Wright leading Sycamores in hitting
Great Lake Canadians alum Max Wright (Toronto, Ont.) is leading the Indiana State Sycamores with a .324 batting average this season. Photo: Indiana State Athletics
April 8, 2021
By Timothy McCaughan
Indiana State Athletics
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – No. 23 Indiana State baseball will play the final four games of its 24-game road swing to begin the season this weekend at Illinois State.
The four-game weekend series is set for begin Friday at 1 p.m. E.T. as the two teams will take to the national stage as ESPNU has picked up the opener. Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Xavier Scruggs (analyst) will call the action. Game two of the series will take place soon after the conclusion of the opener.
Due to impending rain throughout the day on Saturday, the clubs have elected to play a second doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. E.T. If a time slot clears on Saturday, the second game of the series could be played on Saturday at a time to be announced, instead of a Friday doubleheader.
THE SYCAMORE WEEKEND ROTATION
Game One - LHP Geremy Guerrero (5-0, 1.13 ERA, 39.2 IP, 51 K, 6 BB)
Game Two - LHP Tristan Weaver (0-2, 10.80 ERA, 13.1 IP, 13 K, 8 BB)
Game Three - LHP Tyler Grauer (1-0, 6.23 ERA, 13.0 IP, 14 K, 2 BB)
Game Four - RHP Javin Drake (1-2, 3.86 ERA, 21.0 IP, 22 K, 11 BB)
NEWS & NOTEWORTHY
» The Sycamores come into play at 13-7 as the team enters Missouri Valley Conference Play. ISU is hitting .264 as a squad led by Toronto native Max Wright (.324, 6 2B, 5 HR, 15 RBI, .468 OBP) and Josue Urdaneta (.321, 4 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .429 SLG) while four other ISU batters are hitting above .270 on the year. Indiana State boasts the top team ERA in the MVC at 4.09. ISU's .975 fielding percentage ranks 48th nationally and best in the MVC.
» Indiana State appears at No. 25 in this week's Baseball America Top 25 poll. The Sycamores also sit No. 23 in this week's Perfect Game Top 25 poll. ISU is receiving votes in the ESPN Coaches poll, as well as the NCBWA poll. It marks the third-straight week that the Sycamores have been nationally ranked and the sixth-straight week that ISU has received votes.
» Indiana State sits at No. 14 in the current RPI ranking after winning seven of its last 10 games, according to WarrenNolan.com. ISU has wins over Pittsburgh (#27), Tennessee (#4), Florida Gulf Coast (#50) as well as a sweep of FIU (#84). ISU also took two of three games at nationally ranked FAU (#87). Currently, Indiana State's strength of schedule ranks 51st nationally.
» Illinois State enters the play at 11-15 after taking 3-of-4 games from Southern Illinois. The Redbirds are led by Tyson Hays at the plate with a .368 batting average in 15 starts. Jordan Libman (.354) and Jack Butler (.326) also provide strong bats in the order. Friday starter Colton Johnson leads the Redbirds with a 2.09 ERA in six starts. As a team, Illinois State holds a 5.91 ERA and a .967 fielding percent.
» In one of the oldest series in program history, dating back to 1948, Indiana State leads the Redbirds 109-83. The Sycamores took the last series against the Redbirds in Normal in 2019, 2-1. After dropping the opener 4-3, the Sycamores came back to take game two 13-1 and clinch the series with a 6-1 finale win. The two squads also met in the 2019 MVC Championship with ILS taking the first game 10-7 before the Sycamores ended Illinois State's championship hopes, eliminating the Redbirds 10-6 before defeating Dallas Baptist twice to secure the MVC Tournament Championship.
» The Indiana State pitching staff has been strong this season, combining for a 4.09 team ERA which is 48th nationally. As a team, ISU also ranks 16th with 2.91 walks allowed per nine innings; 22nd with a 3.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 37th nationally with a 1.27 WHIP. Five Sycamores who have pitched at least an inning have ERA's lower than 4.00 through 20 games led by Connor Fenlong who holds a 0.60 ERA in 16 innings. Starting pitcher Geremy Guerrero has a 1.13 ERA in six starts and 39.2 innings while Connor Cline has a 3.29 ERA in over six appearances.
» Sycamore starting pitcher Geremy Guerrero earned his second MVC Pitcher of the Week honor last weekend. A Metamora, Ill. native, Guerrero retired the first 18 Saint Louis batters he faced, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Billikens. The left-hander did not allow a runner to reach base until SLU's Cole Smith led off the seventh with a single. Guerrero struck out seven and did not issue a walk over eight complete innings. He improved to 5-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.13. On the year, the southpaw has pitched 39.2 innings and struck out 51 while issuing only six walks and holding opponents to a .156 average against. Overall, Guerrero ranks first in the MVC and 20th nationally in ERA (1.13) as well as tops in the MVC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.50) and victories (5).
» Tyler Grauer sits at 19 career saves and is one shy of moving into a tie for second place. Craig Kozlowski holds the ISU career record with 26 saves from 1982-86. Austin Conway sits in second place with 20 career saves from 2014-17.
» Connor Fenlong continues to pitch the ball well in relief. The right-hander has pitched 15 innings over eight appearances and leads the team with a 0.60 ERA. Fenlong has struck out 14 while allowing just two walks while holding opponents to a 200 average against. He leads the Sycamores with three saves and has been a part of both of ISU's combined shutouts.
» Outfielder Seth Gergely led Indiana State at the plate with a .500 average (5-for-10) against Saint Louis in three starts, tallying multiple hits in games two and three while hitting his first home run of the season. Gergely put together an .800 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage. The redshirt sophomore drove in three and scored a trio runs while also reaching base with a walk. Over the last six games, Gergely has seen his average jump from .167 to .278. During that span, he has three multi-hit games, including a three-hit game at UAB.
» The Sycamores have put up runs consistently this season, averaging six runs a game while outscoring opponents, 122-90. The Sycamores have outscored opponents 17-1 in the second inning of action as well as combined to outscore opponents 24-10 in the eighth and ninth innings.