Life in the Valley

Tight Races for Seeding, Individual Awards

Some may look at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball season as a done deal, with 20th-ranked Indiana State having clinched the outright regular-season title and the top seed in next week’s Valley tournament. But simmering beneath the surface are team and individual races to watch over these last 3 game days of the regular season.

From a team perspective, UIC and Evansville enter this weekend’s matchup in The Ville in a tie for 2nd place in the Valley standings at 15-9. Whomever wins the series will most likely be the #2 seed in the Valley tournament, and if either are swept, there’s the possibility that team could slide all the way to the 5th seed and have to play on the tournament’s opening Tuesday.

But for Flames’ standout Kendal Ewell and leading UE hitter Mark Shallenberger, there’s several games within a game here. Most notably is the race for the MVC batting title, with Ewell (.397) currently holding the lead by just 1 point over Shallenberger (.396). Ewell has reached base in every game this season, while Shallenberger is on a 21-game on-base streak. Ewell is 2nd in the conference in homers, 1 behind Drew Vogel of Murray State and Missouri State’s Zack Stewart. Ewell also leads the conference in RBIs with 63, while Shallenberger is 2nd in runs with 56. Shallenberger and Ewell are 2-3 in the conference in hits (74, 73, respectively), just trailing Illinois State’s Luke Lawrence (75). Shallenberger is tied for the lead in doubles with 18 (with teammate Harrison Taubert), while Ewell is 1 back. Shallenberger leads Ewell in on-base percentage, while Ewell’s .810 slugging percentage has surged to the Valley lead over 2nd-place Shallenberger (.738). Shallenberger and Ewell are well ahead of the field in OPS, as well, with Ewell leading at 1.310 and Shallenberger 2nd at 1.278.

Every at-bat the two have this weekend is going to be worth watching on a number of levels.

Further down the table, Illinois State and Murray State are tied for 4th at 14-10, with the Redbirds hosting Belmont (11-13) this weekend, while the Racers are at Bradley (6-18). The series winner will be in the top 4 for the Valley tournament. However, if Belmont sweeps the Redbirds, Bradley sweeps Murray State, and SIU sweeps Missouri State, we’d be left with 4 teams at 14-13 to end the regular season, comprising the 3rd through 6th seeds based on tiebreakers.

Cade Vernon will go into his start today for Murray State looking to be the first Valley pitcher to 9 wins this season. He’s also 2nd in the conference in strikeouts with 77. The Racers have leaders up and down the offensive categories, with Vogel’s recent surge putting 7th in batting (.343), tied for first in homers (20), and 3rd in RBIs (60). He’s also tied for 2nd in runs (56) and tied for third in hits (73). Teammate Carson Garner leads the conference in walks with 47, while Jonathan Hogart leads in runs with 61.

Illinois State’s J.T. Sokolove is tied with 2 others (Zane Zielinski of UIC and Sam Slaughter of Belmont) in the stolen base race with 19. Daniel Pacella is tied for 5th in RBIs with 57.

SIU and Belmont enter the weekend tied for 6th at 11-13. The Salukis head to Springfield to take on a Missouri State club that could move up a spot or 2 with a sweep, but which owns tiebreakers over Bradley and Valparaiso, who are tied for 9th at 6-18. Missouri State’s calling card has been homers and Stewart will look to secure the home run title over Ewell this weekend, while Caden Bogenpohl is tied for 6th in homers with 18. Belmont’s Mason Landers also has 18.

Will there be a clear winner in the homer race? Will there be like a 6-way tie? Who will win the batting crown? Will anyone finish at .400? Who emerges as the stolen base king? Will we have an 8th complete-game shutout by a Valley pitcher this weekend (or more)? Who will be seeded where come next week? Will Lassie save Timmy? (Sorry, got carried away.)

There’s many questions to answer and lots to play for. Here is this week’s expanded stat pack, with top 10 leaders in each category, and with several new categories added.

Here’s the Thursday’s stat pack! Remember, this weekend’s conference series begin today. Check the X/Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/MVConfBaseball) for today’s schedule and broadcast information.