SPRINGFIELD, Mo. —
Indiana State’s baseball team picked a very bad time to have its worst stretch of the 2012 season.
Forced into an early Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament elimination game after being one-hit by Creighton on Tuesday, the top-seeded Sycamores knew they needed a strong counter-punch against Evansville on Wednesday morning.
That didn’t happen. The Sycamores were dealt a knockout blow by the Purple Aces instead.
A six-run second inning by Evansville proved too much for the Sycamores to overcome as they were eliminated from the MVC Tournament with an 8-5 loss to the No. 5-seeded Aces.
“Baseball is cruel. We came out yesterday and [Creighton starter Ty] Blach had the game of his life. Today we come out and Dakota [Bacus, ISU starter] didn’t have his best stuff. Credit to Evansville, they made him pay for it,” ISU infielder Koby Kraemer said.
It’s the first time since 1990 that a No. 1 seed has gone winless at the MVC Tournament. ISU has lost four in a row and five of its last six games.
It gets worse.
An NCAA Tournament at-large bid that seemed assured when ISU won the MVC regular season championship last Thursday is now in jeopardy. Preliminary projections have ISU’s RPI at 49.
Upsets elsewhere in the MVC Tournament – No. 2-seeded Missouri State lost on Tuesday to Bradley and No. 3-seeded Wichita State was eliminated on Wednesday – could mean that a team not expected to qualify for the NCAA Tournament out of the MVC could steal a bid from one of the favorites.
It’s not unprecedented for an MVC regular-season champion to be left out of the NCAA Tournament. Missouri State wasn’t selected in 2009 and co-champion Wichita State wasn’t chosen in 2010.
Bids are announced at noon on Monday. It’s going to be a long four days for the Sycamores to sweat out their fate.
“It’ll be very hard. It feels like we just played our last game. I hope to God it wasn’t our last game,” ISU first baseman Jon Hedges said.
ISU never led. Evansville’s Kyle Pollock hit a solo home run down the left-field line in the first to stake the Aces to a 1-0 lead.
The game spiraled out of the Sycamores’ control in the next inning.
Evansville (32-26) led off with a single, a hit batsman and a sacrifice and throwing error by pitcher Dakota Bacus to load the bases.
After a sacrifice fly by Tim Bodine made it 2-0, Evansville opened its floodgates. Eric Stamets singled off the outstretched glove of Ryan Walterhouse to make it 3-0. Jake Mahon then singled through Jon Hedges at first base to make it 4-0.
Pollock followed with an RBI double and Chris Pearson slapped a two-run single to left. When it was all said and done, the Aces led 7-0.
“We kept thinking he was going to figure it out and get out of it. He’s been so good all year, but he just didn’t,” ISU coach Rick Heller said. “He wasn’t sharp today, he was over the middle of the plate and they hit him.”
ISU responded in the third as Kraemer hit a two-run home run to left field to make it 7-2. Evansville, however, played small ball to maximum effect in its half. A two-out bunt single by Bodine, a stolen base and an RBI single by Stamets made it 8-2.
In a game where the nadir pickings were plenty, the low point might have come in ISU’s fourth inning. Hedges led off with a single and Lucas Hileman followed with a line drive into the right-center field gap.
Hedges was seemed intent on stopping at third base, but Heller waved him around to score. But when Hedges turned to see where the relay throw was, Heller put the stop sign on. Hedges was caught between third and home.
Meanwhile, Hileman never stopped and beat the relay throw to third for what should have been a triple. Hedges tried to return to third base, but with Hileman already on third, Hedges was caught in a rundown. The play ended 8-4-5-2.
Hileman later scored via an error to make it 8-3, but it could have been more. Heller blamed himself for the miscue.
“At first I thought [Hedges] was going to score easily. Jon’s not the fleetest runner and as soon as I waved him, he slowed down and looked behind him. I panicked a little bit. With nobody out, I didn’t want to run into an out at the plate and then I stopped him,” Heller said. “By the time I stopped him, Hileman had [reached third]. It was a fiasco. It was my fault.”
ISU (41-17) added two in the eighth on a two-run home run by Hedges, but the early hole proved too difficult to crawl out of.
“In sports, you hate leaving things in other people’s hands, committees and everything like that. But we didn’t play well enough to take it out of their hands,” Kraemer said. “We’ll have to sit and wait. It’s not going to be fun. We have to pray our regular season was good enough to prove we can play in a [NCAA] regional.”
Evansville 8, ISU 5
ISU ab r h bi UE ab r h bi
Curry dh 3 0 1 0 Stamets ss 4 1 3 2
Burnam lf 4 0 2 0 Mahon 3b 4 1 1 1
Lucas c 4 0 0 0 Pollock dh 4 2 2 2
Ort rf 4 1 0 0 Kzmarski cf 4 0 1 0
Hedges 1b 4 1 2 2 Pearson c 4 0 1 2
Hileman cf 4 1 1 0 Hkmyer lf 4 1 2 0
Wltrhse 3b 3 1 1 0 Copeland 2b 3 1 0 0
Wampler ss 3 0 0 0 Day 1b 2 1 0 0
McCurdy ph1 0 0 0
Totals 34 5 8 4 32 8 11 8
Indiana State 002 100 020 – 5
Evansville 161 000 00X – 8
E – Bacus (2); Mahon (10), Day (2). DP – ISU 2, UE 2. LOB – ISU 4, UE 6. 2B – Walterhouse (10); Pollock (9). 3B – Hileman (3). HR – Hedges (7), Kraemer (2); Pollock (5). SH – Day (1). SF – Bodine (2). SB – Day (1); Bodine (14).
Indiana State
IP H R ER BB SO
Bacus (L, 7-4) 6 11 8 5 0 3
Pazik 1 0 0 0 0 0
Dorsett 2/3 0 0 0 2 1
Moore 1/3 0 0 0 0 1
Evansville
IP H R ER BB SO
Lloyd (W, 6-3) 6 6 3 2 0 7
Johns 3 2 2 0 1 2
WP – Dorsett (4); Lloyd (2); HBP – by Bacus 2 (Copeland, Mahon); by Lloyd (Curry). T: 2:21. A – n/a.
Next – ISU (41-17) will wait and see if its selected for the NCAA Tournament field on Monday. Evansville (32-26) plays Illinois State or Creighton at 10 a.m. today.
Indiana State University
Sycamores KO’d
Top-seeded ISU loses to Evansville; NCAA Tournament hopes now in peril
- Indiana State University
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Etherington, Moore happy to be with ISU basketball
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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.
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Manaea’s selection puts ISU in spotlight
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ISU’s Hope places 13th in NCAA pole vault
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Metro roundup: Former Sycamores take talents to CFL
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Sycamores ready for more NCAA track success
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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. -
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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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
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ISU sending largest group yet 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. -
Indiana State to host 2014 MVC baseball tourney
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Behind 16 hits and Manaea's pitching, ISU beats Bradley
Indiana State’s baseball team rode a wild ride of emotion on Thursday.
First came the public announcement that Bob Warn Field would host the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Later, Sean Manaea’s availability to pitch ISU’s series opener against Bradley was in doubt. -
TODD GOLDEN: Don't give up on ISU baseball just yet
If you had to pick one word that would describe the 2013 Indiana State baseball season, it would have to be frustration.
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ISU baseball team builds on success with 14-2 rout
Indiana State’s baseball victory over Alcorn State on Friday would take on more meaning Saturday if the Sycamores could build momentum and pick up on the good work they did in Friday’s ninth-inning rally.
Mission accomplished.
The Sycamores were aggressive from the opening inning at the plate and starting pitcher Devin Moore gave them eight valuable and effective innings on the mound as ISU defeated Alcorn State 14-2 at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a really good experience for everybody. It felt great to finally come out here and put some things together. It’s also really nice when your offense puts a lot of runs on the board,” Moore said.
Moore’s eight innings of work were as valuable as gold to an ISU team that is short on quality arms due to injury and ineffectiveness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and one of the two runs he conceded was unearned. -
ISU earns badly-needed win
Alcorn State’s baseball team might be ranked in the bottom 10 in RPI and Indiana State might have never lost to a Southwestern Athletic Conference team. So it wouldn’t appear that a quality win was in the offing when Alcorn State visited Bob Warn Field on Friday.
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ISU’s Mascari and Hope win MVC track & field titles
Indiana State produced two champions during the opening day of action in the Missouri Valley Conference track and field championships Friday at Drake. Freshman John Mascari, a Terre Haute native, won the men’s 10,000-meter race and Nicole Hope won the women’s pole vault for the second time in three seasons.
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ISU pole vault tradition continues with help from its author
Pole vault is track and field for the adrenaline junkie, Indiana State senior Nicole Hope proclaimed during a recent practice at Marks Field.
To catapult oneself about 14 feet into the air with a large $500 fiberglass pole on a daily basis is a risky endeavor.
“We have to be fearless. You can’t be afraid at all,” said Hope, who has also catapulted herself into the NCAA’s elite in the event, ranking 15th in the NCAA with her leap of 13-feet, 9 1/4. -
Lansing looking for more home games for next fall
Indiana State’s men’s basketball team is looking for a few good games.
Home games that is.
The Sycamores have filled in most of the blanks in their nonconference schedule, but as ever, ISU coach Greg Lansing would like to visit the friendly confines of Hulman Center a bit more often. -
ISU baseball gets back into rhythm with victory
Baseball is a rhythm game. With contests every day or five times a week in the case of many college programs, you have the chance to build on success or wallow in a slump.
Mother Nature took that rhythm away from Indiana State’s team last week. After a 7-1 loss to Indiana on April 24, ISU was supposed to play a three-game series at Tennessee-Martin, but it was wiped out by rain.
So the rhythm was disturbed, but perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing.
ISU was in a five-game losing streak before its unintended vacation and the Sycamores made a move in the right direction Wednesday with a 7-0 win over DePauw at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a disappointing weekend. We went all the way down to Tennessee and didn’t get to play. We sat around in the hotel room. We came here and it was still raining. It was nice to get out and see some live pitching,” ISU center fielder Landon Curry said. - More Indiana State University Headlines
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