TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State baseball opens the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship Wednesday morning against No. 5 seed Southern Illinois. First pitch with the Salukis is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT from Horner Ballpark in Dallas, Texas. The Sycamores will face Missouri State or Evansville Thursday.
Luke Martin will have the radio call free-of-charge via GoSycamores.com/Watch. All games of the Championship will also air live on ESPN+.
Valley fans can take advantage of a free trial offer to watch the 2018 MVC Baseball Tournament from Dallas, Texas, on ESPN+. Go to
https://plus.espn.com and click on the Start My 7-Day Free Trial tile. The free trial timeframe is for new ESPN+ subscribers only. Patrons will be auto-billed unless they cancel before the end of their free trial period. Subscription will automatically renew unless canceled and is subject to the ESPN+ Subscriber Agreement. Participants can cancel their subscription by logging into their account and clicking 'My Subscription," emailing or calling Customer Support at 1-800-727-1800. Pricing is subject to change.
For complete information about every game of the MVC Tournament as well as tickets, visit the the MVC
Tournament Central page.
SYCAMORES AT A GLANCE
Indiana State enters the Missouri Valley Conference Championship winners of three-straight MVC weekend series after taking two of three games against Southern Illinois and Evansville before sweeping Valpo to close out the regular season.
Romero Harris (.339, 8 2B, 8 HR, 37 RBI) and
Jarrod Watkins (.314, 12 2B, 18 RBI) anchor the lineup at the plate for the Sycamores.
Dane Giesler leads the MVC with 14 home runs and sits ninth in The Valley with 43 RBI. As a team, Indiana State is hitting .275 and have hit for 82 doubles, 11 triples and 46 home runs. The Indiana State pitching staff has struck out 330 batters and holds a combined 4.19 ERA.
MOVING UP THE TOP-10 HOME RUN LIST
Sycamore cleanup man
Dane Giesler leads the Sycamores as well as the Missouri Valley Conference with 14 home runs this season and now has 32 in his four-year career in blue and white. With a pair of home runs over the weekend at Valpo, Giesler moved into a tie for fourth place in program history. The Jasper, Indiana native nearly broke the single season record a season ago with 17 home runs – good enough for second in program history.
OPENER DAY STARTER
Junior
Triston Polley will toe the rubber in game one of the MVC Championship for the Sycamores. The southpaw holds a team-best 7-2 overall record, including 3-0 record in MVC action. Polley enters play with a 3.47 ERA in 88.1 innings on the mound while striking out 54 batters. The Avon, Indiana native went six and two-third innings against Southern Illinois May 5 as Indiana State took game two of the series, 8-2. He allowed six hits and just two runs while striking out four Salukis. He has not allowed more than two runs in his last three starts and has allowed three or fewer runs in 12 of his 14 starts this season.
HE DOESN'T GO DOWN EASY
Jarrod Watkins is second on the team with a .314 batting average over 50 starts. Another area the junior sits atop the team is in his strikeout numbers or lack thereof. Watkins is the toughest batter to strikeout in the Missouri Valley Conference at a 11.1 at bats per strikeout rating. In 207 at bats, Watkins has struck out just 18 times. He sits 51st nationally in the category.
STRONG CONFERENCE SLATE
Jake Means has shown his glove work all season but early struggles at the plate did not last. The junior leads the team with a .315 batting average during MVC action with 23 hits. Means has also homered six times while slugging .630 in 21 games of Valley action.
NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED
A mainstay in the lineup for the Sycamores and recently moved to the two-hole,
CJ Huntley has embraced his role in the lineup. Hitting just .167 on March 16, he has seen his average climb to .305 since then. The junior has collected 53 base hits, including 11 doubles for the Sycamores and is currently tied for third on the squad with 30 RBI.
WEAR IT
Roberto Enriquez holds just a .224 batting average but the junior outfielder finds a way to reach base with 19 walks and 25 hit-by-pitches this season for a .286 on-base percentage. Enriquez ranks second in the nation in hit-by-pitches and first in HBP's per game with a 0.53 mark. He leads the MVC by nine HBP's. In a weekend series against Evansville, Enriquez was hit five times over three games. He is currently tied for third in MVC history in single season HBP's. As a team, Indiana State ranks 5th nationally with 98 HBP's.
GREAT WEEK ON THE DIAMOND
Jarrod Watkins put together one of his most complete weeks on the diamond this season over the last four games for the Sycamores. Watkins finished the week with a team-high .500 batting average, going 8-of-16 at the plate. The junior accounted for nine of the teams 37 runs on the week with six RBI and three runs scored. He also collected his team high 12th double at Mizzou. One of the best fielders on the team, Watkins assisted in all eight of the team's double plays in four games. Watkins collected multiple hits in each game at Valpo, going 3-of-3 with three RBI in game two.
WELCOME BACK TO THE LINEUP
The missing link for the Sycamores a month and a half during the regular season was
Romero Harris. Harris missed time due to an injury and saw action in 27 games, but still ranks 11th in the MVC with eight home runs. The junior has reached base in all 27 games he has played and currently holds a 15-game hitting streak. He has 11 multi-hit games, including six three-hit games and has averaged more than an RBI per start with 37 so far this season in the cleanup spot.
More…
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, be sure to visit
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
