Games 6-9 ► Indiana State (4-1, 0-0 MVC) at the Palm Beach Challenge

February 27-March 1, 2009  ►  Palm Beach, Fla.  ►  Santaluces Athletic Complex

Palm Beach Challenge Central

Friday, Feb. 27            Indiana State vs. Villanova                  7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28       Indiana State vs. Mount St. Mary's      1 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28       Indiana State vs. St. Bonaventure      5:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 29          Indiana State vs. New York Tech        11 a.m.

Setting The Scene

            Indiana State (4-1) heads to sunny Florida for a four-game weekend series beginning on Friday at the Palm Beach Challenge.  The Sycamores will take on Villanova on Friday at 7 p.m. to get the weekend started.  They will follow that up with a double header on Saturday, with Mount St. Mary's first up at 1 p.m. and a match up against St. Bonaventure to follow at 5:30 p.m.  The weekend will conclude on Sunday with an 11 a.m. showdown with New York Tech at the Santaluces Athletic Complex.

            The Sycamores are coming off a mid-week win against Saint Louis on Tuesday in their 2009 home opener.  ISU used an early offensive blast as well as solid defense and runs in each of the last three innings to down the Billikens, 7-5.  The Sycamores wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom of the first inning when Brian Jett doubled down the right field line with the bases juiced to score Nick Ciolli and Kyle Burnam for the quick 2-0 advantage.  In the bottom of the third, Ciolli belted a solo home run, his first round tripper of the young season, to give ISU a 3-2 lead.

            ISU started its late game offense with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning off an RBI single from Ben Ferrell, which scored Brian Ramierez.  The Sycamores tacked on another score in the seventh off a sacrifice fly from Brady Shoemaker, which scored Ryan Strausborger for a 5-2 lead.  With ISU holding onto a 7-4 lead, the Sycamores brought on Matt Shelton who was looking for his first save of the season. Shelton did just that despite a two out home run by Ben Bratten which made it 7-5. Shelton got Tom Pinnell to strike out swinging to end the game.

            Villanova (0-3) is coming off a three-game series against No. 1 Louisiana State (3-0), in which it dropped all three games of the series with a 5-3 loss on Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium. The Wildcats are led at the plate by Kyle Carver, who is batting .375 with a home run and three RBI on the early season.  He is joined by Kevin Wager, who leads the team with three RBI to go along with a triple and a .273 average in three games.

            Mount St. Mary's will open their 2009 campaign at the Palm Beach Challenge.  The Mountaineers finished the 2008 season with an overall record of 21-34 and posted a record of 13-11 in the Northeast Conference, which placed them first overall.  The Mountaineers are coached by Scott Thomson, who is 203-313 in 12 seasons as the head coach at The Mount.

            St. Bonaventure will also open its 2009 season this weekend, after going 29-24 in 2008.  The Bonnies posted a 15-12 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which tied them for fifth place in the league.  They are led by head coach Larry Sudbrook, who is 505-495-7 in 24 seasons at the helm of the program.

            ISU's final opponent of the weekend will be the New York Institute of Technology.  NYIT will open its season this weekend as well, after a season in which NYIT posted an overall record of 19-32-1.  Prior to this season, NYIT was added as an associate member in baseball for the 2009-2010 academic year by the The Great West Conference after previously competing at the Division I level as an independent.  The Bears are led by head coach Bob Hirschfield, who enters his 36th year of coaching, his 29th at NYIT and his 25th as head coach.  During that time, he has led NYIT to an overall record of 560-546-12.

About The ISU Coach

Lindsay Meggs (UCLA ?93) begins his third season as the Sycamore skipper (44-59) 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.

Strong Starts Becoming The Norm For The Sycamores

ISU's 4-1 start is its second in three seasons under head coach Lindsay Meggs, as the 2007 squad started that season 4-1 in games against Georgia State and South Dakota State.  With a win on Friday against Villanova, the Sycamores will post their first best record to start a season since the 1995 season when ISU started the year 8-1 against Saint Louis, Austin Peay, Middle Tennessee and Creighton.  That year, the Sycamores also won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional.

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.

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.

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.