Missouri State Trips up Defending Champs in Opener
As the old adage goes, it’s tough to win on the road in the conference. Any sport. Any conference.
Such wasn’t the case Friday in the Missouri Valley Conference, as the league baseball season opened with road teams winning 4 of the 5 games. Missouri State captured the biggest win, knocking off defending regular season and tournament champs Indiana State, 6-5, in Terre Haute.
The Bears broke open a scoreless game in the 4th inning with one swing – literally their first hit of the game – a 3-run homer off the bat of Caden Bogenpohl. Missouri State expanded its lead to 6-0 through the middle innings, thanks to a 2-run single from Dylan Leach in the 5th inning and an RBI knock from Taeg Gollert in the 6th.
For 7 innings, the ills that had worn on the Bears (10-10, 1-0) through a 5-game losing streak entering Friday seemed to have all disappeared, especially with a fine starting effort from Brandt Thompson, the eventual winner who went 5 innings, didn’t allow any runs, and gave up 5 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts on 91 pitches (6.07 ppo).
But in the Indiana State 8th, everything changed. Mike Sears led off with a walk and Josue Urdaneta singled. After Adam Pottinger walked to load the bases, Eric Loomis came on for Missouri State. Loomis, however, faced just 2 batters, walking Riley Iffrig and Joe Kido to score 2 runs. Garrett Ferguson came on to try and stem the tide and started well, striking out Randal Diaz. But Dominic Listi then walked and Luis Hernandez singled, brining in 2 more runs to make it 6-4.
Parker Stinson’s fly ball appeared to have a chance to do damage, and it did, in a way. It sailed into foul territory in deep left where Missouri State LF Jake McCutcheon made a tremendous diving catch. It allowed Listi to score from 3rd on what amounted to a foul out-sac fly, making it 6-5. After Sears drew his second walk of the innings to reload the bases, Ferguson got Urdaneta to fly out to right to finally end the inning.
It was a big inning for the Sycamores (15-5, 0-1), but not quite big enough. Iffrig singled in the 9th but that was all Indiana State could manage. Missouri State won despite being outhit, 9-4, but the game featured 17 walks (9 drawn by ISU).
UIC 8, Belmont 6
There’s no hotter team in the Valley right now than … fittingly … the Flames of Illinois-Chicago. UIC won for the 9th time in 10 games Friday, scoring 6 runs late to win at Belmont, 8-6. The Flames are now 10 games over .500 on the season overall (16-6, 1-0).
Down 6-2 in the 8th, UIC scored 4 runs to tie the game on a pair of 2-run triples, hit by James Harris and A.J. Henkle. In the 9th, the Flames traded triples for homers, as Ryan Nagelbach and Kendal Ewell each hit solo shots to give the Flames the lead for good. Henkle went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs while Ewell also had 2 hits. Reece Lawler pitched a perfect 9th with a strikeout to pick up his 5th save of the season – putting Lawler in the top 10 nationally and tops in the Valley.
Mason Landers homered for the 5th straight game for Belmont (11-11, 0-1). Landers, a senior from Shelbyville, Tenn., is 9-for-20 (.450) in that span with 6 runs scored and 8 driven in. Landers has 7 homers on the season. He’s hit 22 in his Belmont career and is already within 5 of last year’s career high of 12.
Bradley 9, Illinois State 8
Travis Lutz was the hero as his 9th-inning, solo homer delivered Bradley (7-13, 1-0) a 9-8 win at Illinois State. Lutz took a Joe Husak pitch over the wall in right center to lead off the inning – the 1st homer of his 2-year Bradley career. Lutz, a junior from Bartonville, Ill., had 3 hits on the day and drove in 2 runs, giving him 9 RBIs for the season.
The ending wasn’t smooth, however. Heavy rain came in during the bottom of the 9th, but the game continued. Redbirds RF Auggie Rasmussen his a drive to deep left-center that was flagged down by LF Cole Luckey with a tremendous diving catch. Rasmussen rounded the bases anyway – an inside-the-park homer would have tied the game at 9, and the Redbirds challenged the catch call. But there was no angle to show that Luckey didn’t catch it, and the out call on the field stood.
Beau Durbin and Tyrese Johns both drove in 3 runs for Bradley, as did Luke Lawrence for the Redbirds (10-10, 0-1). Anthony Pott worked the final 2 innings to get the win for the Braves. Husak has allowed only 3 runs all season in 23 innings (1.17 ERA), all on solo homers.
Murray State 13, Evansville 6
The Racers considered their recent offensive surge, scoring 13 runs on 9 hits in a 13-6 victory at Evansville. Murray State overcame a 2-1 deficit in the 3rd inning with 5 runs, then 2 more in the 4th to take an 8-2 lead. The Racers hit 2 homers in the game, off the bats of Taylor Howell and Dan Tauken. Three other fly balls that didn’t leave the park brought in runs, as Carson Garner, Logan Bland, and Ethan Kristen all delivered RBIs on sacrifice flies. Riley Hawthorne had 3 RBIs for the Racers (15-6, 1-0).
Murray State has now hit 38 homers on the season in 21 games, led by Garner’s 9. Howell’s homer was his 7th and Tauken now has 5. The Racers rank in the top 20 in the country in homers and are first in the Valley. Murray State has homered in 14 straight games.
Cade Vernon (4-1, 4.29) got the Friday start and went 7 innings, striking out 7 and allowing 4 runs on 6 hits over 100 pitches (4.76 ppo). Vernon has fanned 31 in 35.2 innings this season with just 8 walks.
Ty Rumsey homered for Evansville (9-12, 0-1), while Cal McGinnis had 2 hits and 2 RBIs.
Southern Illinois 6, Valparaiso 4
SIU (15-7, 1-0) was the lone Valley team to successfully defend its home turf Friday, downing Valparaiso, 6-4. The Salukis took control of the game early, scoring 5 runs in the first 2 innings. Four of those runs came on one swing in the 2nd inning when Bennett Eltoft hit a grand slam.
Eltoft, a senior from Bolingbrook, Ill., who also played at Scottsdale Community College, has 11 homers now in his 2-year Saluki career. Friday’s grand slam was his 2nd of this season.
Mike Hansell (3-1, 6.26) started and earned the win for SIU, pitching 5 innings and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 walks and 9 strikeouts on 110 pitches. Four Saluki relievers finished the game, with Anthony Pron earning his 4th save of the season for getting the final 5 outs.
Alex Thurston drove in 3 of Valpo’s (8-12, 0-1) runs thanks to a homer and 2 sac flies. Trey Cutchen had 3 hits for Southern Illinois.
Today on Valley Diamonds: All of the weekend series are slated to continue today, weather permitting.
What I’ll Be Watching: With 4 Valley games on ESPN+, it’s a busy afternoon of Valley baseball. To get my fix later, I’ll be checking out one of the West’s great rivalries, as Cal-State Fullerton visits Long Beach State at 9 p.m. on ESPN+.
Life in the Valley 
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