THE SERIES IS

HERE

Hello HoosierMama?s Faithful,

With the postseason kicking off this weekend, we wanted to share a preview of what’s ahead in the College Series and a quick look back at our final two regular season tournaments.

The Post-Season Preview

This is the first year of what I would call the new or next generation of Mama?s. We only have a couple of seniors and a large freshman class. Gone are Big Country, Will Quigley, Jack Galle—guys who could single handedly change games for us. And while we still have that in Rodman and Aidan, it’s time for the junior class to step up and show us who will be leading this team next year. Unlike the current senior class, our junior class is fairly large, and this weekend we’re looking for guys like Sam Greenfield—now a starting O-line cutter whose height and length make him a favorite deep target—and Truman Daleke, who has been a rock in the handler space and will need to take over when teams focus on the Rodman-to-CJ deep ball. Noah “Buzz” Rowland has also been a quiet presence the last couple years while dealing with injuries, but has been consistently healthy this year and is starting to find his stride on D-line.

Our post-season performance will largely follow the play of senior captains Aidan Ball and Conner “Rodman” Blalack. They are the engine that drives each of our O- and D-line offenses. Rodman is a fearless offensive player who can hit any spot on the field with just about any throw—if he’s on, it’s difficult for teams to stop us. Aidan is the heart and soul of our D-line and plays with an endless motor that the unit relies on.

There are also a couple of rookies who could play a big role. Blake “Kibbs” Fraley unfortunately broke his right throwing hand shortly before Spring Break and is currently playing left-handed with a big ol’ club on his right hand. Impressively, he’s become a competent lefty thrower in a short period of time, though not having a flick will limit his upside. Evan “Bananas” Bananis has made it onto D1 for most of the spring and brings a ton of energy to the D-line—we’ve started to find his role locking down handlers in the reset space. Bananas is also known to ruthlessly sky opposing O-line narps.

Unsung heroes? Ethan “Steppa” Uribe. Not that he isn’t already one of our best players, but he genuinely cares about the team more than anyone and will leave it all out there—the kind of energy that can shift games late in the weekend. Another is Mario “TTP” Bellavia. Only a sophomore, he already has more regionals experience than most of the roster and will play a huge number of points, crossing over frequently—he could easily be a deciding factor for us.

As for matchups, Michigan is always #1—they’re the only team in the region I’ve never beat, either as a player or a coach. Purdue is always a fun one, and Notre Dame has become a team we genuinely respect—well-coached, spirited, and always a hard-fought game.

Aidan Ball, gearing up for a backhand.

The Post-Season Roster

Jack “Jimbo” Tyndall (#0, Gr)

Noah “Buzz” Rowland (#1, Jr)

Nicky Walker (#2, Jr)

Aidan Ball (#3, Sr)

Henry Vahl (#4, So)

Camilo “CJ” Santiago (#6, Jr)

Blake “Kibbs” Fraley (#7, Fr)

Oliver “Olly” Allen (#8, So)

Truman Daleke (#9, Jr)

Ben “Ben” Rimington (#10, Fr)

Ethan “Steppa” Uribe (#11, Jr)

Nathaniel “Big Nate” Oldham (#12, Fr)

Evan “Haus” Hauser (#15, Fr)

Ethan “Pimp” Teske (#16, Jr)

Ryan “Withers” George (#18, So)

Conner “Rodman” Blalack (#20, Sr)

Evan “Bananas” Bananis (#21, Fr)

Adam “Bladam” Brown (#22, Fr)

Hayden “Cougar” Bosch (#23)

Rahul “Most Ethical Hooper” Raghupathi (#31, Gr)

Mario “TTP/Texas Torta Pounder” Bellavia (#33, So)

James “Moz” Mozden (#34, Jr)

Chris “Lazar” Azar (#42, Sr)

Matt Adams (#63, Fr)

Sam Greenfield (#64, Jr)

Sam “Nano” Berebitsky (#66, Sr)

Gavin Smith (#69, Fr)

*Bold denotes Captains

Regular Season Recaps

Now let's look back at the last two regular tournaments to see how the Mama?s prepared for the Series.

Eastern Qualifiers

EQ was a rough but productive trip for the boys. We lost all but one game, most of which were close and winnable. While it wasn’t the result we wanted, we did learn a lot about our young team and hope that knowledge helps us peak in April.

We had most of the roster in attendance, minus CJ (probably our best pure cutter). Still, a few issues showed up clearly: the D-line struggled both to generate turns and convert breaks without crossing over top O-line players—often relying on the other team’s unforced errors—while the O-line had too many turnovers in the reset space. Pretty glaring problems—but ones we can learn from and build on heading into the Series.

Final Tournament Record: 1-6

Huck Finn

5 weeks after EQ. While far better than the results at EQ, it still wasn’t the result we wanted, as we again missed championship bracket Sunday. That kind of experience is important for teams trying to control their own destiny later in the series. 

That said, we played as a much better team than we did at EQ—even without our O and D-line leaders, senior captains Rodman and Aidan. The O-line made real improvements, with far fewer unforced errors in the handle space, and our games against Iowa State and Union were some of our best team play all year. The D-line, however, struggled to consistently get breaks without crossing O-line players over, especially in the wind on Sunday. 

Aidan’s absence on D-line O was definitely felt, but it also reinforced that this team’s success in the series will largely be tied to how well our top group performs.

Final Tournament Record: 1-5

Thanks for reading! Please consider coming out to support the team this weekend in West Lafayette. John Jones, Gabe Wray and Conner Henderson will be out there. You can also follow along here:

Go Mama?s!