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Next up are the Indiana State Sycamores. Here are some quick facts:

Conference: Missouri Valley Conference

Website: Indiana State Athletics

Current Record: 1-2 (0-0); 1-2 Away

Current W/L Streak: W1

Current rank:
Did not rank or receive votes in any pre-season polls.

Current Pseudo-RPI (Boyd's World): 2008 RPIs have not been released yet.

Team Stats:
.243 Team BA; .268 Opponent Team BA
3.77 Staff ERA; 3.60 Opponent Staff ERA
.959 FLD%, 5 E;

Offensive Leaders (among those who appear to be starters):
Chris Schmidt - .385 BA through 3 games; 5-13; 1-2B; 4 RBIs; 0 Runs scored; 1 SB; 1K; 1 SH

Defensive Leaders (among those who appear to be starters):
Most starters have not committed an error.

2007 Final Record: 26-26 (7-17 MVC); 17-13 Away

2007 Meeting: Indiana State and Ole Miss did not meet in 2007. Ole Miss is 5-2 all-time against Indiana State.

Projected Starters:
Fri. LHP Michael Manus - 1.69 ERA; 0-0; 1 Start; 5.1 IP; 5 H; 1 R; 1 ER; 1BB; 3K; Opponents hitting .250 BA
Sat. RHP Brian Oliver - 0.00 ERA; 0-0; 1 Start; 6.0 IP; 4 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 0BB; 1K; 1 HBP; Opponents hitting .182 BA
Sun. RHP Micah Spencer - 3.00 ERA; 0-0; 1 Start; 6.0 IP; 7 H; 2 R; 2 ER; 0 BB; 7K; Opponents hitting .292 BA

Other notes:

The Sycamores went on the road last weekend to face the USF Bulls in Tampa, FL. They lost the Friday game 4-2. The Saturday game was a heart-breaker. They took an early 5-0 lead before the Bulls got 1 in the 7th. To make it 5-1 Indiana State. But a Grand Slam in the bottom of the 9th forced extra innings. The Bulls eventually won 5-6 in the 12th. The Sycamores salvaged the Sunday game winning 6-4.

An interesting note, they have not faced a crowd this season over about 590. Will they be in for a shock when over 4,000 pack the stadium for every game this weekend!

Wish I could be there as part of that 4,000 strong.

Get loud for me Rebels!!!!

it will be interesting to see how their pitching holds up b/c their early numbers are really good

i can't imagine the rebels dropping a game until they face TCU in my opinion

sportsdirector06 wrote:it will be interesting to see how their pitching holds up b/c their early numbers are really good

i can't imagine the rebels dropping a game until they face TCU in my opinion

Easy with that stuff.... :nerv: We had some folks saying exactly that type of thing about our Basketball team. Personally, I'm making NO predictions, holding NO expectations, and lumping everything into the "hope" catagory.

I HOPE we win the West, I HOPE we win the SEC, and I HOPE we go deeeeeeeeeep into the CWS. That's all I'm going to say.

oxpatchreb wrote:

sportsdirector06 wrote:it will be interesting to see how their pitching holds up b/c their early numbers are really good

i can't imagine the rebels dropping a game until they face TCU in my opinion

Easy with that stuff.... :nerv: We had some folks saying exactly that type of thing about our Basketball team. Personally, I'm making NO predictions, holding NO expectations, and lumping everything into the "hope" catagory.

I HOPE we win the West, I HOPE we win the SEC, and I HOPE we go deeeeeeeeeep into the CWS. That's all I'm going to say.

Dead on about basketball. I remember when things were looking so good - before we lost to Auburn on the road - my dad said, "We should win at LEAST 9 the rest of the way."

I was laughing then, too. It's not often that he's the optimist and I'm the skeptic.

sportsdirector06 wrote:it will be interesting to see how their pitching holds up b/c their early numbers are really good

i can't imagine the rebels dropping a game until they face TCU in my opinion

True, their numbers are not as good as NWST's pitching numbers were, but they also faced a tougher opponent than NWST did. Should be interesting.

But after seeing how hot the bats are right now, I'd put them up against a slew of 0.00 ERA guys and watch them score 6 runs on each.

It has to help that the batters are facing Lance Lynn in scrimmage. If you can hit Lynn, you can hit 95% of the pitchers in D1. Maybe even 98%. As long as bats stay hot and pitching/defense stays strong (only allowing 3 runs/game on average) then this team will go a long way. But I'm also going with oxpatch. No counting chickens before they hatch. The Rebs haven't faced a really legit team yet. TCU will be revealing.

Raining in Oxford today. SHOULD be cleared up by game time, but if you're coming to town for the game tonight, watch the weather reports and the athletics website just in case weather.com is wrong about it clearing up.

thanks for the info. about to head that way from jack-town. hope it clears up.

hopefully it doesn't make for too sloppy of a surface

georgia and arizona played on a muddy field last week and it definitely effected the series with a lot of errors

Thanks for all the info Oxfordrebel. Looking forward to see how we do this weekend and if the bats stay hot.

sportsdirector06 wrote:hopefully it doesn't make for too sloppy of a surface

georgia and arizona played on a muddy field last week and it definitely effected the series with a lot of errors

Swayze drains very well and the dirt always stays dry as long as the tarp is pulled (which it is as long as practice or game isn't going on). The outfield gets a little more slippery, but our guys at least are pretty used to it. And our guys are all that matter when it comes to that, right?

yes sir, i sure don't care about those larry bird wannabe kids

it'd be nice to keep up that 15 runs per game average and see a couple get 100 RBI

Anyone take any pictures of the fog last night? I regret not bringing my camera for it.

MtownRebel wrote:Anyone take any pictures of the fog last night? I regret not bringing my camera for it.

oxfordreb posted some under the 'pitching was scary' thread.

sportsdirector06 wrote:it will be interesting to see how their pitching holds up b/c their early numbers are really good

i can't imagine the rebels dropping a game until they face TCU in my opinion

Todd McGinnis is scheduled to picth, I hear. He's as tough as anyone.
TCU will be a good series but USM will be very good this year. I wouldn't look past them.