April 10, 2007
Baseball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MATT SHELTON STRIKES OUT NINE IN SYCAMORE VICTORY OVER VALPO

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Matt Shelton topped a career-high with nine strikeouts to earn his second victory of the season as Indiana State downed Valparaiso by a score of 5-1 at Emory Bauer Field on Tuesday (April 10) afternoon. ISU improves to 16-14 while the Crusaders fell to 8-17. With the victory, the Sycamores took 4-of-5 games this season from the Crusaders.

Indiana State got on the board first in the top of the second inning on a two RBI single from freshman Ryan Strausborger. Strausborger belted a ball the opposite way to score Marcus Artner and Brett Siegmund for an early 2-0 advantage.

Matt Shelton pitched very well to earn his second victory of the season and improve to 2-1 on the season. Shelton went 7.2 innings, allowing three hits and an unearned run while striking out a career-high nine batters. Sycamore pitchers held Valparaiso’s top five batters to 0-for-18 at the plate in the victory.

He retired the first six batters in the game, and did not face a real threat from Valparaiso until the bottom of the fifth when the Crusaders did plate a run to cut the Indiana State lead in half at 2-1. Valpo loaded the bases with no outs, but Shelton only surrendered a run on a fielder’s choice and then got the final two outs of the inning on a strikeout as well as a foul out to end the threat.

The Sycamore got some breathing room in the top of the seventh when Nick Ciolli belted a double to left field and advanced to third on the second single of the day from Strausborger. With runners at the corners, Adam Kamuda picked up a RBI on a fielder’s choice to give ISU the 3-1 lead. Later in the frame, Chris Schmidt singled in Kamuda for the 4-1 advantage and then Ryan Bond scored on a wild pitch to give the Sycamores a 5-1 lead.

Brett Siegmund was hit by a pitch in the second inning to stretch the Sycamores streak to 13 games of ISU players being hit by a pitch. ISU’s 55 hit batters this season is just three shy of the school record.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Josh Abercrombie made a fine defensive play by sprinting into foul territory and making a diving catch to grab the first Valpo out of the frame.

Shelton left the game two outs deep into the bottom of the eighth when Josh Varno took the mound. Varno came in and struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth. Senior Adam Lindsay came on the ninth to close out Shelton’s fine performance and earn Indiana State their 16^th victory on the season.

Offensively, the Sycamores were paced by Strausborger who went 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBI. Abercrombie and Schmidt both went 2-of-5 on the day.

The Sycamores continue their season with another mid-week, non-conference game at Eastern Illinois tomorrow (April 11) in Charleston, Ill. The Panthers downed the Sycamores by a 5-4 count earlier this season at Sycamore Field. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m. (ET).

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