Life in the Valley

Illinois State and Arkansas played one of the most entertaining college baseball games you’ll see during this regular season on Wednesday, an 11-inning affair that saw Arkansas prevail when DH Kendall Diggs doubled to score Peyton Stovall with the deciding run in Arkansas’ 10-9 victory.

Down 9-7 in the 9th inning, the gutty Redbirds forced extra innings thanks to a solo homer right down the left-field line from Greg Nichols, then after Shay Kubo walked, Daniel Pacella hit into what looked like a fielder’s choice until Arkansas SS John Bolton’s throw to second base sailed into right field and Kubo scored.

That was far from the lone fight back by Illinois State on the day. In the 7th inning, the Razorbacks broke open a 5-5 game with back-to-back-to-back solo homers off the bats of Stovall, Diggs, and Caleb Cali. That would have been enough to bury most teams, but the Redbirds responded right away with 2 runs in the 8th inning to cut the deficit to 8-7. Blake Stenger provided those runs with a 2-run homer. Illinois State had also fell behind, 3-1, early, only to take a 5-3 lead in the middle innings before Arkansas drew level with 2 runs in the 5th inning.

The bottom 3 in the Illinois State order – Connor Olson, Dylan Swarmer, and Stenger, combined to go 7-for-12 with 5 runs scored and 3 RBIs.

Dylan Carter got the win for Arkansas, pitching 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after Razorbacks closer Brady Tygart left the game in the 9th inning with an apparent elbow injury. Illinois State had touched up Tygart for 4 runs on 2 hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Carter came on and threw the last 30 pitches for the Razorbacks, 21 for strikes.

Illinois State got 9 2/3 innings out of its bullpen in the loss, including a 5-inning effort from Jayson Hubbard, in which he gave up just 2 runs on 4 hits. Elijah Dale took the loss, working the last 3 2/3 innings for the Redbirds.

Illinois State fell to 4-4 with the loss. The Redbirds, who have already played 3 against Arkansas State and today’s game at Arkansas, visit Central Arkansas for 3 games this weekend. UCA is 3-5 this season.

Arkansas, ranked 8th this week by D1 Baseball, improved to 6-2. There was no update available on Tygart’s possible injury or prognosis as of late Wednesday night.

EVANSVILLE 14, SE MISSOURI STATE 8

Evansville’s 0-5 start is quickly becoming nothing more than a painful memory as the Purple Aces won their 3rd straight game on Wednesday, overpowering SEMO, 14-8. Leading 9-5 entering the 8th, UE settled things for good with a 5-run inning, including a Danny Borgstrom grand slam. Chase Hug and Ty Rumsey each had 3 hits for the Purple Aces, who outhit SEMO, 16-7.

A 6-run 3rd inning gave UE a 7-1 lead early. Catcher Brendan Hord hit a 2-run homer to key that uprising, while Kip Fougerousse, Simon Scherry, Evan Waggoner, and Rumsey all also drove in runs in the inning. SEMO responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd to get within 7-5, but that was as close as UE came to seeing its lead disappear.

Evansville will carry its 3-game winning streak into a 4-game home weekend series against Bowling Green.

KENT STATE 4, MURRAY STATE 3

The Racers lost their 3rd straight and suffered a mid-week, 2-game series sweep at the hands of visiting Kent State with a 4-3 loss on Wednesday. Down 2-0 in the 3rd inning, the Golden Flashes scored all their runs in the 3rd inning, 2 on an Aidan Longwell homer. He has been Kent State’s biggest offensive threat so far this season, with 8 extra-base hits, a .400 average, and a 1.246 OPS. Longwell went 5-for-9 in the 2-game series with 2 runs, 4 RBIs, a triple, and today’s homer.

Making contact was the biggest issue for the Racers today. Kent State pitchers struck out 15 Murray State batters Wednesday, with the point driven home in the 9th inning as KSU reliever Mitchell Scott saved the game, with all 3 outs recorded being strikeouts. Five of the last 6 Murray State outs were strikeouts.

The Racers fell to 2-7 on the season. Murray State has this weekend off before a Tuesday game next week at Kentucky.