore Field.  Shoemaker hit two grand slams in the game, a first for Indiana State, tied a school record with three home runs in the contest and set a new school record with 10 RBI in the game. The Brazil, Ind, native also moved into fifth for RBI in a season, totaling 68 this year, moving in front of Tony Collins, who had 67 in 1985.Shoemaker finished with three home runs in the game and four in the series with the Illinois State Redbirds. He has nine home runs for the season.