TERRE HAUTE, IN ? The Indiana State Sycamores lost their third Missouri Valley Conference series of the season last week but are still in the hunt for a post-season berth in the 2008 MVC Baseball Tournament.
A big stepping stone lies ahead of Indiana State (13-26 overall and 6-9 in the MVC) this weekend as the Missouri State Bears come calling for a three-game series beginning on Friday. Missouri State (30-13 overall and 13-5 in the MVC) is on top of the league standings, just a half game ahead of Wichita State and Northern Iowa.
The series opens at 6 p.m. Friday at Sycamore Field with games Saturday and Sunday set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
It will be “Family Night” at the stadium on Friday with families able to purchase four tickets, four hot dogs or popcorn and four Pepsi's for just $20.00. Saturday is “Canned Food Day” with anyone bringing a canned food item receiving free admission to the game. All items will be donated to the Lighthouse Mission.
Sunday is another chance for the family to come out to the ball park and enjoy an afternoon of exciting Sycamore baseball. Weather permitting, kids will be allowed to run the bases following the game.
Indiana State is currently tied with Southern Illinois for the sixth, and final, spot in the MVC post-season tournament. The Sycamores can not afford to finish in a tie with the Salukis since SIU won the series with ISU 2-1.
That means that the Sycamores face the difficult, but not impossible, task of winning each of their final three MVC series ... this weekend with Missouri State, next weekend at Creighton and the season finale against Illinois State later in May.
Southern Illinois does have to play Creighton this weekend, finishing with series against Illinois State and Evansville.
Just ahead of ISU and SIU is the Bradley Braves, a team that the Sycamores took 2-of-3 earlier this season. The Braves are sitting in fifth, two games ahead of both Indiana State and Southern Illinois, at 8-7 in league play. Bradley has a series with Illinois State this weekend and then takes on Northern Iowa and Wichita State to wrap up the season.
Needless to say, each game becomes important for all three squads as the Valley enters the final three weeks of play.
The Sycamores are coming off a series with seventh ranked Wichita State, losing the first two games but getting a big boost to the confidence level with a tremendous rally in the bottom of the ninth to post an 8-7 victory on Sunday.
It was the first time this season that the Sycamores posted a win in their final at-bat and could not have come at a better time. Seven times this season, Indiana State has been the victim of a late rally by the opposing team.
Indiana State is being led by senior Chris Schmidt, who was named a Notable Performer in the Valley last week. Schmidt was 6-of-12 against Wichita State with a two-run home run on Saturday. Against the Shockers, Schmidt had a batting average of .500, a slugging percentage of .750 and an on-base percentage of .571. Schmidt is batting .357 for the season and .373 in Valley play.
Sean Osborne has been picking up the pace with his offense in recent games and has a .350 batting average, second best on the team. He leads the team in Valley games with a .474 average. Osborne had a big hit in the ninth inning rally Sunday, a single up the middle that knocked in the tying run and moved Pascual Del Real to third. Del Real eventually slid home with the game winning run on a wild pitch.
The Sycamores have played 32 of their 39 games on the road but plays nine of their last 12 games are at home.
