TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State baseball returns to the road following its brief sojurn home in Terre Haute as the Sycamores make the trip to Cape Girardeau, Mo. and Southeast Missouri State for a weekend series in Capaha Park.
 
Games and game times will be set shortly as the Sycamores and Redhawks hit the field for the first time since the 2023 season and fourth time overall since 2006 as Indiana State makes the trip back to Capaha Field. Live stats for the weekend will be available on GoSycamores.com.
 
Indiana State (5-7) had a brief trip back to Terre Haute this week as the Sycamores returned from their season-opening 19-day, nearly 3,000-mile trip that spanned the first three weekends of the series. The Sycamores remained on the road the entirety of the trip encompassing games against Wagner, Florida Gulf Coast, Northeastern, Bethune-Cookman, and the LeClair Classic hosted at East Carolina.
 
Indiana State's home debut on Tuesday came off the trip as the Sycamores welcome Purdue to Bob Warn Field for the 2025 home opener as the teams took the field for the first of two games in the annual home-and-home series between the Sycamores and the Boilermakers.
 
Purdue utilized Aaron Manias' eight RBI game as the Boilermakers scored eight runs over the first two innings, and added a late Keenan Spence home run on their way to taking the opener against the Sycamores, 14-4.
 
Indiana State mounted small rallies throughout the game with Carlos Pena driving in a pair of RBIs early, while Nick Sutherlin and Thomas Emerich connected on back-to-back RBI doubles in the seventh inning. However, the Sycamores were unable to string together enough at-bats to fight their way back into the contest in taking their first home loss to a Big Ten team since 2022.
 
Carlos Pena connected on a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats on his way to recording two of Indiana State's six hits in the loss. Pena added a pair of RBIs in the contest, while Sutherlin and Emerich also drove in runs. Keegan Garis connected on his first triple of the season, Indiana State's third, to add to the offense.
 
Gavin Morris took the loss in his first start of the 2025 season as the senior went 2.0 innings allowing seven hits and eight runs, while striking out a pair. Jacob Spencer worked 4.0 innings allowing three hits and two runs, while Jack Armstrong, Carson Seeman, and Zac Laird worked the final two frames to close out the contest.
 
The Sycamores will be looking to bounce back as another streak is put to the test this weekend. Indiana State heads to Cape Girardeau holding an all-time 9-0 mark against the Redhawks dating back to the series' inception in 2006.
 
Thomas Emerich continues to lead the Indiana State offense over the first month of the season. The graduate student infielder has posted a team-high .368 batting average with 14 hits, six doubles, and 13 runs scored. Pena, fresh off his two-double game against Purdue, is hitting .325 from the plate with a team-high 13 RBIs. Eli Gipson (.323) is also hitting above the .300 mark on the year with a team-high three stolen bases.
 
The Indiana State pitching staff has seen seven different starting pitchers take the mound early in the season with Ryan Karst, Grant Parson, Ty Brooks, and Max McEwen drawing weekend starts. Breyllin Suriel, Jacob Spencer, and Gavin Morris have also toed the rubber to start a game over the midweeks as the rotation settles in heading into the final weeks before the start of Missouri Valley play.
 
Indiana State's pitching staff as a whole features 15 different pitchers who have taken the mound, combining for a 6.77 team ERA over 102.1 innings pitched. The Sycamores have posted a 75:53 strikeout-to-walk ratio with a .284 opponent batting average. Seven different pitchers have made four or more appearances on the year led by Zac Laird (0-0, 3.00 ERA), Aaron Moss (0-0, 4.32 ERA), and McEwen (1-1, 5.40 ERA).
 
Scouting SEMO
Southeast Missouri State heads into the weekend with a 6-5 mark on the year after taking three of four this past weekend from Purdue Fort Wayne. SEMO's midweek contest at Missouri was canceled due to inclement weather. The Redhawks have posted a 3-1 mark at Capaha Field on the year after topping the Mastadons last weekend.
 
The Redhawks were picked as the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference preseason baseball favorite as voted on by the league's head coaches and communications staff. SEMO picked up 13 of the 20 first-place votes and 157 total points to finish ahead of Little Rock and Tennessee Tech. SEMO's Player to Watch in the preseason was second baseball Brooks Kettering.
 
Andrew Ramirez (.353) leads five SEMO players hitting above the .300 mark on the season as the Redhawks are hitting .280 as a plate from the team overall. Michael Mugan (.333) has provided early power with four doubles and a pair of home runs to go with 11 RBIs, while Cole Warehime has a team-high three home runs over the early going.
 
The Redhawks have utilized 15 different pitchers over the course of the 2025 season with weekend starts going to Haden Dow, Brian Strange, and Sam Heyman. Dow (2-1, 0.48 ERA) is coming off a complete-game shutout win over Purdue Fort Wayne this weekend, while Grant (1-2, 3.00 ERA) and Heyman (2-1, 5.25 ERA) have all been steady on the bump. SEMO's pitching staff as a whole has compiled a 110:30 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .232 opponent batting average.
 
Series History
Indiana State has posted a 9-0 all-time record against SEMO dating back to the first contest in 2006. Four of the nine contests have come in Cape Girardeau, with Indiana State last taking the series in Capaha Field back in 2023 by scores of 8-3 and 7-4.
 
The Sycamores' series at SEMO in 2023 was the turning point of the season after Indiana State started the year with a 2-8 record prior to their weekend set against the Redhawks. Seth Gergely (RBI sacrifice fly) and Joe Kido (two-run single) were the heroes in the opening contest, while Randal Diaz connected on the go-ahead three-run home run in Saturday's contest to secure the series win.
 
The series started back in 2006 when former head coach Bob Warn took the Sycamores to SEMO back on March 3-4 taking 8-1 and 10-6 (11) wins over the Redhawks. The remaining seven wins in the series came in 2015, 2022, and 2023 during the Mitch Hannahs era.
 
Against the Ohio Valley Conference
Indiana State is 169-113 all-time against the current iteration of the Ohio Valley Conference according to current records on hand. The Sycamores have taken on SEMO most regularly over the last decade, while last taking on Eastern Illinois (113-87) and Western Illinois (22-14) back in the 2018 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.