Mason Roell continues to shine for Indiana State baseball

Mason Roell, who hails from West Bend, Wis., has been a key figure offensively for Indiana State's baseball team in 2026.

He attended West Bend East High School before getting to Terre Haute. Last season, Roell averaged .267 with 23 hits, including three doubles, a triple and two home runs for the Sycamores.

This season, going into Friday night's contest at Murray State, he was averaging .362 with 46 hits, including eight doubles, a triple and nine homers.

Roell said having NCAA Division I level experience last year has helped a lot. Having other guys who returned has helped him too, mentioning Carter Beck, whom he played with on the Saskatoon Berries last summer in the Western Canadian Baseball League.

Going up to Canada, he said, involved both the coaching staff and Beck, who hails from Saskatchewan.

"Carter did a lot of convincing," Roell said. "I know he liked it a lot up there and I don't regret going up there at all. It was really fun this summer."

His experience in the WCBL helped him with being able to play 50 games over a two-month span.

Roell said it's easier when the team is having offense as a whole.

"Just being able to play every day, the mental side, the physical side, to just getting used to that on the body gets you ready for the season," Roell said.

This season for ISU, he said everybody contributing with that being the main focus has driven the success.

Coming out high school, Roell said he'd never worked with a hitting coach and credited ISU's hitting coach Nick Gobert as part of the reason his game has improved.

"Being able to work with him, not only during practice, but outside of practice just talking back and forth, changing some things with my swing, watching film, just talking over stuff, has really helped," Roell pointed out.

To be able to sweep Murray State or Belmont, Roell, said the Sycamores need to be consistent every day.

"We haven't been able to do it yet in conference, but we know we have that potential after Wright State," Roell said.

The Sycamores swept nonconference opponent Wright State on April 17-19.

With the stretch run approaching, Roell said they know what they have to do.

"If we keep playing our game every day, it'll come," Roell said.

Personally, Roell said he has to step up to the plate with confidence and know that he's better than the pitcher and going to win the at-bat.

"Sometimes you can tell if they're struggling out there, showing body language," Roell mentioned. "But if they're not, you just got to go up there with confidence."

The results are showing with the team overall as it's been a massive turnaround from last year as the team finished 24-31 overall and 12-15 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Roell said nobody was really happy with how the season turned out and they knew things had to change going into this year. He explained they put in a lot of hard work in the off-season with early-morning work and just extra team chemistry.