Despite losing their ace pitcher Tim Kelley, early in the season, Wichita State remains a major force in the MVC...although not what they were a year ago when they finished their season at 41-19. Last season, ISU took two of three at Bob Warn Field, which were two of the Shockers six losses in the MVC! Their MVC win/loss was 15-6.
They are a winning team at home in 2011 at 20-7, while they are just 9-14 on the road.
(From GoSycamores.com) The Wichita State Shockers enter the matchup with a 30-23 overall record and in second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, at 9-6 in league play. WSU has won two out of three games in each of their last four conference series (at home against Evansville, Illinois State and Creighton and on the road at Southern Illinois), after dropping two out of three games to start their MVC schedule at Missouri State.
At the plate, Wichita State is hitting .291 this season, ranking third in the conference. Individually, the Shockers are led by junior Chris O'Brien, who is tied for the MVC-lead with a .409 (85-for-208) batting average, while also tallying seven home runs and 59 RBIs this season. As a team, the Shockers lead the conference with 91 stolen bases, with juniors Tyler Grimes (24-for-28), Kevin Hall (22-for-24) and Don Lambert (17-for-19) all ranking in the top 10.
On the mound, the Shockers check in with a 3.57 team ERA, good for second in the MVC behind Creighton (3.34 ERA). The Sycamores are scheduled to face three left-handed pitchers this weekend, in junior Charlie Lowell (9-4, 2.89 ERA), sophomore Brian Flynn (4-3, 4.80 ERA) and junior Josh Smith (5-3, 3.92 ERA). ISU is 7-5 this season when facing a southpaw starter on the mound. (End of GoSycamores.com content.)
LHP Charlie Lowell (9-4, 2.89) is tonight's starter for the Shockers. In 81 innings, Lowell has 103 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .205. Last week against league-leading Creighton, the story of the game was the pitching performance of Lowell who held the Bluejay bats to only five hits in the complete game effort. Lowell did not walk a batter while sitting down eight Bluejays' on strikes to pick up his ninth win of the season. You can't get much better than that.
Taking the hill for Indiana State will be Colin Rea (6-4, 4.38), who has had an up and down season. Last week against Evansville, Rea went 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. He had three K's. The bullpen was lights out in relief to seal the 6-3 win. Hopefully, Rea will have an up week and go at least seven. The concern is the amount of bullpen innings that could be chewed up if the starters don't go deep against a very potent Shocker's squad.
Weather wise for tonight's contest, looks like partly cloudy and 62 at gametime with brisk wind at 15-20 mph from the north-northeast.
You can catch the game on WBOW AM-1300, through Twitter and via live stats.
They are a winning team at home in 2011 at 20-7, while they are just 9-14 on the road.
(From GoSycamores.com) The Wichita State Shockers enter the matchup with a 30-23 overall record and in second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, at 9-6 in league play. WSU has won two out of three games in each of their last four conference series (at home against Evansville, Illinois State and Creighton and on the road at Southern Illinois), after dropping two out of three games to start their MVC schedule at Missouri State.
At the plate, Wichita State is hitting .291 this season, ranking third in the conference. Individually, the Shockers are led by junior Chris O'Brien, who is tied for the MVC-lead with a .409 (85-for-208) batting average, while also tallying seven home runs and 59 RBIs this season. As a team, the Shockers lead the conference with 91 stolen bases, with juniors Tyler Grimes (24-for-28), Kevin Hall (22-for-24) and Don Lambert (17-for-19) all ranking in the top 10.
On the mound, the Shockers check in with a 3.57 team ERA, good for second in the MVC behind Creighton (3.34 ERA). The Sycamores are scheduled to face three left-handed pitchers this weekend, in junior Charlie Lowell (9-4, 2.89 ERA), sophomore Brian Flynn (4-3, 4.80 ERA) and junior Josh Smith (5-3, 3.92 ERA). ISU is 7-5 this season when facing a southpaw starter on the mound. (End of GoSycamores.com content.)
LHP Charlie Lowell (9-4, 2.89) is tonight's starter for the Shockers. In 81 innings, Lowell has 103 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .205. Last week against league-leading Creighton, the story of the game was the pitching performance of Lowell who held the Bluejay bats to only five hits in the complete game effort. Lowell did not walk a batter while sitting down eight Bluejays' on strikes to pick up his ninth win of the season. You can't get much better than that.
Taking the hill for Indiana State will be Colin Rea (6-4, 4.38), who has had an up and down season. Last week against Evansville, Rea went 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. He had three K's. The bullpen was lights out in relief to seal the 6-3 win. Hopefully, Rea will have an up week and go at least seven. The concern is the amount of bullpen innings that could be chewed up if the starters don't go deep against a very potent Shocker's squad.
Weather wise for tonight's contest, looks like partly cloudy and 62 at gametime with brisk wind at 15-20 mph from the north-northeast.
You can catch the game on WBOW AM-1300, through Twitter and via live stats.
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