Life in the Valley

Rasmussen Homers Twice in 1 Inning in 16-6 Rout

Look out, Valley. Heeeeeeeeeee’s baaaaaaaaack.

Auggie Rasmussen announced his return with authority Wednesday, clubbing 2 home runs and driving in 5 runs to lead the Illinois State Redbirds to a 16-6 demolition of the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington.

Rasmussen, who missed most of the early part of the season, hit both his home runs during Illinois State’s 9-run 2nd inning, which saw the Redbirds take a 10-0 lead. The advantage ballooned to 15-0 in the 4th before Indiana (9-8) finally got around to scoring a run in the 5th.

But by that point, the damage was done and Rasmussen was a big part of it. His first homer in the 2nd inning was a 2-run shot that opened the scoring in the frame and gave the Redbirds a 3-0 lead. Later, with Illinois State ahead 7-0, Rasmussen hit a 3-run homer to right to give Illinois State its 10-run lead.

Rasmussen, in his second season at Illinois State after starting his career at Iowa Western Community College, has hits in 5 of his 6 games this season, most of which have come in March. Wednesday marked his first multi-hit game of the season and the homers were his first of 2024. Rasmussen is now 6-for-18 on the season with 7 RBIs.

Last season, Rasmussen hit .315 in 50 games – he was the only Redbird to start all 50 games in a season where Illinois State finished 20-30. He hit 10 homers and drove in 38, scoring a team-high 46 runs and finishing with a club-high 64 hits, one ahead of Daniel Pacella.

Speaking of Pacella, he also had 2 hits last night and drove in 3 runs. He also hit a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning and drove in another run with a 7th-inning single to close the scoring. The game ended after 7 innings due to the 10-run rule.

Luke Lawrence (3-for-5, 3 runs) and Judah Morris (3-for-5, 2 runs, 4 RBIs) each had 3 hits to lead the Redbirds. J.T. Sokolove also homered.

Starter Thomas Harper got the win, pitching 4.2 innings with 0 walks and 3 strikeouts.

Evansville 6, Southeast Missouri State 5 (10)

UE improved to 8-8 on the season with a walk-off win over Southeast Missouri State (7-11), 6-5. After getting swept in a weekend 3-game series at Mississippi State, the Purple Aces got back on the winning track when Harrison Taubert singled home Simon Scherry with the decisive run. Taubert had 2 hits in the win, as did Mark Shallenberger (.407), Ty Rumsey (.400), and Cal McGinnis (.368).

Jakob Meyer worked the final 2 innings to get the win for Evansville, allowing 1 hit and 0 runs with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.

Michael Mugan hit 2 homers and drove in 3 of SEMO’s runs as part of a 4-hit night.

The Purple Aces hit the road for their next 4 games, including 3 this weekend at Michigan State, then a game next Tuesday at Kentucky.

Belmont 3, UT-Martin 2

The Bruins picked up their 10th win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Tennessee-Martin. Belmont scored the decisive runs in the bottom of the 5th inning when Sam Slaughter singled to score the go-ahead run and give the Bruins (10-7) a 2-1 lead. Jack Rando’s sac fly then scored Michael Lareau to make it 3-1. Slaughter went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs while Lareau scored twice.

Cade Granzow was effective as the mid-week starter, pitching 6 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts over 80 pitches (4.44 ppo). Bill Duby got the final 5 outs for his 2nd save of the season. Granzow, an Auburn transfer in his 2nd season with the Bruins, set season highs for innings and strikeouts and season lows were for hits and walks allowed. He’s now fanned 11 in 15.2 innings. It was his first Belmont win as a starter. He went 1-1 in 15 relief appearances in 2023.

Belmont takes on aforementioned Indiana in Bloomington this weekend. The teams have never met in baseball. The Hoosiers are in the midst of 5 straight games against Valley opponents. After the loss to Illinois State last night and this series, the Hoosiers will visit Indiana State on Tuesday.

SIU’s (11-5) Wednesday game with Lindenwood was canceled.

Today in The Valley: Most Valley diamonds are quiet but Bradley (4-11) is in action in Winter Haven, Fla., against Butler at 4 p.m. Eastern. Bradley leads the all-time series, 2-1. No video stream is anticipated. Bradley beat Rollins College last time out, 12-3.