TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State remains on the road this week as the Sycamores head to SIUE for a Tuesday evening contest at Roy E. Lee Field. First pitch between the two teams is set for 7 p.m. ET with the game to be carried live on 105.5 The Legend.
 
Tuesday's game marks the first time Indiana State and SIUE will take the field against each other since the 2015 season and the 12th time overall in their respective program histories. The Sycamores hold the 7-4 all-time mark, but SIUE has the 3-2 advantage all-time in Edwardsville including a 9-8 win in the Sycamores' last road trip to the Cougars.
 
Indiana State (13-14) enters the midweek contest coming off their second consecutive MVC series win of the 2025 season after taking two of three games at UIC this past weekend at Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium. The pair of wins moved the Sycamores to 4-2 in conference play and in a three-way tie for third-place in the conference standings with Evansville and Illinois State.
 
Recapping the Weekend
The Sycamores brought the big bats to play in Friday's opener at UIC with Keegan Garis' bat speaking the loudest in the 16-5 run-rule shortened win over the Flames. The redshirt senior tied the Indiana State single-game mark with three home runs, while driving in nine RBIs in a 5-for-5 effort from the plate to power the Sycamores to the opening win against UIC.
 
Saturday's first game featured four additional home runs with Carter Beck, Miguel Cantu, Jeremy Martinez, and Carlos Pena all going deep as Indiana State secured the series win with the 13-7 victory. Breyllin Suriel struck out a season-high nine batters in the series finale, but late Sycamore errors marred the pitchers' duel as UIC rallied back to take the 4-2 win to wrap up the weekend in Chicago.
 
Martinez's bat was on fire over the weekend as the freshman catcher hit a team-high .556 including his second home run of the 2025 season. Garis (.462) added three home runs and 10 RBIs on his way to posting a 1.154 slugging percentage over the weekend, while Jackson Taylor (.417) added five hits and four runs scored against the Flames.
 
Pena (.364), Nomar Garcia (.333), Beck (.308), and Cantu (.300) all hit above the .300 mark on the weekend as Indiana State connected at a .346 clip as a team over the series. Indiana State combined for 12 extra-base hits, while posting a team .471 on-base percentage and .596 slugging percentage against the Flames.
 
Gavin Morris (0.00 ERA) and Ty Brooks (4.76 ERA) picked up Indiana State's wins on the mound against the Flames leading a Sycamore pitching staff that posted a 4.68 team ERA over 25.0 innings. The Sycamores recorded a 26:12 strikeout-to-walk ratio while limiting UIC to a .242 batting average at the plate.
 
Season Overall
Carlos Pena (.347) continues to pace the Sycamore offense at the plate as the senior infielder/outfielder leads the Sycamores in hits (34) and doubles (9), while sitting among the team leaders in RBIs (23), runs (20), and slugging percentage (.612). Jackson Taylor (.328) has seen his average climb above the .300 mark over the last few weeks, while Keegan Garis (.319) is also hitting above the .300 mark with a team-high nine home runs and 27 runs scored.
 
Eli Gipson (.288) and Carter Beck (.280) have been atop the lineup consistently throughout the course of the 2025 season. Beck is the team leader with 28 RBIs while sitting second on the team with 30 hits, while Gipson has posted a .398 on-base percentage while lining up at both shortstop and third base.
 
The Indiana State pitching staff has combined to post a 5.70 team ERA on the season over 230.1 innings played. Seventeen different arms have taken the mound combining for a 181:115 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .265 opponent batting average.
 
Jack Armstrong (1-0, 3.29 ERA) has been among the team leaders on the mound this season, while Aaron Moss (1-0, 5.40 ERA), Carson Seeman (0-0, 5.71 ERA), Colby Morse (2-1, 5.64 ERA), and Gavin Morris (4-2, 4.44 ERA) have all made multiple appearances and could be in play on the mound in the midweek.
 
Scouting SIUE
SIUE enters the midweek contest with a 12-14 overall record including a 5-1 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Cougars are coming off a weekend series win over Tennessee Tech as SIUE took the first two games of the series, 5-1 and 18-12, before falling in the finale, 12-11.
 
The Cougars were selected sixth overall in the Ohio Valley's preseason coaches poll with SIUE receiving 89 total points and one first-place vote in the standings. The Cougars' Ryan Niedzwiedz was named to the OVC's preseason Player to Watch list.
 
Lane Crowden (.328) leads four SIUE players hitting above the .300 mark on the season with a team-high nine doubles on the year. Chase Bloomer (.324) has a team-high 17 extra-base hits, including eight home runs and 23 RBIs, while Daniel Gierer (.321) is the team leader with 14 stolen bases. Mack Mitchell (.314) rounds out the group above .300 with a team-high nine home runs while adding nine stolen bases on the year. SIUE is hitting .264 overall as a team on the season.
 
Sixteen different SIUE pitchers have taken the mound over the course of the season with the Cougars posting a team 7.27 ERA over 216.2 innings. SIU has posted a 238:144 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .279 opponent batting average.
 
The Cougars are 3-3 against the Missouri Valley this season with midweek wins over Evansville (Mar. 12, W - 12-11) and Illinois State (Mar. 18, W - 14-12 (11)), while falling in a three-game series to Missouri State over the March 14-16 weekend and in the rematch against the Redbirds (Mar. 26, L - 9-3).
 
Series History
Indiana State and SIUE have lined up against each other 11 times over their respective program histories with the first matchup coming back in the 2008 season. The Sycamores took the inaugural contest back on April 8, 2008, in Terre Haute with the 19-4 win over the Cougars.
 
Since then, the series has gone back and forth with the Sycamores winning three of the last five dating back to the 2012 season. Overall, SIU has a 3-2 edge on games played in Edwardsville, including the 2013 contest between the two teams with a 9-8 win over the Sycamores.
 
Against the Ohio Valley
Indiana State is 171-115 all-time against the current iteration of the Ohio Valley Conference, including posting a 2-2 mark earlier this season at SEMO over the March 7-9 weekend. SEMO and SIUE are the lone Ohio Valley teams on the Sycamores' schedule in the 2025 season.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.