Games 16-18 ► Indiana State (10-5, 0-0 MVC) at Memphis (6-7, 0-0 CUSA)

March 13-15, 2009  ►  Millington, Tenn.  ►  USA Stadium (5,000) 

Indiana State Probable Starters

FRIDAY:          Eric Valdez, Jr. RHP

SATURDAY:    Joe Rodriguez, Jr., LHP

SUNDAY:        TBA

Memphis Probable Starters

FRIDAY:          Brennon Martin, Jr. LHP

SATURDAY:    Ryan Fraser, Jr., RHP

SUNDAY:        Brach Davis, Jr., LHP

Setting The Scene

            Indiana State (10-5) got back to its winning ways at home on Tuesday against rival Eastern Illinois with a 10-9 victory at Sycamore Field.  ISU will be looking to continue that trend this weekend, when they travel to Millington, Tenn., to face off against the Memphis Tigers (6-7) for a three-game set.  First pitch for Friday's game is set for 7:30 p.m. EST at USA Stadium, with Saturday's contest set for 3 p.m. and Sunday's finale set for 2 p.m.

            After struggling last week for the first time all season, the Sycamores snapped a four-game losing streak on Tuesday against the Panthers.  EIU took 6-2 lead after four innings of play, but a six-run fifth inning for the home team gave ISU an 8-6 advantage over their border rivals.  The Sycamores extended that lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Panthers answered back with three runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game at 9-9.

            With one out in the bottom of the inning, junior Luke Fieser singled to start the ISU rally.  He then stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error by the EIU catcher.  Senior Brian Jett then gave his team the lead for good as he singled through the left side of the infield to give ISU a 10-9 victory. Senior Matt Shelton then shut down the Panthers in order in the top of the ninth to pick up his third win of the season in relief.

            Senior catcher Bronco Lafrenz led the way for the Sycamores at the plate with three RBI and two runs scored, while Jett finished 2-for-2 with two RBI and three runs scored.  Seniors Brian Ramirez and Pascual Del Real also drove in two runs each while freshman Kyle Burnam chipped in two hits for the Sycamores.

            The Tigers are coming off back-to-back losses to South Alabama on Tuesday and Wednesday in Mobile, Ala.  South Alabama's Sean Laird broke a 3-3 tie in the 10th inning with a walk-off home run to defeat Memphis 4-3 at Stanky Field on Tuesday night and snapped a three-game win streak for the Tigers.  Wednesday's finale of the series was not much better, as the South Alabama offense scored 20 runs against Memphis en route to a 20-10 loss in eight innings.

            Trey Wiedman leads the way for the Tigers at the plate with a .327 batting average and six RBI in 13 games, while Brett Bowen has given the team a power surge with his .292 average and three homes on the season.  Martin Brennon has been the go-to arm on the mound for the Tigers, as he's posted a 2-0 record with a 1.66 ERA in three starts.

            Live statistics for all three games will be made available via GameTracker on Memphis' web site at http://gotigersgo.cstv.com.  Just click on the baseball schedule page and find the link to the appropriate game.

About The Coaches

Lindsay Meggs (UCLA ?93) begins his third season as the Sycamore skipper (54-63) 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.

Daron Schoenrock (Tennessee Tech ?84) enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Memphis baseball (104-141).  With Schoenrock at the helm of the Memphis program the Tigers were able to end the 13-year postseason hiatus and earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. With Schoenrock on the Tiger bench, the 2007 team went 36-27, marking the most wins since 1994 and combined with the 2006 campaign represented the first back-to-back winning seasons since the 1994 and 1995 slates. Schoenrock came to Memphis after spending three seasons as an assistant coach on the Mississippi State staff--his fifth year in association with former State coaching legend Ron Polk.

Scoring Runs At Will

With 116 runs scored in their first 15 games of the season, it looks as if the Sycamores will have no problem scoring runs in 2009.  ISU has scored 10 or more runs five times during the season, including a 10-9 victory at home over rival Eastern Illinois on Tuesday.  Those runs are coming via 11 hits per game from Sycamores batters and several of those runs have come from 10 home runs hit in 15 games.

Offensive Production Leading The Way In The Valley

The offensive numbers the Sycamores have put up through the first 15 games of the season have been impressive and rank ISU as the top offensive team in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Indiana State currently ranks first in the Valley in team batting average (.306), on base percentage (.415), runs scored (116), hits (168), RBI (105), triples (5), total bases (236), at bats (552), walks (78) and hit by pitch (30).  The Sycamores also rank second in slugging percentage (.428) and doubles (28) and third in home runs (10).

The Dynamic Duo

The outfield combination of Brady Shoemaker and Nick Ciolli in the middle of the Sycamore lineup is quickly becoming one of the more dangerous tandems in the league.  Shoemaker currently ranks first in the conference in hits (25), doubles (7), on base percentage (.547), runs scored (17) and is second in batting average at .431.  Not to be outdone, Ciolli ranks first in triples (2) and total bases (42) and is second in the league with three home runs on the season.  He also currently ranks second in hits (24), third in runs scored (15), fourth in RBI (16), fifth in slugging percentage (.646) and sixth in batting average (.369). 

Ciolli Keeps On Rolling

Junior outfielder Nick Ciolli continued his hot hitting for the Sycamores last week, hitting .316 with a double, two home runs and seven RBI in five games played.  The Terre Haute, Ind., native hit his second home run of the season on Wednesday at Austin Peay and drove in all four of his team's runs in Friday's series opener at No. 29 Kentucky.  Ciolli hit a three-run home run over the left field wall in the fifth inning and then added a RBI single in the sixth inning to drive in his fourth run of the day.  Ciolli is now hitting .393 on the season with five doubles, two triples, three home runs and team-high 16 RBI.

Scoring Runs At Will

With 116 runs scored in their first 15 games of the season, it looks as if the Sycamores will have no problem scoring runs in 2009.  ISU has scored 10 or more runs five times during the season, including a 10-9 victory at home over rival Eastern Illinois on Tuesday.  Those runs are coming via 11 hits per game from Sycamores batters and several of those runs have come from 10 home runs hit in 15 games.

Several Arms Pitching In Early For ISU

Through 15 games, eight different hurlers have picked up wins for the Sycamores.  Senior Matt Shelton leads the way with two wins in five relief efforts.  In addition, Scott Harlan, Brendon Smith and David Gurbach have each picked up a win in relief efforts as well.  However, it was the starting rotation that picked up all of the wins at the Palm Beach Classic.  Michael Manus earned the win on Friday against Villanova, while Jake Petricka and Eric Valdez picked up wins against Mount St. Mary's and St. Bonaventure in a doubleheader on Saturday.  Joe Rodriguez rounded out the solid weekend of starting pitching with a win in the 11-4 victory over New York Tech on Sunday.

Shutting Down The Hoosiers

Indiana State was dominant in its effort against in-state rival Indiana last Tuesday, earning an 11-2 win over their Big Ten counterparts.  Much of that had to do with reliever David Gurbach, who picked up his third win in a Sycamore uniform in a dominating effort.  The Aliso Viejo, Calif., native threw 5.2 innings of scoreless ball in relief of ISU starter Cordell Greene and allowed just three hits and walked just one Hoosier batter while striking out a career-high eight batters to earn the victory.

Lucky 13 For Valdez

Junior starter Eric Valdez dominated St. Bonaventure on Saturday at the Palm Beach Classic on way to picking up his first win in a Sycamore uniform.  The right hander from Kearny, N.J., threw seven innings and gave up just one walk and three hits while striking out 13 St. Bonaventure hitters.  He also induced six ground ball outs in the win for the Sycamores as he helped them improve to 7-1 on the season at the time.

Strong Starts Becoming The Norm For The Sycamores

ISU's 9-1 start was its best start since the 1990 season, when the Sycamores also started 9-1 and went to 13-1 under head coach Bob Warn to begin the year.  ISU went on to finish that season 43-21.  This is the second strong start 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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.