KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Sycamores have played 16 games this season but only three in the friendly confines of Bob Warn Field at Sycamore Stadium and that trend will continue this week.
Indiana State will face a Big Ten team for the second time this season when the travel to Urbana on Tuesday and take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (7-9) in a 4 p.m. (ET) contest. The Sycamores play four Big Ten teams this season and are 2-0 against the conference after topping Ohio State 7-3 and 8-6 at Port Charlotte, Fla., in February. The Sycamores also play home-and-home this season against Indiana and Purdue.
The Sycamores remain on the road for their first Missouri Valley Conference series of the season as they visit the Evansville Purple Aces for games on Friday (7 p.m. ET), Saturday (2 p.m. ET), and Sunday (1 p.m. ET). Evansville (8-6) is scheduled to play two seven innings games at home against Tennessee-Martin before hosting Indiana State over the weekend.
Indiana State will then have a two-week home stand that includes MVC series against Illinois State and Wichita State along with mid-week games against Indiana and Austin Peay.
SERIES NOTES:
Tuesday's game will be the 76th meeting between Illinois and Indiana State since the two schools first met on the ball diamond on May 12, 1906 (a 3-2 win by Illinois). Indiana State trails the series 34-39-2 but did win last year on Bob Warn Field when they topped Illinois 6-4. The two schools met at Illinois in 2011 with the Fighting Illini taking the 7-6 win. The last Indiana State win at Illinois Stadium came in 2007 when the Sycamores prevailed 4-0.
When Indiana State takes the field against Evansville on Friday, it will be the 151st time the two schools have met since 1911. Indiana State leads the overall series 95-55 with Evansville taking a pair of games from the Sycamores in Terre Haute a year ago 6-4 and 3-1. The third game of the MVC series was cancelled by weather. The Sycamores won two of three games in Evansville in 2012 as they won the Friday matchup 2-0, dropped the Saturday game 3-2, but came back to win the series with a 6-0 win on Sunday.
SYCAMORE WINNING STREAK STOPPED AT 12 BUT NOW AT 2
Indiana State did not give up their winning streak easily as it took a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth inning for the streak to come to an end at the hands of home standing UNC-Wilmington (3-2) last Friday. The briefly interrupted streak was begun again on Saturday as the Sycamores won both ends of a double header (11-5 and 6-1) over the Seahawks.
BEST START TO SEASON SINCE 1979
The 14-2 record posted by the Sycamores through the first 16 games of the season ties the 2014 team with teams from the 1990 and 1979 campaigns for the best record at this point in the season. The 1979 team ran their record to 15-2 before losing three of their next four contests. The 1990 team lost two of their next five games after reaching 14-2.
FIRST DOUBLE HEADER WIN ON ROAD SINCE 2011
Playing double-headers is becoming a rare event but the Sycamores did just that last Saturday and both ends of the twin bill (11-5 and 6-1). Indiana State has not won a double header on the road since March 5, 2011 when the Sycamores took two from Central Arkansas. Indiana State had two twin bills in the 2013 season, sweeping both ends of a home twin bill from Southern Illinois (March 23) while dropping both ends of the double header at Illinois (April 20).
INDIANA STATE TAKES 2-OF-3 FROM UNC-WILMINGTON SEAHAWKS
The weekend did not start well for Indiana State and the weather became a concern for Sunday's game so just before the start of the series opener on Friday both coaches decided to play at double header on Saturday. The Sycamores lost for the first time since their season opener in February as the Seahawks scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Josh Dove picked up the loss in relief of starter David Stagg. Indiana State had some timely hitting late and good work from the bullpen in taking both ends of the double header on Saturday. The Sycamores broke away from a 4-all tie with five runs in the eighth inning of the first game of the twin bill while also scoring five runs in the top of the ninth in the second game to break away from a 2-1 lead. A.J. McElderry recorded the win in relief of starter Brad Lombard in the opening game Saturday while starter Kurt Kudrecki earned the win in the nightcap.
