Game Day: Indiana State Sycamores @ MU

The Indiana State Sycamores began 2012 being swept 3-0 by Southeastern Louisiana on the opening weekend of the season. Since then, ISU has rolled along, winning 16 of 17 games. Their wins have come against Western Illinois, Maryland Eastern Shore, Alabama A&M, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee Martin, SIU Edwardsville, Kansas, Houston Baptist and Notre Dame. The only game they've played against a team from a top tier conference is their win against Kansas.

The Sycamores do have a .339 batting average and a 3.13 ERA.   Their season-to-date stats show, though, that both their hitting and pitching are strong in early innings but decrease significantly in the later innings.

BoydsWorld.com ranks them 92nd in RPI. Missouri is 98th.

Good news for Mizzou, though, is that the Sycamores played in a 4-game tournament this weekend, so their starting pitching is somewhat depleted. They have not used a 5th starter as of yet this season.

♦ Sycamores Get Lucky at Irish Classic (Indiana Statesman.com)

The Indiana State baseball team won the 2012 Irish Classic in San Antonio, Texas over the weekend.
The Sycamores dominated their opponents as they won every game. The victories continue to grow for the baseball team who are currently on an 11- game winning streak. The Sycamores are 15-4 for the season.

The Indiana State Sycamores baseball team defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 2-1, in game one of the Irish Classic in San Antonio, Texas Thursday afternoon.
. . .
The Indiana State Sycamores baseball team defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in extra innings, 6-4, Saturday afternoon and again, 6-1, Sunday to win the 2012 Irish Classic tournament.

♦ The Indiana State Sycamore Mascot:

• They were originally known as the Fighting Teachers
• Sycamores was a student-selected mascot
• Instead of having a dancing tree mascot, they used an Indian mascot named Chief Quabachi from 1969 through 1989
• Since 1995 they have used a strange blue creature known as Sycamore Sam.
• Their colors are listed as "Sycamore Blue" and White.  Possibly due to the Sycamore tree being primarily green and brown.

♦ Sycamore baseball ties best start ever (wthitv.com)

♦ Missouri Baseball on Facebook:  Several great 2012 Photos have been uploaded.

John Miles

♦ The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notices Mizzou Baseball! And gets it wrong: College notes: Edwardsville's Opel keeps hitting at Mizzou (stlhighschoolsports.com)

A junior outfielder, Opel is batting a team-best .380 with four home runs and 15 RBI, helping trigger a 12-5 start to the season. Opel bats clean-up for MU.

Recently, Opel became the first player in Missouri history to hit two home runs in a game [Trrip Note: Actually, the first since 2010], turning the trick Feb. 19 in a 6-4 win at Auburn. His extra-base power shows in an .800 slugging percentage, which is tops in the Big 12. Opel also ranks among the conference leaders in home runs, total bases and batting average.