TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State baseball team picked up its sixth weekend sweep of the season after taking both games against Valparaiso during Saturday's doubleheader at Bob Warn Field. The Sycamores opened the day with an 8-0 shutout before taking the nightcap 11-5. With the victories, ISU improved to 27-7 on the year and 4-2 in Missouri Valley Conference action.
 
Jarrod Watkins led the Sycamores offensively with a 6-for-8 day at the plate to go with five runs and five RBI while Jake Means went 3-for-8 with a run scored and an RBI. Clay Dungan also finished with a trio of hits while scoring three times and driving in a run.
 
Game One - Indiana State 8, Valparaiso 0
Collin Liberatore tossed a complete-game shutout in the opener, allowing just a pair of hits while facing 31 Crusader batters. The junior struck out two and walked three while moving to 6-0 on the season.
 
After waling a batter and allowing two base hits in the first two innings of play, Liberatore settled in to shut down the Crusaders (6-24, 1-8 MVC) for the remaining seven. The right-hander went on to retire 22 of the next 24 Valpo hitters he faced with two walks breaking up the streak. Liberatore used just 104 pitches to close out the Crusaders while Valpo used three pitchers who combined for 174 pitches over eight innings.
 
The Sycamores scored two runs in the first inning off of CJ Huntley's two-run double to right field and never looked back. ISU added to its lead in the third when Romero Harris plated Roby Enriquez on a single up the middle.
 
Four runs scored for the Sycamores in the sixth as VU's Colin Fields was wild to start the frame, walking Huntley in five pitches before hitting Max Wright to put two on and no outs. Jordan Schaffer pinch hit and with two strikes, put down a bunt back to the pitcher that was thrown away to third which allowed a run to score.
 
Senior Luke Fegen put his mark on the inning with a two-run triple down the line in right field before Watkins picked up a single to left that plated the fourth run of the inning to make it 7-0. ISU added an insurance run in the eighth when Harris sacrifice flied to right to plate Watkins who walked three batters' prior.
 
Watkins and Enriquez led the team in the opener with two hits apiece as ISU outhit the Crusaders, 8-2.
 
Fields fell to 2-4 on the year for the Crusaders allowing five earned runs in five innings. The right-hander walked four and struck out two in the start.
 
Game Two - Indiana State 11, Valparaiso 5
Indiana State scored six runs in the final three innings to pick up the nightcap win over Valparaiso. Trailing 3-2 in the fourth inning, Ellison Hanna connected on his second home run of the season with a two-run shot over the wall in right-center to pull ISU ahead.
 
The Crusaders answered with two runs in the top of the fifth on a Chase Dowson double down the line in right field to go back in front, 5-4. Tyler Ward would enter the game from the bullpen and retire the next 14 batters he faced until the Crusaders picked up a ninth-inning single to break the run.
 
During that time, the Sycamore offense picked up steam. ISU tied the ballgame in the fifth on a ground ball double play before regaining the lead in the sixth with four runs.
 
Dungan singled in Hanna who reached on a two-out walk before Jarrod Watkins unloaded a three-run home run to right field to extend the Sycamore lead to 9-5. It marked Watkins' first home run in a Sycamore uniform.
 
Watkins added an insurance run in the eighth on a RBI groundout before Means singled to the gap in right to being home Dungan after he reached on a single.
 
Ward earned the victory in relief and improved to 4-1 on the year. The right-hander struck out one and allowed one base hit in four and a third innings to close out the game.
 
Tyler Whitbread went four and two-third innings in the no decision, allowing five runs and striking out four in his outing.
 
Watkins finished just a triple short of the cycle on a 4-for-5 outing in the game while driving in four and scoring three times. Dungan scored three times and drove in a run as he recorded three base hits. Means joined the multi-hit parade with a 2-for-4 day at the plate.
 
Easton Rhodehouse was charged with the loss for Valpo after allowing the go-ahead runs in the sixth, falling to 1-1 on the year. Zach Fricke went four innings and allowed three earned runs in the start for the Crusaders.
 
ISU outhit Valpo in game two 12-9 while stranding five runners on base.
 
Next Up
Indiana State is back in action Tuesday when the team travels to Nashville to face nationally ranked Vanderbilt at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network Plus.
 
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.