Life in the Valley

While the Missouri Valley Conference baseball regular season isn’t quite over yet – Indiana State is looking for a sweep at Missouri State as the 2nd game of today’s doubleheader rolls on – we now know the seeds and matchups for the first few games of The Valley Tournament.

Let’s take a look at what to expect in Terre Haute.

The Valley Tournament starts Tuesday, with all games throughout the event broadcast live on ESPN+. In the first game Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern, 7-seed Belmont will take on 6-seed UIC. The Bruins lost today at Bradley, 4-3, but held on to the 7th seed after Valpo was defeated by Illinois State. In the 5-8 game at 6 p.m. Eastern (or so), Valpo, now the 8 seed, will take on 5th-seeded Murray State. The Racers defeated SIU today, 3-2.

Those 2 games will lead us into Wednesday’s action, the first 4-game day of the tournament. In the 9 a.m. Eastern tilt, it will be a battle of old rivals as 4-seed Evansville takes on 3-seed SIU. The Salukis won 2 of 3 between the teams during the regular season. UE claimed the 4th seed with a 2-1 win at UIC today. Kip Fougerousse hit a 2-run homer in the 9th inning to lift the Purple Aces to victory. The 12:30 p.m. Eastern game Wednesday will feature the losers of Games 1 and 2 on Tuesday in an elimination game. At 4 p.m, the top-seeded and host Sycamores will play the UIC/Belmont winner, while in the nightcap at or around 7:30 p.m., 2nd-seeded Missouri State will take on the Murray State/Valpo winner.

The schedule from there is TBD, but there are 4 games planned for Thursday, all at the same starting times as Wednesday’s action. Three games then will be played Friday, at 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m., and 6 p.m., followed by the championship game(s) on Saturday.

Missouri State is the defending Valley Tournament champion, having won as hosts in 2021. Indiana State will look to do the same in ’23. The Sycamores last won the MVC Tournament in 2019. And among current Valley members, Indiana State has the most MVC Tourney wins with 7, though the 2019 title was the Sycamores’ first in 24 years. Among teams in this year’s tournament, SIU has the longest title drought, last winning it in 1990.

Here at MVCBaseball.com, we’ll have final regular-season stat leaders on Monday morning. We’ll take a look at what made Indiana State so dominant this season in the conference, and we’ll preview The Valley Tournament with notes and stats to help you get ready for one of the most fun weeks of the college baseball season.

If you’ve been reading along in this our maiden season, thanks.