The Sycamores will be tuning up today for yet another tough MVC series this weekend against Illinois State at Normal, IL. Today's game against SIU-E gets underway at 6:00 (ET) at Bob Warn Field.
Here's some interesting background on today's game from GoSycamores.com:
Today's game will be the fifth meeting between the schools, with the previous four matchups coming since 2008. Indiana State is 3-1 all-time against SIU Edwardsville, winning the teams' first meeting back in 2008 before sweeping a home-and-home matchup last season. SIUE picked up their first win in the series last Tuesday, coming out on top at home, 4-2. ISU won 19-4 in the first meeting, coming out on top in Terre Haute on April 8, 2008, before topping the Cougars twice last season, 6-5 in Terre Haute on April 27 and 7-5 in Edwardsville on May 11.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars enter the matchup with an 18-19 overall record, winners of their last seven games overall. Five of SIUE's seven wins during their winning streak have come away from home, with their home wins over the Sycamores on April 19 and their last game against Austin Peay on Friday coming at Roy E. Lee Field. The Cougars started their recent winning streak with a 7-2 on the road at Missouri on Wednesday, April 13. Despite their recent road success, SIUE is 7-11 away from home this season. SIU Edwardsville and Indiana State have played five common opponents to this point in the season, in Bradley, Central Arkansas, Creighton, UT Martin and Valparaiso. ISU went 8-6 against those opponents, while SIUE is 3-8.
As a team, SIUE is hitting .289 this season while their pitching rotation checks in with a 5.71 team ERA. Individually, SIU Edwardsville is led by freshman Devin Caldwell, who tops the roster with a .348 (49-for-141) batting average with five home runs and 42 RBIs. Sophomore Travis Becherer leads the team with 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts. The SIU pitching rotation has allowed 28 home runs this season while the SIUE defense averages nearly two errors per game, with 61 errors and a .955 fielding percentage through 37 games.
End of GoSycamores.com material.
While SIU-E has won it's last seven games, the Sycamores have been struggling...losing eight of our last nine. Over that period, ISU has seen it's team batting average fall to .282 (.256 in MVC play) and it's team ERA rise to 4.46 (6.66 in MVC play). It is too early to write this team off, as I still believe it has the clay. It has just been a struggle to get the clay to mold properly. We have some great offensive standouts, led by Ort, Kraemer and Wampler. And a few shining moments on the mound. But the fact is that we have to score more runs on offense (we're 5.38 runs per game overall and 4.27 in league play). On the mound, we need to cut down on the free bases (although we're better this year than last in that category) and get our ERA down (we were 4.04 for MVC play in 2010).
Neither team announced its starting pitchers for today's game. But, I'll bet you we see five or six pitchers for ISU.
Weatherwise, we're looking at about 70-degrees at the 6:00 p.m. first pitch, with cloudy skies and a chance for scattered thunderstorms. Winds will be from the southwest at up to 20 miles per hour... blowing out to center field.
The game will be broadcast on WISU on-line, through Twitter feed and live stats.
Here's some interesting background on today's game from GoSycamores.com:
Today's game will be the fifth meeting between the schools, with the previous four matchups coming since 2008. Indiana State is 3-1 all-time against SIU Edwardsville, winning the teams' first meeting back in 2008 before sweeping a home-and-home matchup last season. SIUE picked up their first win in the series last Tuesday, coming out on top at home, 4-2. ISU won 19-4 in the first meeting, coming out on top in Terre Haute on April 8, 2008, before topping the Cougars twice last season, 6-5 in Terre Haute on April 27 and 7-5 in Edwardsville on May 11.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars enter the matchup with an 18-19 overall record, winners of their last seven games overall. Five of SIUE's seven wins during their winning streak have come away from home, with their home wins over the Sycamores on April 19 and their last game against Austin Peay on Friday coming at Roy E. Lee Field. The Cougars started their recent winning streak with a 7-2 on the road at Missouri on Wednesday, April 13. Despite their recent road success, SIUE is 7-11 away from home this season. SIU Edwardsville and Indiana State have played five common opponents to this point in the season, in Bradley, Central Arkansas, Creighton, UT Martin and Valparaiso. ISU went 8-6 against those opponents, while SIUE is 3-8.
As a team, SIUE is hitting .289 this season while their pitching rotation checks in with a 5.71 team ERA. Individually, SIU Edwardsville is led by freshman Devin Caldwell, who tops the roster with a .348 (49-for-141) batting average with five home runs and 42 RBIs. Sophomore Travis Becherer leads the team with 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts. The SIU pitching rotation has allowed 28 home runs this season while the SIUE defense averages nearly two errors per game, with 61 errors and a .955 fielding percentage through 37 games.
End of GoSycamores.com material.
While SIU-E has won it's last seven games, the Sycamores have been struggling...losing eight of our last nine. Over that period, ISU has seen it's team batting average fall to .282 (.256 in MVC play) and it's team ERA rise to 4.46 (6.66 in MVC play). It is too early to write this team off, as I still believe it has the clay. It has just been a struggle to get the clay to mold properly. We have some great offensive standouts, led by Ort, Kraemer and Wampler. And a few shining moments on the mound. But the fact is that we have to score more runs on offense (we're 5.38 runs per game overall and 4.27 in league play). On the mound, we need to cut down on the free bases (although we're better this year than last in that category) and get our ERA down (we were 4.04 for MVC play in 2010).
Neither team announced its starting pitchers for today's game. But, I'll bet you we see five or six pitchers for ISU.
Weatherwise, we're looking at about 70-degrees at the 6:00 p.m. first pitch, with cloudy skies and a chance for scattered thunderstorms. Winds will be from the southwest at up to 20 miles per hour... blowing out to center field.
The game will be broadcast on WISU on-line, through Twitter feed and live stats.
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