FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Head coach Rick Heller has announced the dates for the 2012 Indiana State baseball schedule today (August 12), a total of 57 games for the Sycamores in his third season in charge of the program.
ISU begins their 2012 campaign with nine games on the road in late February and early March, traveling to Southwest Louisiana (Feb. 17-19), Huntsville, Ala., for the Alabama A&M Tournament (Feb. 24-26) and Eastern Kentucky (March 2-4). Alabama A&M and IPFW will also be at the tournament on the final weekend of February, with matchups to be announced at a later date.
After their season-opening road swing, the Sycamores return to Terre Haute and Bob Warn Field at Sycamore Stadium for a five-game homestand running from March 6-11. A pair of midweek games against Eastern Illinois (March 6) and Indiana (March 7) and a weekend set with Tennessee Martin (March 9-11) compose ISU’s first home games of the season. Indiana State hits the road again for their next nine games following that homestand, traveling to SIU Edwardsville (March 13), four games at the Notre Dame Tournament in San Antonio, Texas (March 15-18) and at Missouri (March 21) before opening Missouri Valley Conference play on the road against in-state rival Evansville on March 23-25. Notre Dame, Kansas and Cal State Bakersfield will also be at the tournament in mid-March, with matchups to be announced at a later date.
The month of March ends with two midweek games and a conference weekend, with non-conference matchups at home against Illinois Springfield (March 27) and on the road at Ball State (March 28). ISU’s first weekend series at home comes on March 30 through April 1 against Illinois State.
April begins with an eight-game road trip, as the Sycamores travel to Illinois Chicago (April 3), Creighton (April 6-8), Indiana (April 11) and Bradley (April 13-15). After playing 27 of their first 36 games away from Terre Haute, home games dominate the final five weeks of the schedule, as ISU hosts 17 of their final 21 regular-season games.
The Sycamores end the month of April and begin May with a 13-game homestand, running from April 17 through May 6. Midweek matchups include: Valparaiso (April 17), Chicago State (April 18) and Illinois (April 24), with weekend sets against Dallas Baptist (April 20-22), a four-game series with Nebraska Omaha (April 27-29) and Wichita State (May 4-6). ISU’s final road games come in mid-May, in a midweek trip to Butler (May 9) and their final road MVC series, at Southern Illinois on May 11-13. ISU’s four-game set with UNO also features the return of Bonnie Ryan to Terre Haute, a former member of Indiana State’s media relations staff.
Indiana State closes out their non-conference schedule with a midweek matchup with SIU Edwardsville (May 15), before closing out the regular season with three games against Missouri State (May 17-19). The 2011 State Farm MVC Tournament will be held at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo., on May 22-26.
On the field, the Sycamores will return an experienced squad in 2012, as all nine position starters are back in ISU blue. On the mound, Indiana State will also welcome back a wealth of experience, as ISU loses just the four members of their pitching staff that were selected in the 2011 MLB Draft or signed following the end of the season (Blake Drake, Brett Merkley, Colin Rea and Jason Van Skike).
