KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State shook off the rust of a 10-day layoff with a 9-7 victory over Ball State Wednesday in a battle between two highly regarded baseball teams. The Sycamores will look to continue their two-game winning streak this weekend when they host the Missouri State Bears in a Missouri Valley Conference series.
This will be the final home games for Indiana State with seven seniors taking to the field for the final time before the home crowd during the regular season. Included in that list is West Terre Haute, Ind., product Tyler Wampler, who will start his 200th career game on Friday. He will move into a tie for fifth on the all-time start list with Ryan Strausborger with a start on Saturday and Sunday.
Also playing before the home crowd for the final time during the regular season are third baseman Cody Zimmerman (Newark, Calif.), left fielder Owen Conway (Hillsboro, Mo.), right handed pitcher Tyler Browning (Mount Carmel, Ill.), catcher Mike Fitzgerald (Rochester, Ill.), right handed pitcher Kurt Kudrecki (Dyer, Ind.), and right handed pitcher Josh Dove (Terre Haute, Ind.).
The seniors and their parents will be honored in pre-game ceremonies at 12:45 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
Missouri State Final Home Series Of Season
Indiana State (30-13, 9-6 MVC) will host the Missouri State Bears (21-25, 7-8 MVC) in their final regular season weekend home series. The series kicks off with a 6:30 p.m. (ET) first pitch on Friday with a 2 p.m. (ET) first pitch on Saturday and a 1 p.m. (ET) first pitch on Sunday.
Missouri State won all three games in Springfield, Mo., a year ago as the Bears shut out the Sycamores 3-0 in the Friday game, won 5-1 on Saturday, and then held off an Indiana State rally to win 8-7 in 11 innings on Sunday.
Friday Matchups:
David Stagg (6-3) will make his 12th start of the season with the junior left hander looking for his second straight win in Valley action. Stagg has a 2.18 ERA through 74.1 innings of work, allowing 20 runs on 50 hits while striking out 75 and walking 34. Stagg ranks 28th in the nation for hits allowed per nine innings (6.05) which is second in the Valley. He also ranks sixth in the MVC in earned run average (2.18), fourth in batters struck out (75), second in batters stuck out looking (29), sixth in innings pitched (74.1), and third in opposing batting average (.198)
He will be opposed by senior right hander Cody Schumacher (5-1) who will also be making his 10th start of the season and 11th appearance. Schumacher has a 2.11 ERA in 59.2 innings of work while allowing 17 runs on 44 while walking 21 and striking out 54. The senior is fifth in the Valley for opposing batting average (.211), fifth in earned run average (2.11), and 10th in batters struck out looking (19). Schumacher was the Sunday starter a year ago and went eight innings in shutting out the Sycamores on two hits while striking out seven and walking one.
Saturday Matchups:
Brad Lombard (6-2) will make his 12th start of the season with the junior right hander posting a 3.38 ERA through 72.0 innings of work. He has given up 35 runs on 66 hits while walking 27 and striking out 47.
He will be opposed by sophomore right hander Jon Harris (2-5) who will also be making his 10th start of the season and 13th appearance. Harris has a 2.92 ERA in 64.2 innings of work while giving up 27 runs on 51 hits with 20 walks and 55 strikeouts. Harris was the Saturday starter a year ago for the Bears and went eight innings to earn the win allowing a run on four hits while striking out five and walking five.
Sunday Matchups:
Kurt Kudrecki (6-3) will make his 12th start of the season and 16th of his career. Kudrecki has a 4.20 ERA in 60.0 innings of work while allowing 39 runs on 68 hits with 29 walks and 32 strikeouts. Kudrecki worked two innings in relief of the Saturday game a year ago, allowing a run on three hits while striking out two and walking none in two innings of work.
He will be opposed by senior right hander Clay Murphy (4-3) who will be making his 12th appearance and 11th start on Sunday. Murphy has a 3.05 ERA in 59.0 innings of work, allowing 22 runs on 56 hits with 20 walks and a team high 66 strikeouts which ranks seventh in the Valley for the season. He also ranks third in the Valley for batters striking out looking (26).
Weekend Promotions
Friday is Salute to Service Night where military, police and fireman active or retired, with a valid ID, receive a free ticket to the game. All additional tickets are $5. It is Baseball Bingo night as well.
Saturday is Little League Day with any little leaguer wearing their jersey receiving two free tickets with additional tickets $5. All little leaguers will get a chance to run the bases after the game, weather permitting. Saturday will also be Union and UAP's Employee Appreciation Game with employees showing their badges at the ticket window able to receive up to four FREE tickets.
Sunday is Mother's Day and Senior Day. We will honor the seven seniors and their parents prior to the game.
Series Notes:
Vs. Missouri State: When Indiana State takes the field against Missouri State on May 9, it will mark the 99th meeting between the two schools since they first began to meet on the baseball field in 1972. The Bears hold a 61-37 lead in the series and have won the last five meetings including a sweep of their conference series a year ago (3-0, 5-1, 8-7). The last Indiana State win came in the opening game of the 2012 series in Terre Haute when the Sycamores prevailed 7-5.
Final Week Of Regular Season Ahead
The final week of the regular season will find Indiana State in familiar territory … on the road. The Sycamores will play a return game at Purdue on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. start) and then play their final MVC series of the season at Bradley on Thursday (1 p.m. ET), Friday (7 p.m. ET), and Saturday (2 p.m. ET).
Last Time Out
Indiana State picked up a big mid-week victory on the road Wednesday as they turned back the Ball State Cardinals 9-7 at Ball Stadium. Both teams are battling for first in their respective leagues and both are in the top 60 of the RPI.
The Sycamores improved to 30-13 on the season with the victory and will return home for their final Missouri Valley Conference series of the year against the Missouri State Bears Friday through Sunday. Ball State fell to 32-16 overall and will host Kent State this weekend in a battle of the two division leaders in the Mid-American Conference.
Indiana State entered the game ranked 20th in the RPI and the Cardinals were 60th.
Kurt Kudrecki (6-3) picked up the win in his first relief appearance of the season despite throwing just two-thirds of an inning and giving up three runs on four hits while striking out one and walking one. Josh Dove earned his third save of the season as he went the final three innings in shutting out the Cardinals on one hit while striking out one and walking one.
Trent Lunsford started for the Sycamores and went four innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking one. Nick Kolarik went 1.1 innings and gave up two runs on one hit while striking out one and walking none.
The Sycamores jumped out to a 5-1 lead after three innings but the Cardinals fought back and evened the score at 6-all with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. That did not last long as Indiana State came up with two in the top of the seventh to regain the advantage. Ball State added another run in the bottom of the seventh but were unable to push any more across the plate. Indiana State added one more in the ninth on a double steal enroute to the 9-7 win.
For the third time this season the Sycamores recorded 16 hits in a game, just one short of the season high 17 hits they had in the second game at North Carolina-Wilmington. They also had 16 hits in wins over New Orleans and Indiana.
Derek Hannahs led the Sycamores at the plate as he went 3-for-5 with a double and two singles and an RBI. Mike Fitzgerald and Jeff Zahn had a double and a single each, Landon Curry and Jacob Hayes two singles each, and Cody Zimmerman, Brian Romero, and Michael Eberle had a single each.
Tight Race For Top Seed At Valley Tournament
The battle for the top seed in the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament is far from over with five teams still in the hunt to claim the 2014 regular season championship. Holding onto that top spot after last weekend's competition is the Evansville Purple Aces (11-4) with the Illinois State Redbirds just a game back (10-5). Three teams are two games back at 9-6 including the Indiana State Sycamores, Dallas Baptist Patriots, and Wichita State Shockers.
Wichita State and Missouri State (currently four games back at 7-8) were the pre-season favorites to be battling for the regular season title. Defending regular season champion Illinois State and Dallas Baptist were third and fourth in the pre-season selections. Evansville was picked to finish sixth and Indiana State seventh.
Three Valley series will be played this weekend including Missouri State at Indiana State, Illinois State at Evansville, and Dallas Baptist at Wichita State. The final series of the regular season next week has Indiana State at Bradley, Wichita State at Illinois State, Evansville at Missouri State, and Southern Illinois at Dallas Baptist.
