TERRE HAUTE —
Ryan Walterhouse couldn’t have picked a better time to get a pleasant surprise.
The Indiana State senior lofted what looked like a routine towering fly to right field with two out in the bottom of the first inning Saturday at Bob Warn Field only to see it disappear — maybe a yard fair, possibly less than that beyond the fence — for a three-run homer that was the big blow in the Sycamores’ 6-3, series-tying victory over Dallas Baptist.
“I was just trying to get the ball in the outfield to score a run,” Walterhouse said after the game. “I was looking for a first-pitch fastball and I got it, and luckily the wind took it and carried it out … I saw how the wind was blowing, and I just tried to shoot the ball that way.”
As important as the three runs were in an eventual three-run victory, the change of momentum they provided — allowing the Sycamores to take a 4-2 lead after the Patriots had put two quick runs on the board in the top of the inning — may have been just as vital.
“It was one of those innings where both pitchers had trouble settling in,” coach Rick Heller said of that first frame, “so I was happy to see our guys come back and score runs.
“After [Friday] night [when Dallas Baptist got 12 runs in the final two innings to turn a close game into a 15-2 win] and after [the Patriots] jumped out on one of the best pitchers in the [Missouri Valley] conference, there was a bad feeling in our dugout,” the coach continued. “It was nice to bounce back.”
Sean Manaea’s trouble settling in involved control. After giving up a leadoff single to Austin Elkins, he allowed a one-out walk, then left the ball in hittable spots for back-to-back run-scoring hits — both vicious line drives — by Joel Hutter and Landon Anderson.
As it turned out, however, those would be the only earned runs scored against Manaea. And in the bottom of the inning, DBU’s Taylor Massey had even worse command.
Landon Curry was hit by the first pitch and Kyle Burnam followed with a walk. Jeremy Lucas isn’t asked to bunt often, but he moved both runners into scoring position and Robby Ort cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly. Massey got two strikes on Jon Hedges, then hit him too. And the next pitch to Walterhouse was the one that turned the game around.
ISU made it 5-2 in the bottom of the second, despite leaving the bases loaded. Lucas Hileman singled, Jeff Miera became Massey’s third hit batsman and Curry beat out a bunt to load the bases with none out. Patriot right fielder Boomer Collins kept the runners from advancing with a strong throw after catching Burnam’s hard line drive, however, and the only run scored when Lucas ripped a shot off the glove of Hutter at shortstop for a single.
The Sycamores went scoreless in a frustrating fourth inning in which Miera got a leadoff single and took second on a wild pitch, only to be thrown out oversliding third base after an otherwise successful one-out steal attempt. Burnam, therefore, didn’t get an RBI on his single a pitch or two later, and Lucas ended the inning when former Terre Haute Rex player Ronnie Mitchell caught his long line drive against the left-field fence.
That wasted opportunity loomed big when Manaea walked Elkins and gave up a single to Mitchell to start the fifth, bringing the meat of the Patriot batting order up. Hedges, starting at third base, got the first out by fielding Collins’ grounder and stepping on third to retire Elkins, but his throw to first for a double play was mishandled by Ort to allow Mitchell and Collins to reach second and third. Manaea got two ground balls to get out of the inning, the first one by Hutter driving in an unearned run.
Manaea’s pitch count had reached 112 when Ryan Behmanesh led off the seventh inning with a bunt single so Heller turned to his bullpen. Unlike a night earlier, ISU relievers were almost perfect, Kurt Kudrecki allowing just a walk in finishing the seventh, Devin Moore giving up just an infield single in the eighth and ninth in recording his first ISU save.
“I was real proud of the bullpen,” Heller said afterward. “Kurt Kudrecki [who gave up two runs in a third of an inning Friday] had really great stuff last night but [the Patriots] got some bleeder-type hits, so I wanted to throw him back out there right away. And I was really happy with the way Devin closed the game out. He was able to throw the slider for strikes when he was down in the count.”
“We have a hard-working bullpen,” said Moore, who used his slider for two called third strikes in the ninth inning. “We have our ups and downs … some days you have it and some days you don’t … but for the most part we’ve been pretty good. Obviously [Dallas Baptist] is a great-hitting ballclub.”
Moore even got two putouts himself in the eighth inning, fielding one slow roller and beating the batter to first base, then covering that base for the second out of the inning after Miera’s diving stop in the hole between first and second.
“We work on [covering first base] every day, so you’d better be there,” Moore said. “As good a defensive second baseman as Jeff is, I know there might be a chance [he’d make that play]. You’ve got to take every out you can.”
The Sycamores, who got their final run in the bottom of the seventh on infield hits by Koby Kraemer and Lucas and a second sacrifice fly by Ort, will send Ryan Torgerson to the mound at noon today — the series finale has been pushed up an hour to facilitate DBU’s travel plans — in the rubber game of the series.
“[Torgerson] did a great job every Sunday since the season started, and I look for him to do the same [today],” Heller said.
“[Winning Saturday] was big,” added Walterhouse. “It gives us a chance to win what’s a big series for both teams.”
n World champions honored — Ten of the 16 players from Terre Haute’s 1955 Babe Ruth League World Series champions were present as the team was introduced before the game.
Former players in attendance were Charlie Hall, Bob Kehrt, Gary Cunning, Larry Rush, Jim Calvin, Larry Lucas, Gene Jeffers, Gary Auten, John Roshel Jr. and Luke Montgomery. The late Bob Clements was represented by more than a dozen family members, and relatives of coach Glenn Staggs were also in attendance.
Other players on the team were Jerry Porter, Willie Cheesman, Don Lannings, Marvin Haney and Terry Dischinger, voted Vigo County’s all-time best athlete a few years ago. Terry’s father Donas Dischinger was the other coach.
College
Walterhouse blast keys ISU to victory vs. Dallas Baptist
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DeNato proves IU can pitch too
Joey DeNato dispelled the notion that College World Series newcomer Indiana is all about offense.
The junior left-hander threw a four-hitter and the Hoosiers looked mighty comfortable at TD Ameritrade Park while beating Louisville 2-0 on Saturday night. -
Etherington, Moore happy to be with ISU basketball
Not even two weeks into their college experience, Indiana State freshmen men’s basketball players Alex Etherington and Demetrius Moore stood sentinel as 115 kids ran around them collecting basketballs and getting autographs at the Greg Lansing Basketball Camp on Thursday.
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ISU's Johnson invited to World University Games
Indiana State senior Felisha Johnson will be traveling the world this summer after being named to represent the United States in the women’s shot put at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Close, but no cigar, theme for ISU sports in 2012-13
When I covered my first event of Indiana State’s 2012-13 season — ISU’s opening football game at Indiana — I was the first one in the press box at IU’s Memorial Stadium. I’m never the first one in the press box.
Maybe the prospect of ISU’s season had me so pumped that I decided to get it started close to three hours early? (Or more truthfully, maybe I was over-vigilent about predicted traffic horrors on the Indiana 46 bypass that never came to pass.) -
Q&A: ISU football coach Mike Sanford ready for fall
It’s hard to believe, but Mike Sanford has already been Indiana State’s football coach for six months.
Time flies, but Sanford’s task of preparing for his first season in charge of the Sycamores comes with few breaks. -
Rex streak ends at 7
The Terre Haute Rex table setters — Kyle Kempf and Tyler Wampler — had three of the team’s eight hits Friday at Bob Warn Field, but the Rex offense found itself in a big early deficit for the first time this season.
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Manaea’s selection puts ISU in spotlight
Once the stress and hang-wringing over where Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea might get drafted was over, the angst subsided and was replaced with a happier emotion. Pride.
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ISU’s Hope places 13th in NCAA pole vault
Indiana State senior Nicole Hope concluded her final competition of the 2013 outdoor season on Friday as she tied for 13th in the women’s pole vault at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
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Metro roundup: Former Sycamores take talents to CFL
Former Indiana State players Johnny Towalid and Justin Hilton were signed by teams in the Canadian Football League this week.
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Exit Minnesota, enter Oregon State on 2016 football schedule
When the Big Ten Conference implemented a nine-game football schedule starting in 2016 and discouraged members from playing Football Championship Subdivision teams, there was one game on Indiana State’s future schedule that was likely on borrowed time.
ISU’s scheduled game at Minnesota in 2016. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Swift reaches finals of NCAA Championships in 110-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Greggmar Swift will be among the top eight in the NCAA in the 110-meter hurdles after qualifying for Saturday’s finals on Thursday.
Swift ran a time of 13.51 seconds to take third in his heat. He’ll run in either lane 1 or lane 8 on Saturday.
“I got out pretty good and then I hurdled three or four when I got bumped and it threw me off my rhythm,” said Swift, a native of Barbados. “I tried to get back my rhythm … but I held on for the third place.” -
ISU's Manaea selected 34th overall by Royals
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea selected 34th overall by the Kansas City Royals.
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Sycamores ready for more NCAA track success
Five of the six Indiana State athletes in Eugene, Ore., already have had some memorable track and field careers for the Sycamores.
But they’ll go ahead and try to add to their list of accomplishments in the NCAA outdoor championships this weekend.
Dustin Betz has been a scorer and key piece of eight Missouri Valley Conference championship teams between track and cross country. He’ll compete today in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as the Sycamores’ second best in the event behind Jordan Fife. -
Mike Lucas joins ISU football staff
What traits do head football coaches seek out when they hire position coaches?
Indiana State football coach Mike Sanford provided insight into that question as he hired former Southeast Louisiana head coach Mike Lucas to his staff Tuesday. Lucas will be the Sycamores’ defensive line coach.
“You have to look at your staff and see what you need. I felt like in this particular case, I wanted an experienced defensive line coach. I feel like we have a mixture of experience and youth and I want to keep that going,” Sanford said. -
TODD GOLDEN: MVC Tourney can be ISU success story if work is done
Prior to last week’s Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament at Illinois State’s Duffy Bass Field, fear and loathing prevailed in some corners of the conference.
It seemed that Missouri State, Creighton, and most notably, Wichita State, had a monopoly on the season-ending tournament since the Coolidge Administration. (It had actually been since 1998.) How could the tournament make it without playing in one of the three aforementioned universities’ big venues? - COLLEGE REPORT: Wabash College All-American relay team has TH flavor
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Six Sycamores heading to NCAA Track and Field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman punched their tickets Friday to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore. Two more got the job done Saturday on the campus of UNC Greensoboro in the East Preliminary.
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
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Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
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Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
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Terre Haute's Mascari running 10,000 meters for chance to get to Hayward Field
Indiana State freshman and Terre Haute North graduate John Mascari is among the enormous group of Sycamores competing this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary. The top 48 NCAA track and field competitors in each event on this half of the United States are narrowed down to 12 who will compete at the NCAA meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea has battled through so many aches and pains during the 2013 season that it can be hard to discern the serious pain from the pain he pitches through.
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ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury
When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. -
ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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ISU's athletic treasure trove
Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.
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Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.
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Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
Momentum was the only thing riding on Indiana State’s baseball game against Bradley on Friday. With a five-game winning streak going, ISU wanted to keep the good vibes going into next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
ISU couldn’t do it. - More College Headlines
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