TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Maybe you remember Indiana State’s lousy luck. No, not the basketball team, whose NCAA tournament hopes went poof on Selection Sunday and then lost the NIT title game by two points. We’re talking June of 2023, when the baseball Sycamores earned the right to host a 2023 super regional against TCU but circumstances forced them to play 800 miles away at Fort Worth, surrounded by a plague of Horned Frogs and their faithful. It did not end well for them.
We can report that Indiana State is back. Back in the polls — ranked last week in all six major ratings. Back in the RPI — No. 10 as this week begins. Back with a shiny 36-11 record that includes wins over Illinois, Purdue and Indiana, all names at or near the top of the Big Ten. Also a victory over Big East leader Connecticut. Back with its collective batting gloves still firmly gripping the Missouri Valley Conference by the throat, winning a second consecutive outright league season title and going 45-8-1 in the last 54 MVC games.
In other words, the Sycamores haven’t gone anywhere, even without all three weekend starting pitchers from last season. So it’s time to notice them again among all the marquee powerhouses. “It’s hard because people see us as kind of distant from an SEC school or someone like that. That’s something that’s been with us forever,” catcher Grant Magill said. “It’s so hard for a mid-major to dig its way out. But once you get on the other side, it’s awesome.”
To review last June’s tough break, Indiana State swept through its own regional and was set to host a super regional in front of its frenzied blue-shirted audience. A truly blossoming Cinderella story. Except the Special Olympics were in town, leaving hotel rooms an issue and community volunteer support stretched too thin. The Sycamores had to cede the hosting duties to TCU and pack their bags for Fort Worth. They lost 4-1 and 6-4.
P.S. They’re 38-6 at home the past two seasons, so playing in the friendly confines has been no trifling matter for Indiana State.
“You step back when everything is said and done and you just hope and pray that that’s not your one opportunity,” coach Mitch Hannahs said. “You have the opportunity to play a team on your field, best-of-three, to go to Omaha. We would take that any day and twice on Sunday. It didn’t really hit us when we had to go to Fort Worth, but then when you’re in that environment and there’s the noise and everything you’ve got to deal with, you really begin to understand what an advantage it really is to host that super regional.”
Added Magill, “That’s probably going to live with me forever, I don’t know how that series would have gone if it was here. We were given a fair shot — I don’t know how fair — but we were given a shot and that’s all I could expect.”
Now they want another one. The weekend rotation had to be rebuilt but there were seven returnees from the batting order. Indiana State leads the Missouri Valley in hitting, pitching and defense. The lineup has produced 83 homers. New faces were added to fill in. Outfielder Dominic Listi, for instance, a Division III transfer who has reached base in 45 of 47 games.
“Are there times that we wonder if we’re as good as we were last year?” Hannahs wondered. “We’ve had to patch it together on the mound. It’s been a little tougher from that standpoint than last year. But I think our offense has actually been better. It’s kind of a give-and-take, it all balances out. But we still pinch ourselves about it. Because at the end of the process, there have been a lot of close games.”
Indeed, Indiana State is 9-5 in one-run games and all five MVC losses have come that way. It’s just another sign of how the Sycamores’ pluck — and a full understanding that nothing will come easy in college baseball when you’re from Indiana State — has pushed them up the national ladder.
“Around here we don’t expect anything to be given to us,” said third baseman Mike Sears, who leads the team with 19 homers. “We’ve got to go win, we’ve got to go take it.”
That idea comes directly from Hannahs, who maintains that process is important, but...
“That’s a big part of what we do here but we have to talk about winning. Because frankly, we have to win and we have to beat some people that a lot of times you may not be as talented as. If along the way you lose a game to an SEC team or ACC or whoever it may be and you become happy with the way you’ve played you’re never going to beat those folks. There can’t be any moral victories and I think that’s the tough thing at the level we’re at. You can’t be afraid to talk about winning, and these guys aren’t.”
Indiana State’s quest to be counted among the national powers also comes with the challenges of climate — the eternal obstacle for northern programs. The Sycamores didn't play in Terre Haute until the 16th game of the season and only 18 of 47 have been at home.
“A lot of people talk about our RPI. If anybody wants to get on a bus with us the first month of the year and go to Florida and come back, go to Florida and come back, go to Southern Miss — we’re not getting on charters, we’re riding a bus,” Hannahs said. “The gamble we take is that our team is going to be worn out before we ever get back here to play at home. Because it’s grueling. But the fact that we go through that I think really helps us in the conference, I think it really helps us at the end of the year.”
Did he say conference? The Sycamores have owned the MVC, winning 18 consecutive league series going back to 2022. Seven times in that stretch they came back to win the last two games after losing the Friday opener. “In the clubhouse, we don’t talk a lot about how many series we’ve won, it’s all about winning the game today,” Sears said. “It’s just keeping a level head and making each game what it is. I think that’s why we are who we are.” The locals have noticed and opened their hearts and their wallets. Last season, the Sycamores had maybe 40 season ticket holders. This season, more than 400 — a 1,000-percent increase. That’s positively Caitlin Clarkian.
And now with another league title in the bag, they seek a big finish, maybe a regional again in Terre Haute. Maybe even a chance to host the super regional denied them last June. But there are miles to go before that can happen and this past weekend showed again that nothing will be easy. Indiana State took the series from Evansville 2-1 but had to rally in both victories.
“We’re just going to chip away at the end of this season,” Hannahs said. “You prepare for this time of the year. Everything that you do culminates right now. You either have the ability to step to that level or you don’t. We’re going to find out how many steps we can take. Last year obviously we were able to take that step into the super regional and I think these guys are really hungry to see how many steps this team can take.”
That includes the new guys who have only heard about how it felt last June. Listi remembered watching it all on TV.
“Just hearing from my friends on the team about last year, I daydream about it. Just thinking about it gives me the chills. We have to take it one day at a time right now but I would be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to an opportunity for that,” he said. And the Terre Haute super regional that ended up in Fort Worth? “From the outside, I was very confused. I was kind of like, what’s going on? It really stinks that had to happen but it is what it is at this point. Hopefully we can make a new story this year.”
