Life in the Valley

Illinois State Victorious at Western Illinois; Bradley Downed by Visiting Lindenwood

Illinois State improved to 18-12 on the season with a 7-4 win at Western Illinois on Wednesday night. The Redbirds broke open a 2-1 game in the 4th inning with 3 runs, scoring 1 on Greg Nichols’ RBI triple, another on a Luke Lawrence single, and the last with the bases loaded when Noah Rabin was hit by a pitch to make it 5-1.

Western (6-22) got within 5-4 in the 5th inning, but in the 7th, the Redbirds picked up 2 more runs when a wild pitch/throwing error that allowed Daniel Contreras and Shaydon Kubo to both score.

Daniel Pacella went 3-for-5 in the win with an RBI, while Lawrence was 2-for-5 with 2 runs and 2 driven in. It was also a painful night at the plate for Illinois State, whose batters got hit 6 times. Contreras was hit twice.

Carter Monke (2-1) started and got the win for the Redbirds, striking out 6 in 4 1/3 innings. MacAllan Conklin and Matthew Donnison pitched 3 2/3innings of scoreless relief, allowing 4 hits and striking out 1 before Joe Husak worked the 9th for his 3rd save.

Lindenwood 11, Bradley 9: Lindenwood (10-21) scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning to take an 11-6 lead and then held on to hold off the Bradley Braves, 11-9. The Braves (10-18) tried to use the long ball to get back in the ball game in the 9th, as Timmy O’Brien hit a solo homer to make it 11-7 and Nick Hosie went deep for a 2-run homer to cut the Lindenwood lead to 11-9. But that was as close as the Braves could get.

O’Brien had 3 hits and 3 RBIs for Bradley. Rosie went 2-for-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs. Ryan Vogel and Beau Durbin had 2 hits each and combined to score 3 runs.

Today on Valley Diamonds: One conference weekend series starts today, as UIC plays the series opener at Missouri State. The series runs today through Saturday in Springfield with streaming offered on ESPN+. Today’s game begins at 11 a.m. Central.

What I’m Watching Today: Once the afternoon conference matinee is complete, the table will be set for action tonight. I’ll have my eyes on #8 Kentucky opening its weekend SEC series at Auburn (6:30 p.m. Central, ESPNU). The Wildcats are coming off a loss at Samford last time out. If you like rivalries, ACC Network has Miami-Fla. at #10 Florida State at 6 p.m. Central.