Life in the Valley

Evansville and Belmont took on state rivals from the Big 10 and SEC, respectively, on Tuesday night and both came out on the losing end of reasonable close games.

Evansville traveled northeast to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. The Purple Aces were still well in the game at 3-1 down in the 6th inning, before Hunter Jessee doubled in a run to make it 4-1 and Tyler Cerny added an RBI single to give the Hoosiers (39-14) a 5-1 advantage, on their way to a 6-2 victory.

All the Evansville (31-21) scoring came from the bat of Eric Roberts, who reasserted himself in The Valley’s home run race with 2 solo shots, giving him 19 for the season. Roberts now has 53 RBIs and has scored 54 runs in just 52 games. His 18 stolen bases leave him 2 short of a 20 HR/20 steal season. Of players with at least 20 homers in the country so far this season, only North Carolina’s Mac Horvath (21 HRs, 22 SBs) has at least 20 steals.

Belmont traveled east on I-40 to Knoxville to take on 18th-ranked Tennessee, falling to the Vols by a 9-5 score. After Tennessee scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning to open the scoring, the Bruins (23-30) responded with 4 runs of their own in the 3rd to take the lead, then tied the game at 5-5 in the 4th. But Tennessee scored a run on a Hunter Ensley double in the 4th to make it 6-5 and take the lead for good. Sam Slaughter and Max Blessinger each doubled, had 2 hits, and drove in 2 runs in the loss. Jeff Clarke scored twice. Tennessee reliever Hollis Fanning was the pitching standout on a Johnny Wholestaff night for the Vols, working 3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing 2 hits and 0 walks, and striking out 7. Belmont batters struck out 18 times in the game. Tennessee improved to 36-17.

Three other scheduled games for Tuesday were canceled, including UIC at Iowa, Indiana State at Missouri; and Murray State at Bellarmine. Last night’s action completed the Missouri Valley’s non-conference forays for the regular season. Eight of 10 Valley teams finished with non-conference records better than .500. Overall, Valley teams went 134-112 outside the league in 2023. Against schools from the ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and AAC, Valley teams finished 26-50, led by .500 or better finishes from Indiana State (9-8 – a reason why the Sycamores’ RPI is 12), UIC (5-4), and UE (3-3). Every Valley team played at least 6 such games, except Murray State, which played just 1, going 0-1.

Against Big 10 schools specifically, Valley teams went 18-18, as Valley teams particularly beat up on Purdue, going 7-0 against the Boilermakers. Valley teams were also 5-4 vs. Illinois.