Life in the Valley

Tuesday’s Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament openers both went as expected if seeds mean anything, as #5 seed Murray State downed 8th-seed Valparaiso, 11-6, while #6 seed Illinois-Chicago defeated 7th-seeded Belmont, 10-5.

The victory by the Racers and Flames cemented Wednesday’s stacked tournament schedule, which will see all 8 teams in action. Fourth-seeded Evansville will battle #3 Southern Illinois in the dreaded 9 a.m. first pitch (don’t get me started on how a 3-seed’s first game in an 8-team tournament is against the 4-seed). Here’s the full schedule for Wednesday. All games are on ESPN+ and all times are Eastern:

9 a.m., Game 3: #4 Evansville (33-22, 15-12 MVC) vs. #3 Southern Illinois (30-25, 15-12)
12:30 p.m., Game 4: #7 Belmont (25-32, 10-17) vs. #8 Valparaiso (20-26, 10-17), elimination game
4 p.m., Game 5: #6 UIC (28-23, 13-14) vs. #1 Indiana State (38-14, 24-3)
7:30 p.m., Game 6: #5 Murray State (30-26, 14-13) vs. #2 Missouri State (31-21, 18-9)

On Tuesday, UIC overcame 2 home runs by Belmont’s Brodey Heaton to outlast the Bruins. The game turned in the bottom of the 7th inning in large part due to a great at-bat from junior 2B Ryan Nagelbach (Deerfield, Ill.). Facing Belmont reliever Jett Thielke, Nagelbach forced Thielke to throw 9 pitches – Nagelbach fouled off 4 of them – before singling to right field to score Rayth Petersen and give UIC a 5-3 lead. Carson Roberts’ sacrifice fly drove him another run, and then pinch-hitter Max Farfan hit a 2-run homer to make it 8-3. Heaton’s 2nd homer got Belmont back within 2 in the 8th inning, but it wasn’t enough.

Zak Gould (6-3) got the win for UIC, downing Belmont’s Andy Bean (3-6). Nagelbach and Breck Nowik each had 3 RBIs, while Petersen and A.J. Henkle each had 3 hits. Petersen scored 3 runs.

Heaton’s big day for Belmont included 4 RBIs.

In the nightcap, Murray State found itself down to Valpo, 4-0, before the Racers had even come to bat. But Murray State had erased that deficit and taken a 5-4 lead by the end of the 3rd inning, then scored 4 in the 7th inning to put the game away. Four different Racers had 2 hits each, while four also drove in 2 runs each. LF Cade Simmons scored 4 runs for the Racers. Murray’s balanced offensive attack saw 13 hits come from 9 different batters.

After Murray starter Jacob Pennington lasted just 2 innings and gave up 4 runs, the Racer bullpen picked him up, as Matt Boynton and NathanH Haller combined to go 7 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts.

Jake Skrine homered and drove in 3 for Valpo.