Life in the Valley

Missouri State, Valpo Fall to Power Conference Foes

Mark Shallenberger drove in 3 runs and Kevin Reed, Drew Fieger, and Max Hansmann combined to hold Indiana to 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits with just 2 walks as Evansville knocked off the Hoosiers, 5-4, in Bloomington Wednesday evening.

Shallenberger drove in 2 runs in the 4th inning with a single that scored Brendan Hord and Ty Rumsey. Earlier in the 3rd, Shallenberger’s (.379-8-38; 1.211 OPS) sac fly brought home Rumsey to tie the game at 1 after Indiana took the lead in the 2nd.

Evansville (19-17, 7-5) added to its lead in the 4th and 5th innings. In the 4th, Kip Fougerousse grounded out but it was enough to score Harrison Taubert. In the 5th, Simon Scherry hit his 3rd of the season to make it 5-1 and the Purple Aces were in control.

Indiana wouldn’t go away, though, responding immediately in the bottom of the 5th when Tyler Cerny singled home 2 runs to cut the Evansville lead in half. The Hoosiers (20-17, 5-4 Big 10) got another run back in the 7th on Nick Mitchell’s sac fly that scored Jake Stadler.

Hansmann came on to start the 8th for Evansville and got Indiana 1-2-3 without a ball leaving the outfield. He did the same in the 9th, recording 5 ground outs out of the last 6 Indiana batters retired in order to secure the win and his 2nd save of the season. Reed gave up 3 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts on 77 pitches (5.13 ppo) to get the win and improve to 3-0 on the season.

Evansville pitchers held Indiana standout Devin Taylor, the preseason Big 10 Player of the Year, to an 0-for-4 night.

UE travels to Bradley this weekend. Indiana returns to conference play Friday at Minnesota.

Here’s a look at the rest of the action in the Valley last night:

Belmont 15, North Alabama 9: The Bruins (20-17, 7-5) downed the Lions for the 2nd time this season. Belmont, which won 6-2 at North Alabama back on Feb. 20, were 15-9 winners Wednesday to earn its 20th win of the season. Belmont scored in 6 of their 8 innings, including three 3-run frames and a 4-run 7th.

Jack Rando (.310-7-35; .999) had a monster game for the Bruins, with 2 doubles, a triple, a homer, 4 runs, and 5 RBIs. It’s not too often a player has such a great game, they miss hitting for the cycle because they didn’t single. Rando had 11 total bases and was joined in the barrage by Brodey Heaton, who went 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, a homer, and 4 RBIs. Belmont touched up Lions pitching for 6 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers, as Michael Lareau also went deep for the Bruins.

In his first start, Caleb Guisewite pitched 5 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits with 0 walks and 3 strikeouts on just 59 pitches, a Greg Maddux-esque 3.93 pitches per out.

Notre Dame 7, Valparaiso 6: Valparaiso’s (11-23, 3-9) 9th-inning comeback fell 1-run short as the Beacons were defeated by ACC opponent Notre Dame, 7-6, in South Bend, Ind. Down 7-3 to being the inning, the Beacons quickly closed to within 1 when Carson Husmann (.265-5-20; .856) hit a 3-run homer that scored Kyle Schmack and Alex Thurston ahead of him. But with 1 out and nobody on, Valpo wasn’t able to get another baserunner against Notre Dame (16-18) pitcher and Evansville transfer Nate Hardman, who picked up his 4th save. He had 10 with UE last season. Brady Renfro and Alex Ryan each had 2 hits for the Beacons.

Missouri 6, Missouri State 2: Missouri scored 4 runs in the first 2 innings and held Missouri State’s (15-20, 4-8) recently hot bats at bay to down the Bears, 6-2, in Springfield, Mo., Wednesday. Missouri (17-21) used 5 relievers after Daniel Wissler started and pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 4 strikeouts. Kaleb Thomas pitched 3 innings of solid relief to keep the Bears in the game through the middle innings. Zack Stewart went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the loss, while Izzy Lopez had 2 hits.

SEMO 15, Murray State 8: The Racers suffered a tough midweek loss to Southeast Missouri State, 15-8. Murray State (22-14, 6-6) led, 6-5, entering the 6th inning before SEMO (19-18) put up a Snowman, scoring 8 times to take a 13-6 lead. Leadoff man Caleb Corbin went 3-for-5 with a homer, 3 runs, and 4 RBI for SEMO. Keoni Coloma added 3 hits and 3 RBIs. Dustin Mercer (.299-8-30; .861) and Taylor Howell (.244-12-40; .896) homered for Murray State in the 3rd inning, both 3-run shots. The loss dropped Murray 8 spots in the new RPI on D1Baseball.com, to 59. UIC, who was idle, moved up to 55. The teams play this weekend.

Eastern Illinois 14, Bradley 9: It was a slugfest in Charleston, Ill., but the hosts EIU came out on top, 14-9. Eastern Illinois led, 11-7, after just 4 innings and kept the Braves (10-23, 4-8) at a distance from then on. Joey Hagen had 3 hits for Eastern Illinois and was 1 of 6 different Panthers to have at least 2 hits. Beau Durbin stayed hot for Bradley, going 4-for-5 with 3 runs and an RBI, while Logan Delgado homered. Tyrese Johnson had 3 RBIs for the Braves. Durbin is 12-for-26 (.462) in his last 7 games, with 4 multi-hit games during that span.

Today on Valley Diamonds:
Illinois State at Lindenwood, 4 p.m.
Western Illinois at Southern Illinois, 6 p.m.
Bradley at Iowa, 6:05 p.m., B1G+

If You’re Starved for More College Baseball: At 4 p.m. Central, one the season’s most intriguing midweek series concludes with Texas Tech at #2 Arkansas on SEC Network. The Hogs took a 9-8, walk-off win last night after trailing 7-1.

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