TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State closes out its eight-game home stand this weekend as the Sycamores welcome Missouri State to Bob Warn Field for a three-game Missouri Valley series. First pitch in the weekend is set for Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., while Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) will close out the series. All three games are set to be carried live on ESPN3 and 105.5 The Legend.
 
Evansville Recap
It was a home run-heavy weekend for Indiana State baseball as the Sycamores combined to hit eight home runs over the three-game series with Evansville. The weekend included Keegan Watson's walk-off solo home run in the series opening win over the Purple Aces, while the Sycamores tied the school-record with six blasts in the Sunday series finale.
 
In Friday's opener, it took Keegan Watson just two pitches to highlight the weekend as the redshirt senior cleared the left field wall by a wide margin in ISU's 7-6 win over Evansville. Watson was also the hero earlier in the contest with the game-tying double in the bottom of the seventh inning to highlight his day. Randall Diaz also homered for the fifth time of the year in the ISU win, while Joey Hurth picked up his fifth win of the season on the mound in relief.
 
The Sycamore bats were silenced in Saturday's contest as Indiana State fell in the second game of the series to Evansville, 14-0. Jordan Schaffer and Joe Kido both doubled in the contest to highlight Indiana State at the plate, but it wasn't enough for the Sycamores to make a dent in UE starter Nick Smith's complete-game effort.
 
With wind gusts reaching between 20-30 miles-per-hour on Sunday, the bats on both sides came to life as the teams combined to hit nine home runs (six from Indiana State) in the win. All nine Indiana State runs came by way of home runs with Keegan Watson's two-run shot and Tyler Nelson's three-run blast pushing across extra runs in the contest. Aaron Beck connected on a pair of home runs as ISU's six home runs tied the school record last matched in 1983 in the 12-9 loss to Evansville.
 
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State was selected sixth overall in the Missouri Valley preseason poll with the Bears picking up 32 points in the preseason poll. MSU welcomed back seven position starters and three key pitchers from last year's 21-23 team, accounting for 67% of last season's hits, 72% of home runs, 69% of RBI, 72% of game-winning RBI and 73% of stolen bases.
 
Missouri State still is scheduled to play Saint Louis at the time of this writing, with the Bears entering their midweek contest with a 18-18 overall record and 3-6 mark in Missouri Valley play on the season. MSU has posted a 9-8 record at home and an 8-8 mark away from Hammons Field this season on the year. Notable wins for the Bears include taking non-conference series against Central Arkansas, Arkansas State, Southeast Missouri State, Nevada, and Samford.
 
Missouri State started off the 2022 conference slate slow with the Bears getting swept on back-to-back weekends at Dallas Baptist and against Evansville, before taking all three games on the road against Valparaiso to sit 3-6 in conference play.
 
Five different Missouri State players have posted above .300 batting averages on the season led by Mason Greer's .366 batting average. Dakota Kotowski leads the MVC with 18 home runs while sitting among the conference leaders with 41 RBI. Spencer Nivens (.345) and Drake Baldwin (.343) are also among the team hitting leaders to pace a MSU offense connecting at a .295 clip on the year.
 
The pitching rotation for the weekend will likely include Adam Link (4-4, 3.79 ERA) and Reece Lang (1-2, 5.08) as the duo have combined for 19 of the team's 36 starts on the year. Link leads the way with 57.0 innings pitched while posting a 41:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Lang is allowing opponents to hit .256 from the plate over his 39.0 innings. Forest Barns (4-2, 3.99 ERA) is also among the team pitching leaders with 12 appearances, while Trey Ziegenbein has posted a team-high 21 appearances on the mound.
 
Bears Top Players
Missouri State put two players on the preseason All-MVC team with catcher Drake Baldwin and reliever Trey Ziegenbein both earning the recognition on the year. Baldwin lived up to the early season hype with an eight-game hitting streak to open the year on his way to a .343 batting average, while adding 10 doubles and six home runs. Ziegenbein sits among the conference's ERA leaders (3.89) on the season over his 21 appearances while adding two saves.
 
Opponent History
Missouri State leads the all-time series between the two teams, 75-46, dating back to the inaugural matchup on March 30, 1972. The Sycamores took the first contest between the two squads, 9-6, at the Centenary Invitational. ISU took the season series against the Bears last season in Springfield with the Sycamores taking three of the four contests, snapping a three-year series losing streak to Missouri State dating back to 2016.
 
Last Time against Missouri State
Indiana State took three of the four games against the Bears last season at Hammons Field over the second weekend of May to take the conference series. ISU utilized a Geremy Guerrero complete-game in the opening 7-2 win in Friday's doubleheader, while Missouri State bounced back to even the series at 1-1 with a 4-3 extra-inning win in the evening contest. ISU swept the final two games of the weekend thanks to Jordan Schaffer and Miguel Rivera home runs, while Tristan Weaver posted a 10-strikeout game in the 13-2 Saturday win, before Indiana State took the 5-2 series finale on Sunday.
 
Sycamores in the MVC
Indiana State enters the weekend on a three-way tie for first-place in the Missouri Valley regular season standings with a 6-3 mark on the year. The Sycamores are tied with Southern Illinois (6-3) and Evansville (6-3), while Dallas Baptist (5-4) and Bradley (5-4) are one game back. The Sycamores still have home weekend series against Missouri State (Apr. 29-May 1),and Dallas Baptist (May 18-20), while adding road series at Bradley (May 6-8) and Southern Illinois (May 13-15).
 
Non-Conference Round-Up
Indiana State has posted a 15-8 overall record in non-conference play following their midweek win over Illinois. The Sycamores have posted a 6-3 record in neutral site contests and a 7-2 home mark at Bob Warn Field this season, while sitting 2-3 in true road games. Highlighting Indiana State's non-conference schedule includes wins over BYU, Marshall, Merrimack, Minnesota (twice), Michigan, Wright State, SEMO (twice), Kansas (twice), Memphis (twice), Purdue, and Illinois.
 
Friendly Confines
Indiana State moved to 10-5 overall inside the friendly confines of Bob Warn Field this past weekend as the Sycamores fell in two of the three games to visiting Evansville in conference play. The Sycamores are hitting .291 at home this season while averaging 6.4 runs and 9.6 hits per game over their 15 home games. The Sycamores have added 61 total extra-base hits on the year with 16 coming this past weekend in the series against Evansville. Overall, 21 of ISU's 33 home runs this season have come at home.
 
Aaron Beck (.444) has been heating up at the plate as the calendar turned to April with the redshirt senior reaching base in eight consecutive plate appearances last week on his way to being nominated for conference player of the week honors. He added his first two-homer game of the 2022 season in the Sunday finale against Evansville and currently leads the Sycamores over his 10 games at Bob Warn. Randall Diaz and Josue Urdaneta have both homered four times at home, while Sean Ross has added a team-high 19 hits and eight doubles.
 
The home field has also been particularly kind to the Sycamores pitching staff with Matt Jachec (3-0, 2.43 ERA) leading the way. The redshirt sophomore has boasted a team-best 26:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his four starts, while Brennyn Cutts (1-1, 4.05 ERA), and Luke Patzner (1-1, 5.03 ERA) have also been effective on the mound. Joey Hurth (3-1, 3.95 ERA) has been lights out in the bullpen with a team-high 10 appearances. Overall, six different ISU pitchers have reached double-digit strikeouts in home games, while the Sycamores are allowing opponents to hit just .232 from the plate at Bob Warn Field.

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