Chris Lee and Russell Johnson co-authored this piece.
Here's a closer look at Indiana State, the No. 3 seed in the Nashville Regional for the 2021 NCAA baseball tournament.
2021 record/RPI: 30-19 (14)
Coach: Mitch Hannahs (239-159, eighth year)
Rank in polls: unranked
Rank in conference: 14-10 (second in Missouri Valley)
Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2019 (second at Nashville Regional)
It was a tumultuous season for Indiana State.
COVID-19 related reasons led to the team having an extended time off in the early part of the season, going from March 21st to April 1st without playing a single game. The team, then 11-6, was rolling with three consecutive series wins and a 2-2 split on the road in Knoxville against the Vols.
Following the extended time off-the-diamond, the Sycamores went on to win three more series in a row, before falling to the eventual conference champion Dallas Baptist Patriots.
Similar to the one clear ace on the pitching staff, the lineup is led by one player above most as well.
Max Wright, a redshirt senior from Toronto, finished the regular season/conference tournament with 16 HR, and 40 RBI.
From a power standpoint, there is no more dangerous threat on this Indiana State team than Wright.
The leader in at-bats and batting average, Jordan Schaffer holds a .360/.424/.512 slash line and is second on the team with 34 RBI. An added layer to Schaffer's game is his ability on the basepaths, where he was 11-13 on stolen bases. That total (11) accounts for nearly 33% of the total SB for the team (37) this season.
Both players appeared in each game, and will play a key role in how far they will go.
The team lists "TBA" for its four starting pitchers--six different players started in MVC play--but this team will likely go as far as its ace, Geremy Guerrero, takes them. He arrives in Nashville with a 10-1 record, a 1.93 ERA, and 97 K to go along with 13 BB in 93.1 IP. Opponents batted just .174 on the season against him, though he did give up 9 HR.
Nearly 25% of the total innings pitched by the staff have been pitched by Guerrero. The second leading pitcher on the staff, in terms of innings pitched, is Tristan Weaver, who started six conference games.