Life in the Valley

After a rough Opening Day for most of the The Valley, MVC baseball teams were back at it on Saturday. Here’s a look at what happened around the league in Saturday’s 12-game slate, in which The Valley’s teams went 7-5.

Indiana State 6, Quinnipiac 1
The Sycamores (1-1) got the first win thanks to a 5-run 7th inning and 5 pitchers combining to hold Quinnipiac to 1 run on 4 hits with 14 strikeouts! Starter Zach Davidson and reliever Brayden Lybarger worked the first 6 shutout innings, giving up just 2 hits with 10 Ks. ISU pitchers also issued only 2 walks. It was a painful win for Indiana State, which suffered 4 hit batters.

Southern Illinois 4, Towson 3
SIU improved to 2-0 by beating Charm City’s ‘Cats, 4-3. The Salukis overcame 2 homers by Towson’s John Cristino to claim the win. Kaeber Rog drew 3 walks for SIU. The Salukis held Towson to just 3 hits other than the Cristino homers.

Valparaiso 11, Kansas 3
Valpo rolled its Big 12 opponent Saturday, demolishing the Kansas Jayhawks by 8 runs. Valpo catcher Kade Reinertson hit a 3-run homer in the 6th inning, helping the Beacons blow open a 1-0 game. Starter Connor Lockwood went 7 shutout innings for Valpo, allowing just 2 hits with 0 walks and 6 strikeouts.

UIC 7, Saint Mary’s 3 (10)
The Flames are 3-0 after winning again on the West Coast over the Gaels. UIC had to work overtime to get this one done, scoring 4 runs in the 10th inning. A 3-run double by Breck Nowik was the big blow for the Flames, who will look for a 4-game sweep of the season-opening series on Sunday afternoon.

Bradley 8, UL-Monroe 6
Saturday’s theme across the country was that many teams who lost Friday bounced back with wins and the Braves were no different, evening their record at 1-1. Catcher Connor O’Brien homered and drove in 3 runs for Bradley, which pounded out 12 hits to just 7 for the hosts.

Murray State 11, North Florida 3
Another team posting a W for the first time in 2023 was the Murray State Racers. The Racers took leads of 5-0 and 7-2 over North Florida and never looked back in their 11-3 victory. 3B Carson Garner doubled, homered, drove in 3 runs, and scored 3 times. Seth Gardner added 2 hits and 2 runs.

Missouri State 15, Cal Poly 4
* The Bears have now traded blowouts with Cal Poly through the first 2 games of their series. RF Zach Stewart and LF Taeg Gollert combined to drive in 7 runs for Missouri State. Gollert had 3 of Missouri State’s 8(!) doubles in the victory.

Troy 8, Evansville (10)
UE blew a 5-3 lead in the 9th inning, scored 2 in the 10th inning to take a 7-5 lead, then lost that lead, as well, as the Trojans walked off the Purple Aces with a 3-run 10th, 8-7, as Evansville dropped to 0-2. The winning run scored on a fielder’s choice. LF Danny Borgstrom had 3 hits for the Purple Aces and Kip Fougerousse homered.

UT-Martin 4, Belmont 2 (7), Game 1
UT-Martin parlayed just 4 hits and 2 walks into 4 runs and that was enough to beat Belmont in the rain-delayed opener for both teams. Belmont had 6 hits, but Brodey Heaton’s double was the Bruins’ lone extra-base hit.

UT-Martin 7, Belmont 3, Game 2
In the 9-inning nightcap, UTM scored 4 runs in the 4th inning to open up a lead and the Bruins couldn’t recover as they were swept. SS Sam Kilpatrick went 3-for-4 with a run in the loss for Belmont.

Wofford 8, Southern Illinois 7
In the rematch of Friday’s game won convincingly by the Salukis, Wofford got some revenge with a 1-run win. The Terriers won the game in the 9th on a Marshall Toole RBI single. Ryan Rodriguez had 3 hits and 3 runs for SIU, including his 1st HR of the season.

Austin Peay State 9, Illinois State 1
Down 1-0 in the 4th inning, the Governors scored 9 runs over the next 4 innings to overpower the Redbirds and even their weekend series at 1 game apiece. Shay Kubo had 2 hits for Illinois State in the loss.