Life in the Valley

UIC Prevails in Extras; SIU Downs Arkansas State

Illinois State scored in all but one inning to outlast Northern Illinois, 16-12, in Wednesday afternoon action at Normal, Ill. The Redbirds (10-9) were ahead, 10-2, after 3 innings, then kept the Huskies at arm’s length with a 13-hit attack that also featured 7 walks. Illinois State pounded out 3 doubles and 5 homers. Combined with Tuesday’s 14-3 win over SIU-Edwardsville, the Redbirds scored 30 runs in 2 games this week.

Judah Morris (4 RBIs, 2 runs) and Noah Rabin (3 RBIs and 2 runs) both doubled and homered in the victory. They were also 2 of 6 Illinois State batters to have 2 hits each. Morris’ 2-run double in the 1st keyed a 4-run inning that gave the Redbirds a 4-1 lead. In the 2nd, J.T. Sokolove hit a solo homer and Rabin’s 2-run homer made it 8-1. Greg Nichols hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd to give Illinois State a 10-2 advantage.

Northern Illinois (7-14) cut the lead to 10-6 in the 4th inning, before Morris’ 2-run homer to left restored a 6-run lead for the Redbirds. Northern Illinois never got closer than 3 runs (13-10) the rest of the way, and Auggie Rasmussen put the final fork in the Huskies with a solo homer in the 8th inning to complete the scoring. Rasmussen had 3 RBIs.

Eleven of Illinois State’s 19 games this season have featured at least one team scoring 10 or more runs. The Redbirds open Valley play this weekend at home vs. Bradley. First pitch Friday is at 3 p.m. Eastern, and the Friday and Saturday (4 p.m.) games will be streamed on ESPN+.

UIC 6, Purdue 5 (14): The Flames won their 3rd straight and 8th in their last 9 by outlasting the Purdue Boilermakers, 6-5, in 14 innings at West Lafayette, Ind. The Flames jumped out to a 4-0 lead through 3.5 innings, powered by an RBI double from Jackson Bessette, a 2-run Kendal Ewell homer, and a bases-loaded walk to Vidal Colon (3-for-5).

But the Boilermakers (15-7) tied the game thanks to single runs in the 4th, 5th, 7th, and the 9th, when Couper Cornblum reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing pinch-runner Corbin Malott to cross home plate with the tying run. The game stayed tied at 4 until the 14th, when A.J. Henkle singled home Ryan Nagelbach, then Bessette (2-for-7, 2 RBIs) singled to score Zane Zielinski.

Colin Hawkins got the win in relief, though his work looked more like a start. He pitched all 5 extra innings, giving up 0 earned runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts on 74 pitches (4.93 ppo). Purdue pitchers were wild in both positive and negative ways, walking 14 and striking out 15 over 14 innings. C.J. Backer took the loss.

UIC heads to Belmont this weekend to open Valley play. The Saturday middle game of the series, set for a 3 p.m. Eastern start, will be streamed on ESPN+.

Southern Illinois 9, Arkansas State 3: The Salukis improved to 14-7 on the season with a 9-3 win over Arkansas State, earning a split in the 2-game, home-and-home series. SIU took command early. After the Red Wolves (13-10) took a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning on a homer from Tollett, the Salukis countered with 3 runs of their own, 2 scoring on bases-loaded walks. That slow, steady approach to scoring was usurped in the 2nd inning, when the Salukis scored 4 more runs the easy way, off the bat of Cole Christman, who hit a grand slam to left to make it 7-2.

Christman, a catcher from St. Louis, drove in a season-high 5 runs in the win. He was 2nd-team All-MVC a year ago in his SIU rookie season after stops at Central Missouri and John A. Logan College. Christman has 14 RBIs on the season – 9 of which have come in his last 2 games. For the season, Christman is hitting .318 with 3 HRs and a 1.019 OPS.

Jake Combs started and got the win, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing 3 runs on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts. Shane Wilhelm, Tenner Gerdes, and Anthony Pron combined to throw 4.2 innings of scoreless relief with just 1 hit and 1 walk allowed.

Today: Valley diamonds are quiet.

Friday: Stat Leaders and Conference play begins!

If You’re Starved for College Baseball Tonight: Conference play getting underway around the country means we get some high-quality national games on Thursday nights. SEC Network has #1 Arkansas at #23 Auburn at 7 p.m.; and ESPNU has 21st-ranked Mississippi State at #7 Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m.