The Indiana State Sycamores look to improve to 3-1 on their first homestand of the 2010 season, and 7-4 overall, when they match up against the Panthers of Eastern Illinois in their first mid-week action of the season. The long-time rivals are set to play for the first of two times in 2010 when they meet at Bob Warn Field on Tuesday, March 9. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. The game can be heard live on 89.7 WISU with live stats on GoSycamores.com.

The Sycamores are coming off of the first series at newly renovated Bob Warn Field at Sycamore Stadium, where ISU won a weekend series over another Ohio Valley Conference opponent. ISU took the series victory with a 12-7 win on Sunday after splitting a pair of games on Saturday with UT-Martin. The Panthers return to the Midwest after three weekend series in the South, getting swept at both Southeastern Louisiana and Belmont. EIU picked up their first win of the 2010 season in the second game against UAB last weekend. The team's split a pair of games in 2009, with Indiana State winning 10-9 in Terre Haute and Eastern Illinois winning 25-7 in Charleston.

The Coaches

ISU - Rick Heller (Upper Iowa '86)

The Sycamores are 6-4 under first-year head coach Rick Heller, who was named the 28th head baseball coach in Indiana State history on August 14, 2009. Heller comes to Indiana State after coaching the past 10 seasons at Northern Iowa, where he compiled a 270-278-1 record. Over his 22 years as a head coach at Upper Iowa, UNI and Indiana State, Heller has totaled a 567-476-4 record as the man in charge.

Heller also played at Upper Iowa from 1982-86, where he was a four-year starter at shortstop while also lettering in football and basketball. Heller is a member of the Upper Iowa Athletic Hall of Fame.

EIU - Jim Schmitz (Wilmington College '79)

Overall Schmitz has registered 575 career wins in 22 years as a head coach at Eastern (1995-present), Cincinnati (1987-90) and Wilmington (1984-86).

Under Schmitz, EIU has won four Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles, two OVC Tournament titles and captured two West Division championships when the Panthers were a member of the Mid-Continent Conference. In 2009, the Panthers won the regular-season OVC championship.

Series History

Separated by just 50 miles, the Sycamores and Panthers first met all the way back in 1905, with Eastern Illinois earning a 5-0 win in Terre Haute. Overall, the Sycamores lead the all-time series 104-85. In the 105 years since the first game between EIU and ISU, the teams have failed to meet on the diamond in only 13 of those years.

Plenty To Go Around

Indiana State enters Tuesday's game with 116 hits as a team, good for an average of 11.6 per game. ISU has only been held under 10 hits in a game three times this season, when they tallied eight and seven hits, respectively, in the first two games of the series with Texas - San Antonio and when they totaled eight in the first game on Saturday against Tennessee-Martin.

The Sycamores have supported a balanced attack this season, with five players (Tyler Graham -16, Kyle Burnam - 15, Ryan Stausboger - 15, Luke Fieser - 14 and Phil Liniger -14) recording at least 14 hits in 2010.

More Than The Opponents

In ten games this season, the Sycamores have been out-hit by the opponent just once, when UT-Martin out-hit the Sycamores by two, 12-10, in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday. ISU would like to repeat their success from 2009 when outhitting an opponent, as Indiana State went 27-2 last season when recording more hits. ISU currently sits at 5-3 when outhitting the opposition this season.

Twice As Nice

For the second time this season, the Sycamores went perfect in the stolen base category over a weekend series. Indiana State started the 2010 season by going 9-9 on the bases against Texas Southern and matched that number against Tennessee-Martin this past weekend. For the season, the Sycamores are 20-23 in the stolen base category. Senior Ryan Strausborger leads ISU in stolen bases, at a perfect 4-4. Senior Tyler Graham is second, at 3-4, and a total of five Sycamores have totaled a pair of steals in 2010, in senior Luke Fieser, senior Ben Ferrell, junior Levi Ferguson, freshman Jeremy Lucas and freshman Jordan Pearson.