SEASON PREVIEW: ISU baseball back kicking up dirt on diamond fresh off storybook year

Feb. 15—Indiana State veterans Grant Magill and Randal Diaz are champing at the bit to kickstart the 2024 baseball campaign.

"[We're] excited," said Diaz, a junior shortstop. "We just want to go back at it. We've been waiting for this moment. We've been working in the fall a lot. We know the fall is kind of tiring, but we work hard for this moment right now. We are excited to play.

"We are going to go again for the championship."

This season comes on the heels of ISU winning the league double, which was the regular-season and tournament championship in the Missouri Valley Conference followed by a regional championship to finish as one of the top 16 programs in the country.

The squad that ousted Iowa, North Carolina and Wright State in the NCAA regional held in Terre Haute begins its new season at 10 a.m. EST Friday against Louisville in Tampa, Fla., followed by matchups with Connecticut and South Florida on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

"When I think about last year, it was a fun run, it was a long run for us," Diaz said. "Everything that happened in the past is in the past. It was fun for us and everything; we're working for all that. We deserve it. Thinking now, we just [have] to go back and work again and just try to do the same thing or better."

The Sycamores have seven games in the Sunshine State in February before wrapping up the month at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

"We got to play like the underdog all the time," Diaz said. "We don't care about rankings and all that. We just got to go out there and play like we never did anything."

The upperclassman can bank on the chemistry and rapport with fellow infielders.

"It's great to have nice [infielders] and all that," Diaz said. "We know what we are going to be playing against. We know each other. It's easier to just build a team from there if we got the infield. That is the front part of the game."

Senior Josue Urdaneta, the No. 44-ranked second baseman, according to D1Baseball.com, was a fixture at second base to the right of Diaz (No. 21), senior Mike Sears at third (preseason all-conference), and Magill at catcher rounds out an experienced outfit in the infield diamond.

"I love that we take such pride in our defense," Magill said. "We are very deep in guys that really, truly can perform on defense."

Magill expressed the utmost trust in this unit ahead of the opener. Junior Luis Hernadez is another utility infielder that provides sound depth.

"Our mentality is the best part of us," Diaz said. "Baseball, you can be good on the field and all that. But your mentality [has] to be strong all the time. You can be tired sometimes. But when you are on the field, you [have] to have a strong mentality and keep going."

In the outfield, senior Adam Pottinger (No. 62) made a difference with driving grabs and clutch clips. Senior Parker Stinson is likely to be a factor in the outfield after logging time there last year.

While the ISU defense was predicated on the play of its fielders to steal outs and be top-notch with putouts, the cornerstone of last year's run was the pitching from 1A Matt Jachec and 1B Connor Fenlong. Fenlong graduated and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.

Jachec left a year early after getting scooped up by the Cleveland Guardians.

This year, the onus is on the likes of junior right-handed starter Brennyn Cutts and relievers from last year to ramp up for heavier workloads.

Cutts started eight games, made 18 appearances and had a 2-3 record and a 3.74 earned-run average.

Another right-hander, Simon Gregerson, who is listed by ISU as a freshman, made two starts and had a 3.6 ERA through 25 innings.

The addition of Indiana transfer Luke Hayden is a coup for ISU coach Mitch Hannahs and the staff.

He was named the No. 149th starter pitcher in the NCAA by D1Baseball.com. In two years in Bloomington, he went 6-1 with a 7.01 ERA across more than 51 frames.

Senior left Cam Edmonson, senior southpaw Zach Davidson, sophomore Jacob Pruitt and senior Cameron Holycross played pivotal parts on the bump.

But the slinger that might make the biggest jump could be junior lefty Jared Spencer — an all-conference preseason pick.

Spencer made the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch. It was his third recognition, he made the preseason Perfect Game Second Team All-American. He also was named the No. 8 reliever in the nation by D1 Baseball.

Last year, he was 3-2 at ISU's closer with a 3.86 ERA over just more than 37 frames. He had seven saves.

"As I've gotten older in the program, obviously I've been through a lot of good baseball, bad baseball and I've seen what it takes as far as the pitching standpoint," said Magill, who was named the No. 42 catcher in the country by D1 Baseball.

"I've seen what it takes for them to truly succeed at this level, and all I can do at my position is help them get to what I've seen. With Matt Jachec, Fenlong and Lane [Miller], and all the guys in the past that have had success, and helped us get to where we've gotten to. I can take all the tips and pointers, things they did right and help those younger guys and new guys just benefit from that."

The Sycamores were picked in the preseason MVC poll to repeat

With a spot among the final 16 teams in the nation and after coming up short in a three-game series against Texas Christian in Fort Worth, Texas the road to Omaha, Neb., isn't a distant possibility.

"The closer we get to the College World Series you should get hungrier and hungrier," Magill said.

"It should fuel the team to keep wanting to succeed and keep getting better. Being that close, you can almost feel it. I think it's good because we've got guys that really want to get there. It feeds down to the younger guys, the new guys. And it gives you a good overall goal."