Published: May 17, 2008 11:31 pm            

Shoemaker enjoys historic 10-RBI day as ISU gets first Valley sweep since 2005

Northview grad connects for two grand slams

TERRE HAUTE — Brady Shoemaker’s baseball learning curve straightened out in a hurry on Saturday against Illinois State. It was replaced by the arc of three home runs that sailed out of Sycamore Field.

Shoemaker set an ISU record for RBIs in a single game with 10. Two of his three home runs were grand slams, a first for ISU — and the final slam was a majestic game-winning bomb to center field as the Sycamores knocked off the Redbirds 12-8.

Shoemaker, a Brazil native, hadn’t been happy with his hitting of late, so he took on extra work with the coaches. Few would have expected what fruit came from his labor.

“I got more relaxed towards the end of the year. I’ve been working a lot with the coaches, they’ve been putting a lot of time in,” said Shoemaker, who hit four of his nine home runs in the Illinois State series. “The hard work you have to put in at this level has been a big adjustment. Everyone is good, you have to be ready at all time.”

The previous ISU single-game RBI record was nine, shared by Brandon Martin (1994 vs. Chicago State), J.C. Baker (1998 vs. Illinois) and Jason Frome (2001 vs. Wichita State). Shoemaker’s season total of 68 RBIs places him fifth on ISU’s all-time single-season list.

ISU coach Lindsay Meggs was as awestruck as anyone to witness Shoemaker’s big day.

“You might see that kind of game once in a lifetime. I’m happy for him because lately, he hadn’t been swinging it the way he wanted to, so he put in some extra time and absolutely committed himself to getting better,” Meggs said.

It was ISU’s first sweep of a Missouri Valley Conference foe since April 2005 as the Sycamores ended their season on a four-game winning streak.

Shoemaker hit the first of his home runs in the first inning. After Ryan Strausborger was hit by a pitch, Pascual Del Real walked and Chris Schmidt reached on an infield single, Shoemaker crushed a Tyler Cox offering to dead center to put the Sycamores up 4-2.

The Redbirds and Sycamores would go back and forth for the remainder of the contest, with Illinois State scoring two in the top of the eighth on the second home run of the game by Kevin Dubler to make it 8-5.

Shoemaker struck again in the eighth. After Chris Schmidt walked, Shoemaker hit a two-run home run to left to cut Illinois State’s lead to 8-7.

Illinois State reliever Kyle Nelson couldn’t contain the Sycamores in the ninth. The tying run had already scored on a Del Real single when Shoemaker came up again with the bases loaded. All ISU needed was a medium-deep fly ball or base hit, but Shoemaker left no room for doubt on a 3-2 Nelson offering. He crushed the pitch to dead center and it landed in the fir trees just beyond the fence to clinch a dramatic victory.

“When the count went full, you just have to put the ball in play and make something happen. I saw a fastball up and I did something with it,” Shoemaker said.

The win also gave senior Chad Dawson a nice going-away gift as he earned the victory in relief. Chris Schmidt was 2-for-4 in his final game as a Sycamore. Dave Brumagin, Clay Kovac, Sean Osborne and Josh Varno also closed out their ISU careers.

ISU’s 18-32 record was an eight-win dropoff from 2007 when the Sycamores were 26-26, though ISU did win one more conference game than it did in 2007 as the Sycamores (9-15) finished seventh, one game behind Bradley for the final spot in the MVC Tournament.

Pitching was most suspect for the Sycamores as ISU finished with a team ERA of 7.03. Bolstering the pitching is a priority for Meggs, who lost his top two pitching prospects going into this season to the draft and to academics.

“We have to be dramatically better on the mound. That’s where we’ve put the majority of our recruiting time in,” Meggs said. “We have three key guys coming in. Two will probably be drafted, but we expect them to want to come to school. It’s a double-edged sword. You have to recruit the best to get the best, but you have to be realistic about who’s coming and who’s not. It’s a crapshoot, but we’ve got to take a few chances and see what happens.”

Meggs doesn’t regret ISU’s challenging nonconference schedule, which including trips to Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi and South Florida. ISU also played 25 games away from Sycamore Field before their home opener.

Meggs thinks the experience will benefit ISU in the long run.

“In my mind, with the recruiting class we have coming in and the kids we have back, we’re still basically a year from being in the upper third of the Valley,” Meggs said. “But all of the lessons we learned from where and who we played, I think it’s a great experience for us. Our schedule isn’t nearly as challenging next year, so it should help us right out of the gate.”



ISU 12, Illinois State 8

ILS ab r h bi ISU ab r h bi

Tokarski ss 4 1 1 0 Strsbrger 2b 2 3 1 0 Stalowy 1b 5 2 3 1 Del Real ss 4 2 1 2

Dubler c 5 3 4 5 Schmidt cf 4 3 2 0

Ruffolo dh 4 0 2 0 Shoemaker lf 4 3 3 10

Cherney 3b 5 0 1 1 Oliver dh-p 4 0 0 0

Konsler rf 4 0 1 0 Brumagin 3b 4 0 1 0

Court 2b 3 0 0 0 Jett 1b 2 0 0 0

Maines cf 5 0 0 0 Osborne c 3 0 0 0

Ewert lf 4 2 2 1 Standridge rf 2 0 0 0

Caple ph-rf 1 0 0 0

King ph 1 1 1 0

Totals 39 8 14 8 Totals 31 12 9 12

Illinois State 220 011 020 — 8

Indiana State 400 010 025 — 12

E — Maines (8). LOB — ILS 9, ISU 4. 2B — Ruffolo (8), Cherney (14), Konsler (13). 3B — Tokarski (2), Strauborger (4). HR — Dubler 2 (9), Ewert (4); Shoemaker 3 (9). S — Court (1), Osborne (5). SB — Ruffolo 3 (5), Strausborger (8). CS — Brumagin (3).



IP H R ER BB SO

Illinois State

Cox 7 4 5 5 4 2

Nelson (L, 2-2) 1 5 7 7 3 2

Indiana State

Spencer 42⁄3 8 5 5 2 2

Gurbach 11⁄3 2 1 1 1 3

Varno 2⁄3 0 0 0 1 1

Oliver 11⁄3 3 2 2 0 1

Dawson (W, 1-1) 1 1 0 0 0 2

WP — Cox, Spencer 2. PB — Dubler. HBP — by Cox (Strausborger). T — 2:40. A — 207.

        

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