Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Indiana State’s baseball team got the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season hardware last week and it’s hoping to grab more gold this week in its quest to win the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.
In the meantime, some of the Sycamores’ brightest lights collected some bling on Monday.
ISU catcher Jeremy Lucas was named the MVC Joe Carter Player of the Year, the first a Sycamore has ever been named Player of the Year.
ISU coach Rick Heller was named the Dan Callahan Coach of the Year. ISU pitcher Dakota Bacus was named the MVC Newcomer of the Year.
At the time the awards were announced to the public, ISU was at practice at Missouri State’s Hammons Field. The award winners could not be reached for comment by the Tribune-Star’s press time.
Bacus was the fourth Sycamore to get the newcomer award. He joined Tim Brewer (2005), Clint Barmes (2000) and Rick Angell (1998).
Heller is the third different ISU coach to be Coach of the Year. Bob Warn won it three times (1979, 1983, 1984) and Lindsay Meggs (2009) also won it.
ISU had other honorees as well. Along with Lucas and Bacus, right fielder Rob Ort was named first-team all-MVC. Shortstop Tyler Wamper, left fielder Kyle Burnam and starting pitcher Sean Manaea were named second-team all-MVC. Honorable-mention selections went to outfielder Landon Curry and first baseman Jon Hedges.
Lucas, a West Terre Haute native, started all 21 of ISU’s games in the conference behind the plate. In MVC play, Lucas hit .361 with two home runs and 15 RBIs. He had a .505 on-base percentage.
Overall, Lucas hit .363 with nine home runs and 52 RBIs. He has a slugging percentage of .571 and committed just three errors during the season.
Bacus, a Moline, Ill. native, went 4-1 with a 2.00 earned run average in league play. He threw two complete games, the second of them Thursday when Bacus got the victory in ISU’s 6-3 league-clinching triumph over Missouri State.
Overall, Bacus was 7-3 with a 2.08 ERA and 86 strikeouts against just 28 walks. Opponents batted just .222 against Bacus this season.
Heller led ISU to its first outright MVC championship. The Sycamores’ overall record of 41-15 is it’s best ever at this stage of the season. Heller took over ISU’s program in 2009 when Meggs left for the University of Washington. Heller came from Northern Iowa, which had eliminated its program after the 2009 season.
ISU begins the MVC Tournament at 1:30 p.m. today against Creighton.
MVC All-Conference Teams
First Team all-conference
1B - Chris Serritella, Southern Illinois
2B - Kevin Medrano, Missouri State
SS - Eric Stamets, Evansville
3B - Zac Johnson, Illinois State
C - Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State
DH - Johnny Coy, Wichita State
UT - Austin Montgomery, Southern Illinois
OF - Eric Aguilera, Illinois State
OF - Rob Ort, Indiana State
OF - Jordan Sivertsen, Southern Illinois
SP - Dakota Bacus, Indiana State
SP - Joe Bircher, Bradley
SP - Nick Petree, Missouri State
RP - Kenny Long, Illinois State
RP - Tyler Burgess, Missouri State
Second Team all-conference
1B - Brock Chaffin, Missouri State
2B - Chris Godinez, Bradley
SS - Tyler Wampler, Indiana State
3B - Brent Seifert, Missouri State
C - Luke Voit, Missouri State
DH - Brock Harding, Southern Illinois
UT - Anthony Bemboom, Creighton
OF - Kyle Burnam, Indiana State
OF - Spiker Helms, Missouri State
OF - Kevin Kaczmarski, Evansville
SP - Cody Forsythe, Southern Illinois
SP - Cameron Maldonado, Southern Illinois
SP - Sean Manaea, Indiana State
RP - Todd Eaton, Southern Illinois
RP - Cale Elam, Wichita State
Honorable Mention
1B - Jon Hedges, Indiana State
2B - Kevin Tokarski, Illinois State
SS - Erik Harbutz, Wichita State
C - Matt Mirabal, Illinois State
DH - Keenen Maddox, Missouri State
UT - Dayne Parker, Wichita State
OF - Landon Curry, Indiana State
OF - Micah Green, Wichita State
OF - Chad Hinshaw, Illinois State
OF - Mike Tauchman, Bradley
OF - Ty Wiesemeyer, Illinois State
SP - Kyle Lloyd, Evansville
SP - Kyle Freeland, Evansville
SP - Cody Schumacher, Missouri State
SP - Josh Smith, Wichita State
RP - Justin Hauer, Illinois State
All-Defensive Team
1B - Nick Judkins, Creighton
2B - Kevin Medrano, Missouri State
SS - Eric Stamets, Evansville
3B - Chance Ross, Creighton
C - Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State
OF - Mike Gerber, Creighton
OF - Kevin Hall, Wichita State
OF - Chad Hinshaw, Illinois State
P - Nick Petree, Missouri State
Specialty Awards
Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year: Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State
MVC Pitcher of the Year: Nick Petree, Missouri State
MVC Newcomer of the Year: Dakota Bacus, Indiana State
MVC Freshman of the Year: Tyler Burgess, Missouri State
MVC Defensive Player of the Year: Eric Stamets, Evansville
Dan Callahan MVC Coach of the Year: Rick Heller, Indiana State
