CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Indiana State baseball program opens the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Championship at 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. For more information, brackets and updated game times throughout the tournament visit the Championship Central page HERE.
  
All games during the MVC Championship will air on ESPN Plus. The games will also be available on GoSycamores.com/Listen worldwide and on 97.9 FM /WIBQ 1230 AM in the Wabash Valley with Luke Martin and Brian Fritz on the radio call. Fans can also follow along on the go via live stats, at @IndStBaseball on Twitter and on the Indiana State Athletics March On App.
 
NEWS & NOTEWORTHY
 
» Indiana State will look for a second-straight title at the 2021 MVC Baseball Championship. Current league teams have won back-to-back titles four times in league history, – Southern Illinois (77-78); Indiana State (83-84); Missouri State (96-97); and DBU (16-17). DBU has appeared in the last four MVC title games, matching Wichita State's four-straight titles from 2002-05. The last team to reach five straight title games was Wichita State from 2007-2011.
 
» If history is any indication, being the No. 1 seed has its benefits as more MVC Tournament champions (18) have come from the top spot than any other seed dating back to 1981. The No. 2 seed has claimed 11 tournament titles, while no other seed has won more than five championships.
 
» Indiana State is currently #37 in the RPI. Fourteen of ISU's wins are against RPI top-150 teams, including eight wins over top-100 RPI teams. The Sycamores opened the year with 24-straight games away from home, including 11 games against RPI top-100 teams. ISU is 21-12 in true road games. The team secured its 13th-straight winning season in 2021 and will finish in the top-100 in RPI for the ninth-straight year.
 
» Geremy Guerrero was named Pitcher of the Year -- the first time a Sycamore has earned the award in program history -- while Aaron Beck earned Newcomer of the Year accolades marking consecutive years that an Indiana State student-athlete has earned the honor.
 
» Indiana State placed a league-high five players on the all-conference first team. The Sycamores' first-team selections included Jordan Schaffer (SS), Max Wright (C), Aaron Beck (OF), Geremy Guerrero (SP) and Connor Fenlong (RP). Guerrero and Wright also earned spots on the MVC all-defensive team.
 
» Geremy Guerrero, a product of Metamora, Ill., owns a league-best 1.92 ERA and has registered an 9-1 record in 12 starts. He also leads the MVC in innings pitched (84.1) opposing batting average (.171) and runners picked off (3). He ranks in the top-5 in strikeouts (93-2nd), wins (9-2nd), walks allowed (12,2nd), doubles allowed (4-1st), earned runs allowed (18-3rd). Guerrero ranks first nationally with a 0.75 WHIP. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.25 and hits allowed per nine innings (5.24) rank first in the MVC and top 20 nationally. Only two other ISU pitchers have ever finished a season leading The Valley in ERA. In 1983, Paul Quinzer led the MVC with a 2.04 ERA and in 2013 current Oakland A's pitcher Sean Manaea paced the league with an ERA of 1.47.
 
» Aaron Beck, an Evansville, Ind., native, and an Olney Central Community College transfer, made an immediate impact offensively for the Sycamores this season. The junior outfielder hit .358 with nine doubles and 22 RBI during the regular season, boasting a .519 slugging percentage. Beck is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak and strung together 11 multi-hit games in the regular season. Beck is the seventh Sycamore to earn the Valley's Newcomer of the Year honor and the second-straight Sycamore to earn the award after Collin Liberatore took home the honor in 2019.
 
» Max Wright started in all 44 games for the Sycamores in the regular season and was second on the team with a .319 batting average. A Toronto, Ontario native, Wright led the team with 14 home runs, 37 RBIs to go with his .644 slugging percentage. Overall, Wright is one of the most disciplined batters at the plate, walking 34 times on the year for a .461 on-base percentage. He held the longest reached base streak of anyone on the squad at 21 games while stringing together 13 multi-hit games and leading the team with 13 multi-RBI games. Behind the plate, Wright did not commit an error in 194 chances while allowing just one passed ball all season.
 
» Jordan Schaffer, a West Terre Haute, Ind., native, led the Sycamores with a .331 batting average after starting all 44 games at shortstop. The redshirt junior led the team with 60 hits, 42 runs scored and finished second with 29 runs batted in. He earned 21 free bases on the season with 10 walks and 11 hit-by-pitches for a .397 on-base percentage. Schaffer led the team with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts, ranking eighth in the MVC in the category. Schaffer held a team-high 17-game hitting streak and currently leads the squad with 15 multi-hit games, including seven three-hit performances.
 
» Connor Fenlong finished the season as one of the most reliable arms out of the bullpen for the Sycamores. He led all pitchers with 17 appearances and held the best ERA on the team at 1.53. He ranked second in the MVC in saves with six on the year to go along with his 4-1 record. The Gouverneur, N.Y., product, pitched 29.1 innings, struck out 27 while allowing 10 walks. He held opponents to a .218 average against and gave up just five earned runs on the season while being a part of both of Indiana State's shutout wins.
 
» Indiana State head coach Mitch Hannahs has led the Sycamores to a top-3 finish in the Missouri Valley Conference in six of his eight years at the helm of the program. In all eight seasons, the Sycamores have completed winning seasons and finished the year ranked in the top-100 in RPI.
 
» Baseball America and D1baseball.com have two MVC teams in the projected NCAA field of 64 as of May 19. Baseball America has Indiana State as a No. 3 seed in the South Bend (Notre Dame) Regional playing No. 2 Indiana and DBU as the No. 3 seed in the Fort Worth (TCU) Regional playing NC State. D1baseball.com has Indiana State as a No. 3 in the South Bend (Notre Dame) Regional playing Michigan and DBU as a No. 3 in the Fort Worth (TCU) Regional playing Arizona State. The Valley is one of 8 multi-bid leagues in the D1baseball.com projection (ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12, Big Ten, C-USA, American and MVC).
 
» Jordan Schaffer earned the squads second MVC Player of the Week honor after he led all Sycamores at the plate at Evansville, finishing with a .556 (10-of-18) average. He hit for a weekend cycle against the Aces, after recording a double, triple and a home run as part of his team-high 10 base hits and .889 slugging percentage. Schaffer also held the best on-base percentage over the weekend at .619 after being hit-by-pitch three times. He drove in five runs while scoring six times from his leadoff position. The redshirt junior scored a run and recorded base hits in all four games while putting up three-hit performances in all but one game against the Aces.

For the latest information on Sycamore Baseball, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.