ROUNDUP: Sycamores picked fourth in MVC baseball preseason poll

The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
·4 min read

Feb. 7—Indiana State's Matt Jachec and Grant Magill were named to the 2023 Missouri Valley preseason all-conference baseball team, while the Sycamores were picked to finish fourth overall in the preseason poll as announced by the league office on Tuesday morning. The team and poll are determined by a vote from each head coach.

Jachec garners the preseason nod for the first time in his career after a breakout 2022 campaign on the mound. The preseason Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Third Team All-American posted the lowest ERA by a starting pitcher in the Missouri Valley (2.88) while finishing second in the MVC with 97 innings pitched. Jachec went at least 5.2 innings in all 14 starts in 2022 and added eight quality starts on the year in leading the Sycamores.

Jachec saved arguably the conference's most dominant pitching performance for the MVC Tournament. He carried a perfect game into the ninth inning in an elimination contest against Valparaiso needing just 83 pitches on his way to retiring the first 24 batters he faced. He added 10 strikeouts in the contest, including striking out the side in the third inning before turning the ball over to the bullpen in the ninth.

Magill also picked up preseason honors for the first time in his collegiate career. The redshirt junior catcher earned 2022 MVC All-Defensive honors behind the plate after routinely shutting down the opponents' run game.

The Highlands Ranch, Colo. native record an MVC-leading six pickoffs in the 2022 season and threw out 12 baserunners attempting to steal on the year. He was even better in conference play throwing out six runners in 13 chances.

At the plate, Magill hit .295 with seven extra-base hits, including a home run in the series opener against Kansas. He finished fourth on the team with 26 RBI and added three five sacrifice flies.

The Sycamores were selected fourth overall in the preseason poll behind Southern Illinois, Missouri State, and Evansville. ISU garnered 75 total points and a first-place vote in the poll as voted on by the league's head coaches.

ISU looks to bounce back from a tough 26-22-1 overall record in 2022 with a 10-10-1 mark in conference play. The Sycamores return the bulk of their lineup that hit a conference-leading .300 from the plate including All-Conference selections Seth Gergely (.326), Josue Urdaneta (.321), and Randal Diaz (.304), in addition to Magill and Jachec.

ISU also welcomes back depth to the pitching staff with the return of Jachec, as well as 2022 starters Luke Patzner, Jared Spencer, and Brennyn Cutts. The Sycamores also boast one of the best bullpen tandems in the conference with the return of aces Connor Fenlong and Joey Hurth.

Southern Illinois was voted the preseason favorite receiving 93 points and six first-place votes. Missouri State picked up 87 points and three first-place nods, while Evansville posted 79 total points. Bradley (58), Belmont (53), Illinois State (35), UIC (25), Murray State (23), and Valparaiso (22) round out the poll.

The Sycamores open up the 2023 season at the Snowbird Baseball Classic on February 17-18 in Port Charlotte, Fla. as Indiana State takes on Iowa and Quinnipiac over the opening weekend.

Prep boys basketball

* Southmont 71, South Vermillion 63 — At Clinton, the host Wildcats fell 10 points behind by halftime Tuesday and couldn't recover in the second half.

The Mounties led just 17-16 after a quarter but outscored South Vermillion 21-12 in the second period. Vince Reimondo had 17 points, Carson Chadd 14 and Carter Hubble 13 for the 13-5 Mounties, who play Saturday at Fountain Central.

South Vermillion played without two starters and was led by Aden Wallace with 16 points, Luke Bush with 13, Dallas Coleman with 11 and Dylan Conder with 10. Now 6-12, the Wildcats play Friday at Attica.

* Combs gets state honor — Peter Combs' buzzer-beating game-winning shot in the second overtime against North Daviess earned the Bloomfield senior one of the state Player of the Week honors selected by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and Franciscan Health.

Combs had 28 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in the 49-47 win.

Women's college basketball

* IU Southeast 77, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 74 — At Saint Mary of the Woods, the host Pomeroys jumped out to an 11-0 lead and didn't give it up until the final 36 seconds in a River States Conference loss.

Kylee Stepp continued her hot shooting with 23 points for SMWC, while Brooklynn Jones had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Avalee Jeffers 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Pomeroys play Saturday at Midway.

College men's volleyball

* Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 3, Wabash 1 — At Crawfordsville, the visiting Pomeroys rallied from a first-set loss and a 20-24 deficit in the second set to get the program's first-ever victory.

"What was really awesome about it is four weeks ago, [Wabash] killed us in a scrimmage. They took five straight sets from us and we couldn't do anything to them. We wanted to see how much we've grown," coach Ian Harris said after the 16-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-20 win.