MVC Series Begin This Weekend
Amazingly, we’ve already sailed through 5 weekends and Missouri Valley Conference teams are a third of the way through their baseball regular seasons. For as long as we look forward to this time of year, the season goes by in a flash and 2024 is no different.
With another weekend in the books and conference play on the horizon, let’s take a look at where everyone stands with 18-20 games in the books. We’ll go in the order of the standings.
Indiana State (14-4): The Sycamores’ record on its own would be impressive, but for the most part, Indiana State has surged to 10 games over .500 in non-conference play against a schedule that was designed to be pretty challenging. Wins over Louisville, Connecticut, South Florida, and Florida Gulf Coast to start the season were noteworthy. Though a 20-4 loss at Vanderbilt ended State’s season-opening 7-game win streak with a thud. But the Commodores will do that to many teams.
That Vandy loss started a 3-game losing streak with 2 defeats at Southern Miss, another tough opponent. But a 12-5 win in the series finale in Hattiesburg sparked another 7-game winning streak, one just stopped with Sunday’s 4-2 loss at Xavier. The Sycamores host Indiana Tuesday in what is always a special fixture, before Missouri State comes to Terre-dice this weekend in the MVC opener.
Luis Hernandez (.368) leads 3 Sycamores who are hitting at .339 for the season. Mike Sears leads in the power department with 7 HRs and 21 RBIs. State is hitting .272 as a team and averaging 7.1 runs per game. On the mound, Indiana State has pitched to a 4.18 ERA, led by Jacob Pruitt (1-0, 1.06, 17 IP in 3 starts) and Luke Hayden, who stands 2-1 (2.63) through 5 starts, with 28 strikeouts in 24 innings. Simon Gregersen has made 8 appearances out of the pen to a 2.57 ERA, with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings. State pitchers have fanned 178 batters in 153 innings of work this season.
Murray State (14-6): This 20-game start for the Racers has been ultra impressive, especially when you consider 3 of their losses were at current national #1 Arkansas, and another came at Kentucky, who is somehow unranked at 17-3, having just swept Georgia. The Racer offense has scored at least 10 runs in a game 9 times this season and Murray is 8-1 in those games (they were beaten 12-10 at UL-Monroe on Feb. 24).
Murray State is coming off a 3-game home sweep of Little Rock, winning by scores of 3-1, 5-4, and 10-8. The Trojans entered that series 11-6, with wins over Wichita State, Memphis, and series wins against Illinois State and Belmont. The top 3 in the Murray order in Sunday’s 10-8 win, Drew Vogel, Dustin Mercer, and Jonathan Hogart, combined to 7-for-14 with 6 runs scored and 5 RBIs. Vogel and Hogart both homered and doubled. In Friday’s 3-1 win, starter Cade Vernon improved to 3-1 on the season with 7 innings of 1-run, 4-hit baseball, walking 0 and striking out 6 on just 91 pitches (4.33 pitches per out). Vernon lowered his ERA to 4.08 and has fanned 24 and walked just 5 in 28.2 innings.
Murray State is at Evansville this weekend to open Valley play. Four Racers are hitting .324 or better, with Vogel leading the way at .383. Murray is hitting .298 as a team and has slugged 36 homers in 20 games, led by Carson Garner’s 9 and 26 RBIs.
Southern Illinois (13-6): It’s been all systems go offensive for a Salukis team that, like Murray State, has also reached double figures in runs 9 times this season. That was true right off the break to start 2024, as SIU won its first 4 games against Northwestern State and Tennessee-Martin by scores of 14-7, 14-9, 15-11, and 14-11. And even though the Salukis lost their next 3 games, it wasn’t because of a shortage of runs, as the losses came by 9-8, 9-8, and 13-12 scores at Central Arkansas.
SIU took 2 of 3 at home vs. Jacksonville State over the weekend, fittingly winning the rubber game of the set, 15-1. That victory was keyed by an 8-run 6th inning. Catcher Christman Cole homered and drove in 4 runs and scored 4 times as part of a 2-hit, 3-walk afternoon. Hesston Gray doubled, homered, and drove in 5 runs. Lest be lost in the offensive fireworks, however, starter Aidan Foeller pitched 6 stellar innings, allowing just 1run on 1 hit with 2 walks and 9 strikeouts over 81 pitches (4.5 ppo). Foeller is 2-0 in 5 starts with a whopping 33 strikeouts in 21 innings. Even with a 5.14 ERA, that 14.1 K/9 IP rate will make Foeller a force going forward.
Five Salukis are hitting at least .306, with Mathieu Vallee leading the way at .382. Gray is close behind at .367. Vallee has 29 hits in 18 games and is one 4 Salukis to average at least 1 run scored per game (Jake Allgeyer leads SIU with 24 runs). Steven Loden (.306) leads the Salukis in both homers (7) and RBIs (30). The 30 RBIs in 19 games are good for a tie for 18th individually in the country and Loden leads the MVC.
After two midweek games at Arkansas State, the Salukis open Valley play this weekend at home vs. Valparaiso.
UIC (12-6): Maybe the pleasant surprise of the Valley baseball season thus far are the Flames of Illinois-Chicago. UIC got its season off to a notable start by taking 2 of 3 from Kansas out of the Big 12, and the Flames have been hot as late, winning 9 of their last 11 games. UIC is coming off a winning weekend at home vs. SIU-Edwardsville, rallying from a Game 1 loss to beat the Cougars, 4-2 and 19-9, to take the series. In Saturday’s doubleheader and series finale, 1B James Harris homered, had 3 hits, and drove in 6 runs, as UIC scored 14 runs in the 1st 2 innings to build a 14-3 lead and eventually win by run-rule after 7 innings.
Harris’ RBI outburst moved him into a tie for the team lead with Zane Zielinski at 22. Zielinski leads the team with a .443 average, while Jackson Bessette is rolling along at a .431 clip. UIC hits an impressive .326 as a team and is averaging 7.8 runs per game. The Flames are also hard too top on the basepaths, having been successful stealing 25 of 27 times. They’re also stellar in the field, committing just 12 errors in 18 games and posting a .982 fielding percentage.
Brandon Bak and Dillon Schueler have combined to go 5-1 in 10 starts with a 3.26 ERA. The duo has fanned 42 batters and walked just 17 and are averaging just more than 6 innings per start. There’s also a great tag team in the UIC bullpen, with Rigel Verciglio and Reece Lawler throwing 23.2 innings in a combined 16 appearances, and allowing just 4 walks and 5 earned runs while striking out 18. The duo each have 1-0 records with a combined 1.90 ERA. Lawler has 4 saves to lead the Flames.
UIC is at Purdue on Wednesday before opening Valley play at Belmont this weekend.
Belmont (11-9): Speaking of the Bruins, the last of 5 Valley schools currently above .500 overall is coming off a 2-1 series loss at Indiana over the weekend. The series wasn’t short on runs, as Belmont earned a 9-3 victory Friday, then fell by 15-10 and 15-7 scores Saturday and Sunday. In Friday’s win, Mason Landers and Brodey Heaton homered, as they combined for 4 of Belmont’s 7 hits and 5 of 9 RBIs. Starter Will Pryor went 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts on 87 pitches (5.8 ppo).
Landers leads the Bruins with a .308 average and his 18 RBIs are also tops on the club. Heaton’s 6 homers are one better than Landers for the team lead. As a team, however, Belmont has posted just a .229 team batting average, though the Bruins score 5.7 runs per game.
Pryor now is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in 5 starts, striking out 29 batters in 27 innings. Hank Liss has been productive out of the bullpen for Belmont, throwing to a 2.65 ERA and picking up 2 wins in 8 relief appearances in which he’s pitched 17 innings with 14 strikeouts. Opponents are batting just .234 off Liss, who also has 1 save. Jake Timber is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in 3 starts, pitching 16.2 innings and allowing opponents to bat only .212.
Belmont hosts #9 Vanderbilt on Tuesday before welcoming in UIC this weekend.
Missouri State (9-9): The Bears have gone knocking on the doors of tough competition all through their non-conference slate. Already, the Bears have beaten a 2023 College World Series participant (Oral Roberts, 10-6), took a game from a weekend series at Southern Miss, played at 2022 national champions Ole Miss (lost, 12-3), took on a once-beaten Saint Louis club (lost 5-3) and spent a weekend at Kansas State that unfortunately ended in a sweep.
The road gets no easier for Missouri State this week, as the Bears play at Oklahoma State on Tuesday before starting conference play at Indiana State. Despite Missouri State’s current 4-game losing streak, the Bears have played good baseball in stretches and the competition they’ve faced ought to have prepared them well for the Valley grind.
Missouri State is hitting .263 team and has been led by Zack Stewart, who has posted a .377 average and 8 HRs. He leads the Bears with 23 hits and has been named MVC Player of the Week twice already. His slugging percentage of .852 has helped him build an impressive 1.317 OPS. Brandt Thompson has a 2-0 record and 3.00 ERA through 6 starts. He’s whiffed 23 batters in 21 and more impressively, has only walked 4. Eric Loomis (1-1, 3.97) has made a team-leading 10 appearances, fanning 13 in 11.1 innings.
Evansville (9-10): The Purple Aces also haven’t shied away from tough competition through the non-conference portion of the campaign. UE started with 3 at Oral Roberts and took the series against an ORU club that was just outside the top 25 to start the season. UE has also traveled to New Orleans (1-2), Mississippi State (0-3), and Michigan State (1-2) already this season, not to mention a single game at Vanderbilt (lost, 7-3) and Tuesday’s upcoming single matchup at Kentucky.
Most noteworthy has been Evansville’s offense, which has produced 54 doubles in 19 games. That total finds the Purple Aces tied for 6th in the nation. Texas Tech (62) is the country’s most prolific wall-bangers so far. UE, which will host Murray State to start conference play this weekend, don’t have a single player with 10 doubles yet, despite the high team total. But 8 Purple Aces have at least 4 doubles on the season. Brendan Hord leads the way with 8. UE is slugging .506 as a team (they also have 25 homers – led by 5 each from Brent Widder and Kip Fougerousse), and carry a .913 team OPS. Mark Shallenberger leads the team with a .406 average, 28 hits, and 22 runs. UE is averaging exactly 8 runs per game.
While UE is pitching to a 6.57 ERA as a team, the staff has roughly a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio, with 165 Ks in 161.2 innings. Reliever Ethan Bell has had a strong start to the season, going 2-0 with a 1.84 ERA in 7 appearances covering 14.2 innings. He’s fanned 19 and opponents are hitting a mere .122 against him.
Illinois State (8-9): The Redbirds have turned things around of late, winning 3 of their last 4 games, including a midweek triumph last week by a 16-6 count at Indiana. Illinois State then took 2 of 3 at Tennessee-Martin over the weekend, winning the bookend games 4-1 and 11-7 but dropping the Saturday contest, 6-5. Noah Rabin went 4-for-4 in the series finale, homering, doubling, scoring twice, and driving in 3 runs. Rabin is second on the team with a .343 average and his 7 homers lead the Redbirds. Eight different Redbirds are hitting at least .302, and the recently returned Auggie Rasmussen checks in at .290 through 9 games now, with 2 homers and 7 RBIs. J.T. Sokolove leads the club in average (.359) and runs (21). The Redbirds are hitting .295 as a team and have stolen 26 bases in 31 attempts, led by Sokolove’s 10-for-10.
Unfortunately for the Redbirds, Illinois State opponents are posting similar hitting numbers to their own. Opponents are hitting .299 and averaging 7.7 runs per game. One bright spot, however, has been reliever Joe Husak, who in 7 appearances has thrown a workhorse-like 21 innings, giving up just 2 earned runs (0.86 ERA) with 6 walks and 19 strikeouts. He’s holding opponents to a .221 batting average.
Illinois State has midweek games this week on Tuesday vs. SIU-Edwardsville, then Wednesday at home vs. Northern Illinois. The Redbirds host Bradley to start MVC play this weekend.
Valparaiso (7-11): Speaking of tough schedules, the Beacons have already had 3-game weekend series at #14 Alabama and #21 Campbell. Though Valpo lost all 6 games, the experience should do the Beacons well for conference play, which opens this weekend at Southern Illinois after Tuesday’s home opener vs. Ball State. The 18-game road trip saw some successes – a win at Gardner-Webb, 2 wins at The Citadel, 2 wins at Elon, and a 4-game split at Alabama State on opening weekend. Another potential win slipped away in a 6-5 loss at Jacksonville after Valpo rallied for 3 in the 9th inning to take a 5-4 lead, only for the Dolphins to strike back with 2 in the home 9th to walk it off.
Kyle Schmack has led the offense for Valpo with a .348 average, 6 homers, and 15 RBIs. His 1.152 OPS is far and away tops on the club and will keep him in contention for top honors in the Valley. Schamck (.471), Carson Husmann (.452) and Kevin Denty (.431) are all carrying impressive on-base percentages, combining for 38 walks, 52 hits and 6 hit by pitches. Kaleb Hannahs leads the Beacons in doubles with 6.
Connor Lockwood and Josh Cottrill have both performed well in starting pitching roles so far. Lockwood is 1-0 (3.00) in 3 starts with 12 innings and 11 strikeouts. Cottrill is 2-1 (3.75) in 3 starts, striking out 12 in 12 innings. Reliever Jake Jakubowski, despite getting the loss in defeat at Jacksonville, has a save, a win, and a 2.61 ERA in 8 appearances covering 10.1 innings. He’s fanned 8 and opponents are only batting .200 against him.
Bradley (6-12): The Braves have been everywhere from Orlando, Fla., to Las Vegas, Nev., this season already, a season-opening road odyssey that won’t end until March 26, when Bradley plays a midweek game against Lindenwood that will also be Bradley’s home opener. Before that game finally arrives, Bradley will be at Illinois on Tuesday and then visit Illinois State this weekend to commence conference action.
But despite a record that’s 6 games below .500, the Braves have a little bit to hold their heads high about entering the conference season – especially their bats. In a stretch where the Braves went 3-1 against Rollins College (Division II) and Butler in Winter Haven, Fla., Bradley scored 57 runs. The Braves bounced Rollins, 12-3, then bashed the Bulldogs, 18-5 and 21-11, sandwiched around a 19-13 defeat.
Some of the individual numbers from the 4 games were mind-popping. Ryan Vogel went 6-for-14 with 9 runs, 11 RBIs, 2 homers, 4 walks, and 2 steals (he also was hit 4 times and snuck in a sac bunt). Jackson Chatterton hit for the cycle in the first win over Butler, including a grand slam for the homer. He scored 4 times and drove in 6 in that game alone, and went 8-for-20 with 9 runs, 10 RBIs, and 6 extra-base hits for the quartet of games.
Tyrese Johnson (5-for-16, 7 runs, 5 RBIs, 5 walks); Logan Delgado (7-for-13, 6 runs, 7 RBIs); Timmy O’Brien (9-for-20, 8 runs, 8 RBIs, HR); Travis Lutz (5-for-10, 4 runs, 6 RBIs, 2 doubles in 3 games), and Beau Durbin (8-for-15, 5 runs) all found the Winter Haven digs to their liking.
Valley diamonds are quiet today. Friday, league leaders will appear for the first time this season as conference play begins.
What to Watch Today: Well, there’s only 2 baseball games in the country today involving D1 teams. But one is on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, as Saint Louis visits Tulane. The Billikens are 15-3 but have dropped their last 2, both at Southeast Louisiana over the weekend. Tulane is 12-8 and just took 2 out of 3 at home against a struggling Pepperdine club. (5-15).
Life in the Valley 
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