Life in the Valley

Bruins, Redbirds Also Author Sweeps

The 2024 college baseball season is starting to look a little bit like the 2023 college baseball season looked if you’re a fan of the Indiana State Sycamores. After sweeping a previously hot UIC Flames team over the weekend, Indiana State finds itself 5-1 in the Valley and alone in first place. The Sycamores, who visit Indiana on Tuesday (7 p.m., B1G+), are also one victory away from their 3rd 7-game winning streak of the season. At 21-5 overall, Indiana State finds itself ranked 24th in this week’s Perfect Game poll and 25th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

Over the weekend, the Sycamores took down the Flames by scores of 10-6, 9-8 (11 innings), and 4-1. Indiana State overcame an early 6-0 deficit in Game 1, after UIC’s James Harris and A.J. Henkle homered in the opening 2 innings. But Luis Hernandez homered and drove in 3 and Adam Pottinger homered as part of a 2-hit, 2-run, 2-RBI day to get the Sycamores the win. Grant Magill had 3 hits in the victory. Cole Gilley got the win and combined with Cam Edmonson to pitch the final 5 innings, allowing 0 runs on 2 hits with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.

Game 2 was 7-7 after 9 innings and the Sycamores had it all to do in the bottom of the 11th after UIC took the lead on Ryan Nagelbach’s RBI single to make it 8-7. But in the home 11th, Parker Stinson’s RBI double tied it, then Stinson scored the winner on a fielder’s choice. Mike Sears had 3 hits, including a home run. But Sears was just getting started. He hit 2 more homers on Sunday in the 4-1 win to clinch the sweep. Dom Krupinski went yard, as well. Luke Hayden got the win with 6 2/3 innings of 2-hit baseball, allowing 1 run with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts on a workhorse 116 pitches.

Sears now has 22 hits this season – 12 of which have been homers. He leads the Sycamores with 33 RBIs and is slugging .721. Sears now has 38 HRs in his Indiana State career. His next hit will be the 100th of his career.

Hayden improved to 3-1 with Sunday’s win with a 3.31 ERA, best among State’s qualifying pitchers.

UIC (16-10, 2-4), meanwhile, must regroup. The Flames’ midweek game with Northern Illinois, scheduled for Wednesday, was called off due to expected bad weather. Next weekend the Flames are home against Southern Illinois, also no easy task. UIC had won 11 of 13 prior to dropping the 3 games at Indiana State.

Zane Zielinski continues to the lead the Flames with a .382 average and is a co-leader with 5 HRs. James Harris now has 32 RBIs to lead UIC.

Belmont Breaks Out Brooms Against Old Rival: Belmont and Murray State may both be newer members of the Valley, but their old days together as rivals in the Ohio Valley Conference aren’t that far in the rear view mirror and the Bruins had to take some pleasure in sweeping the Racers over the weekend, especially given the emphatic way in which they did it.

Belmont (15-13, 4-2) stayed within a game of front-running Indiana State by downing Murray State, 15-4, 14-4, and 13-7. Entering the series, the Bruins had only scored in double figures 3 times in 25 games, before doing it 3 consecutive times. Belmont scored 7 runs in the 9th in the Thursday opener led by a 2-run double from Brodey Heaton, who went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs. Jack Rando had 4 hits, including a homer, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs in the win, while Sam Slaughter went 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Will Pryor went 6 innings to get the win, striking out 5. Murray’s Carson Garner had 4 hits in the loss.

On Friday, Mason Landers homered twice and rove in 4 runs in the 14-4, 7-inning win. Landers had 3 hits and scored 3 times. Pete Daniel also had 3 hits and 3 runs. Landers hit a 2-run homer in the 1st and a solo shot in the 6th that gave Belmont a 10-0 lead. Dominic Baratta pitched a complete game, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits over 7 innings, with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts on 95 pitches.

Saturday, Belmont finished the sweep with a 13-7 win, scoring 5 runs in the 6th and 7 more in the 7th to overcome a 4-1 deficit. Landers homered again, a solo shot in the 7th that made it 7-4 Bruins. He later singled in a run in the 7th. Heaton and Michael Lareau went deep for Belmont, as well, while Dustin Mercer and Dan Tauken homered for Murray State (18-9, 3-3). Landers, now at .336 with 10 HRs and 32 RBIs, was named MVC Player of the Week.

Belmont hosts Evansville this weekend in conference play after a Wednesday non-conference tilt at Lipscomb. Murray State is scheduled to play a home-and-home vs. Southern Indiana this week before hosting Indiana State this weekend.

Illinois State Sweeps Missouri State: The Redbirds moved to 14-11 overall and 4-2 in the Valley – 1 game behind Indiana State for the top spot, with a 3-game sweep of Missouri State. The first 2 games were close, with Illinois State prevailing, 12-11 and 8-5. The Redbirds left no doubt Sunday, however, taking the finale, 11-2.

Game 1 didn’t look anything like an Illinois State win through 7 innings, however, with the Bears (10-15, 1-5) holding a 6-2 lead after 7 innings thanks in part to a pair of RBIs from Jahlani Rogers.

Then the State barrage hit.

The Redbirds scored 10 runs in the final 2 innings, scoring 6 in the 8th to take an 8-6 lead, 2 runs scoring on a Daniel Pacella single. But the Bears answered, scoring 4 times to make it 10-8. Tyler Epstein provided the big blow – and the most exciting play in baseball – a 3-run triple. But in the 9th, Pacella doubled in 3 runs to give Illinois State the lead for good, then scored on Noah Rabin’s single. Pacella went 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs, while Rabin drove in 3. Dylan Leach went 4-for-6 with 3 runs for the Bears, while Epstein drove in 5. Pacella’s 5 RBIs were a season-high. He has 35 RBIs on the season after driving in 3 in the series finale – the 6th time this season Pacella has knocked in at least 3 in a game.

More late heroics did the trick for Illinois State in Game 2, as the Redbirds scored 4 runs in the 9th to win, 8-5. Luke Lawrence’s 3-run homer gave the Redbirds a 7-5 lead and then J.T. Sokolove scored on a balk. Noah Smith had 3 hits. Cody Kelly drove in 3 runs for Missouri State while Nick Rodriguez had 3 hits. Thomas Harper improved to 3-0 with 2 innings of scoreless relief.

Pacella hit 2 homers and a double in the finale, while Auggie Rasmussen added a double, homer, and 4 RBIs, to clinch the sweep. Blake Stenger also had 3 hits for Illinois State. Tanner Perry pitched 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts on 99 pitches.

Illinois State is scheduled to host Illinois on Tuesday before traveling to SIU-Edwardsville on Wednesday. The Redbirds return to MVC play this weekend at home to Valparaiso. Missouri State has somewhat unfathomably dropped 10 of 11. The Bears have midweek games scheduled vs. Southeast Missouri State Tuesday and Kansas State Wednesday, both at home, before traveling to Bradley this weekend.

Purple Aces Claim Much-Needed Series Win vs. Rival: After getting swept at home by Murray State on the opening weekend of conference play, Evansville might have been the Valley team playing an early “must-win” series as arch-rival Southern Illinois came to town. UE answered the call, winning the Thursday and Saturday games to take a 2-1 series win, earning head coach Wes Carroll is 400th victory along the way.

Neither UE win went the regulation 9 innings. Game 1 went the Purple Aces’ direction by a 12-2 score in a run-rule shortened 8-inning affair. That was mostly due to Evansville’s 6-run 7th inning, an incredible frame in which none of the runs scored courtesy of a hit. UE drew 4 bases-loaded walks and had 2 sac flies. Mark Shallenberger had 3 hits (including 2 doubles) and 4 RBIs in the win while Ty Rumsey drove in a run and stole 2 bases. Shane Harris started and went 6 innings, striking out 3 with 0 walks to get his 2nd win of the season.

In the only 9-inning game of the series, SIU prevailed Friday, 10-6. UE had a 6-5 lead entering the 9th, but the Salukis posted 5 runs in their last at-bat to take the lead and then pull away. Hesston Gray, Nathan Bandy, and Anthony Kodama all drove in runs with singles in the frame, then Bandy (.407, leads team) scored the final run on a wild pitch. Jake Allgeyer and Gray both went 4-for-5 in the victory as SIU pounded out 18 hits. Kip Fougerousse homered for UE while Harrison Taubert had 3 hits.

Saturday’s finale saw SIU score in all but 3 of the 10 innings, including 2 in the 10th inning that gave the Salukis (18-10, 4-2) a 10-8 lead thanks to a Cole Christman solo homer and Allgeyer scoring on a wild pitch. But in the bottom of the 10th, Shallenberger (.380-4-23) hit a 2-run homer to tie the game at 10, then pinch-hitter Kevin McCormick’s single plated Fougerousse with the winning run. It might be a stretch to say that hit saved Evansville’s (11-16, 2-4), but there’s plenty of time now to come back from being 3 games down in the conference, as opposed to perhaps being 5 down had UE been swept. Taubert (.330) had 3 more hits in the win, while 6 different Salukis had at least 2 hits, ed by 3 from Christman.

UE is slated to play Austin Peay at home on Tuesday before visiting Belmont this weekend. SIU is scheduled to host Lindenwood Tuesday before hitting the road to battle UIC this weekend.

Beacons Claim Series Win Against Bradley: After Bradley claimed a 6-4 win in the series opener Friday, Valparaiso came back to take 9-2 and 13-2 victories to get a series W and improve to 10-16 overall, 2-4 in the conference. Most of the scoring Friday came early, as Bradley led, 5-3, after 2 innings. Logan Delgado doubled in 2 in the 1st and singled home a run in the 9th, while Beau Durbin went 3-for-4 with 2 runs, and Ryan Vogel had 3 hits. Alex Thurston homered for Valpo in the loss. Bradley’s Noah Edders went 6 innings and fanned 7 to get the win and improve to 4-2, while Anthony Potthoff earned a 3-inning save, his 2nd of the season.

Things turned around comprehensively for Valpo in the final 2 games of the series, however, as the Beacons outscored the Braves, 22-4. A 6-run 8th propelled Valpo to victory in the middle game, breaking open what had been a tight affair that the Beacons were leading, 3-2. Alex Ryan keyed the rally with a 3-run double as part of a 4-RBI game. Connor Giusti had 3 hits, as did Ryan, as Valpo outhit Bradley, 14-8. Durbin (.369, leads team) had 3 more hits for Bradley and Ryan Taylor homered. Kyle Schmack and Brady Renfro went yard for the Beacons – who got a complete game out of Connor Lockwood (2-1, 4.00). Lockwood walked no one and struck out 9, earning himself MVC Pitcher of the Week honors.

Valparaiso made short work of the finale, besting Bradley, 13-2, in 7 innings. It was 11-2 Beacons after 4, with Ryan delivering a 2-run double in the 4th while Schmack (.301-10-23) hit a 3-run homer. Kaleb Hannahs had 3 RBI singles in the victory, the last of which in the 6th inning finished the scoring. Carson Husmann also had 3 RBIs for Valpo. Kaleb Krier, Lucas Foley, and Bryce Konitzer combined to hold Bradley to 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts on a mere 95 pitches.

Valpo is scheduled to visit Purdue on Wednesday before hosting Illinois State this weekend. Bradley (9-16, 3-3) will look to get its offensive groove back this week against Western Illinois on Wednesday at home, before the Braves host Missouri State this weekend.