Baseball team falls out of MVC tournament

The Indiana State Sycamores baseball squad completed one of its most successful seasons in the past decade, wrapping up with an overall record of 33-18 and 15-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Along the way, the Sycamores climbed to No. 2 in the MVC and a national ranking of 26, including fielding nine All-MVC players and coach Lindsay Meggs being honored with MVC Coach of the Year. However, with all of the accolades and honors, the Sycamores' amazing run sputtered out at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, ISU only had to win its first game to end up in the championship game to play for an automatic bid for the College World Series. Facing the No. 3 Wichita State Shockers, who had already lost twice to ISU earlier in the year, the Sycamores gave up 15 runs on 15 hits, while manufacturing six runs on 14 hits and leaving 13 runners on base posting a final score of 15-6.

The loss was one of the worst all year and came at an even worse time. After losing, ISU would need to win its next game, coupled with two straight losses by Wichita State, to make it to the championship game.

But just as in the first game, the Sycamores did not find any luck against the Illinois State Redbirds.

The Redbirds jumped to 3-0 lead and never looked backed on their way to a 7-3 win. Shutting down the high-powered offense of ISU, the Redbirds only allowed three runs and limited the Sycamores to just five hits, with the 1-4 hitters going 3-13 and only one RBI. With this loss, ISU faced the No. 5 Southern Illinois Salukis in a game of pride, but would continue their losing skid by falling 10-6 in their final game of the tournament.

The Sycamores, backed by solid pitching, rode the wave of a high-octane offense en route to the MVC tournament; however, once the games began, the power and speed seemed to fizzle.

The 1-4 hitters at the top of the lineup, including senior center fielder Brady Shoemaker, junior utility player, Ryan Strausborger and junior outfielder, Nick Ciolli went 17-49 for a .346 batting average for the three games but only produced seven RBI's.

Although the Sycamores may have lost a shot at an automatic bid, it may be possible for ISU to receive an at-large bid from the College World Series selection committee because of their earlier success this season.