UIC, UE, Murray State All Could be the 2-Seed
Wins by Evansville, Murray State, and Illinois State on Friday set up what could be a chaotic final day of the regular season in the Missouri Valley Conference, as 3 teams have a shot at the 2nd overall seed in the Valley tournament, while UIC is currently tied for 2nd but could fall all the way to 5th and have to play next Tuesday on the opening day of the event in Evansville.
UE earned a tie for 2nd place tonight with a 9-3 win over UIC. Murray State cruised to a 13-0 win at Bradley, the Racers’ 7th straight victory. Illinois State worked 11 innings before walking off Belmont, 4-3. The Redbirds hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over UIC, having taken 2 of 3 in their recent series. Wins Sunday by Evansville, Murray State, and Illinois State would give the Racers the 2 seed (they swept UE earlier this season). UE would be 3rd; and Illinois State would jump to 4th on the tiebreaker with UIC, dropping the Flames to 5th. It’s a lot that has to happen, but it shows how close the conference is beyond Indiana State at the top and that there are several teams playing good baseball right now.
Murray State 13, Bradley 0: What became a run-rule blowout was a close game for 5 innings, with the Racers holding a 2-0 lead. That all changed in the 6th, however, as Murray State (36-18, 16-10) struck 9 times to blow the game open and defeat the Braves, 13-0. Perhaps the surprising thing about the 9-run inning for Murray is that it included only 1 homer – a 3-run shot by Ethan Krizen. Parker Estes homered in the 7th to finish the scoring. Murray’s other 6th-inning runs scored on 2 run-scoring singles from Dan Tauken that brought in 3 runs, an RBI single by Taylor Howell, a balk, and Dustin Mercer’s RBI double.
Tauken went 3-for-4 with the 3 RBIs, while Riley Hawthorne also had 3 hits. Howell went 2-for-3 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Mercer doubled twice.
Jacob Pennington went 6 shutout innings, allowing 2 walks and 3 hits with 6 strikeouts on just 77 pitches (4.28 pitches per out).
Bradley fell to 14-36-1, 6-20 in the conference.
Evansville 9, UIC 3: Evansville scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to erase a 3-0 deficit and went on to beat UIC, 9-3, evening their key series at a game apiece heading into Saturday’s finale. UIC built its lead in part on a Kendal Ewell solo homer, as he has reached base in all 50 UIC games this season.
But in the UE 6th, UIC’s night went haywire. Harrison Taubert drove in the first run with a double, then another run later when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. In between, Brodie Peart singled in a run, Taubert scored on a wild pitch, Simon Scherry had a sacrifice fly; Brendan Hord drew a bases-loaded walk, as did Cal McGinnis and Ty Rumsey.
After scoring a run in the 6th, UE’s Mark Shallenberger homered in the 7th to close the scoring. Scherry and Peart had 2 hits each for Evansville (30-22, 16-10). Donovan Schultz pitched 6 innings to get the win, striking out 3 and allowing 2 earned runs over 88 pitches (4.89 ppo). Shane Harris pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief before Parker MacCauley got the last 3 outs.
Ewell went 2-for-4 for UIC (33-17, 16-10), adding a double to his homer.
A UIC win Saturday will clinch the 2 seed in the Valley tournament. UE needs a win and a Murray State loss to be the 2 seed.
Indiana State 11, Valparaiso 9: Parker Stinson scored 2 runs and took away 3 which proved to be key in 20th-ranked Indiana State’s 11-9 win at Valparaiso Friday, clinching the series. The Sycamores led, 8-5, in the bottom of the 6th inning when Brady Renfro powered a ball to deep right field that appeared headed over the fence with 2 on that would tie the game at 8.
But Stinson had other ideas, leaping up to make the catch and preserve the lead. Stinson had already homered in the 1st inning himself.
Indiana State then pulled away in the 8th when Connor Hicks and Randal Diaz bothgomered to make it 11-6. Valpo, being Valpo and a team that never, ever quits, got 3 in the bottom of the 9th on Liam Patton’s homer, then put two runners on but Luke Gregersen struck out Kyle Schmack to end the game.
Indiana State hit 6 homers, with Diaz and Luis Hernandez going yard twice, along with Stinson and Hicks’ homers. Stinson also doubled. Diaz and Adam Pottinger each had 3 hits for the Sycamores (38-11, 21-5), who with a win Saturday would finish consecutive Valley seasons with a combined 46-8 record.
Patton’s 3 RBIs were joined by 2 each from Alex Ryan and Ryan Maka for Valparaiso (14-37, 6-20).
Illinois State 4, Belmont 3 (11): Noah Rabin sent Redbird fans home happy in the bottom of the 11th inning Friday, as his solo homer gave Illinois State (27-25, 15-11) a critical 4-3 win over Belmont. The victory kept Illinois State’s hopes alive for a top-4 finish in the Valley if Saturday’s results should fall favorably upon them.
Rabin also drove in a run in the 4th inning with a sacrifice fly. Judah Morris doubled in a run, and Auggie Rasmussen’s sac fly in the 5th made it 3-0 Redbirds in the 5th.
But Belmont (25-29, 12-14) battled back, scoring on a Pete Daniel single and two sac flies, tying the game at 3-3 after 8. Belmont stole 5 bases in the game, including 2 by Sam Slaughter (21 on the season).
Joe Husak worked the final 3 innings for Illinois State to pick up the win, improving to 5-3. He didn’t allow any runs, only 1 hit, no walks, and struck out 2 on 39 pitches. (4.33 ppo).
Missouri State 7, Southern Illinois 5: Missouri State built a 6-1 lead and then hung on to down Southern Illinois, 7-5, clinching the series and setting up a battle Sunday between the teams for seeding. An SIU win Saturday coupled with a Belmont loss would give the Salukis the 6 seed. Missouri State, even with a win, can’t finish higher than 7th due to a series loss to Belmont.
Friday, Taeg Gollert, Caden Bogenpohl, and Dylan Leach combined to go 6-for-10 with 3 runs and 4 RBIs. Rodriguez hit a 3-run homer as part of Missouri State’s 5-run 5th that gave the Bears a 6-1 lead. But SIU (30-25, 11-15) fired back in the 6th, scoring 4 runs – 2 on Justin Keuss’ single. Bogenpohl hit a solo homer in the 7th, however, to close the scoring.
SIU’s Bennett Eltoft went 4-for-4 with 2 runs and an RBI.
Missouri State (23-31. 11-15) starter Kaleb Thomas got the win, with 5 innings of work without allowing an earned run, and only 3 hits. He fanned 4. Tyler Charlton picked up his 2nd save.
Saturday’s game also marks the final home game for Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin, who is retiring following the 2024 season after 42 years at the helm of Missouri State baseball. Guttin’s entire head coaching career has been in Springfield, where he’s now won 1,396 games. Guttin is currently behind only Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall (1,408) in career wins among active head coaches.
Where We Stand Entering the Final Day:
- Indiana State 21-5, clinched 1 seed.
- Murray State 16-10 (4-2 vs. HTH group) (2 seed with win & UIC loss)
- UIC 16-10 (3-2) (2 seed with win)
- Evansville 16-10 (1-4) (2 seed with win & Murray loss)
- Illinois State 15-11 (4 seed with win, UE win, Murray win).
- Belmont 12-14 (6 seed with win or SIU loss)
- Missouri State 11-15 (2-0 HTH vs. SIU) (7 seed with win)
- Southern Illinois 11-15 (6 seed with win & Belmont loss)
- Valparaiso 6-20 (2-1 HTH vs. Bradley), will miss MVC Tournament
- Bradley 6-20, will miss MVC Tournament
Updating the Stat Leaders:
- Ewell (UIC) leads the batting race now by a good margin at .396. Shallenberger (UE) is 11 points back. The question now is can Ewell hit .400 for the regular season. A 2-for-3 day Saturday would put Ewell right at .400. A 3-hit day would do the trick, as well, as long as Ewell doesn’t have more than 5 at-bats.
- Mike Sears (Ind. St.) still leads the homer race with 21, but now his teammate Luis Hernandez is right behind him with 20, as are Drew Vogel (Murray); Zack Stewart (Mo. State); and Ewell. Murray State’s Taylor Howell and Missouri State’s Caden Bogenpohl have 19 each.
- With his 2 homers Friday, Hernandez now leads in RBIs at 66, 2 ahead of Ewell. Howell and Sears are tied for 3rd at 62.
- The hits race will be a ding-dong battle all day tomorrow. Illinois State’s Luke Lawrence, Ewell, and Hernandez are all tied for the lead with 76. Shallenberger is 1 back; and Vogel and UE’s Kip Fougerousse have 74. Big days from UIC’s Zane Zielinski or Missouri State’s Taeg Gollert, who had 4 hits Thursday, would be big as they are on 73 hits.
- All of which is nothing compared to the doubles battle. UE’s Harrison Taubert doubled tonight to give him 19 and the conference lead. But Shallenberger, Ewell, Fougerousse, Gollert, and Illinois State’s Judah Morris, who has doubled in both games this weekend, are all on 18. First to 20 wins?
- Speaking of 20, Belmont’s Sam Slaughter is the first to reach and pass 20 in stolen bases, with his 2 Friday giving him 21. He’s 2 ahead of Zielinski and Illinois State’s J.T. Sokolove.
Saturday on Valley Diamonds: The regular season ends (insert sad face). All 5 games are set to be streamed on ESPN+. All times Central:
Murray State at Bradley, 11 a.m.
Southern Illinois at Missouri State, 11 a.m.
UIC at Evansville, 1 p.m.
Belmont at Illinois State, 1 p.m.
#20 Indiana State at Valparaiso, 1 p.m.
Should Murray State make quick work of Bradley Saturday, UE and UIC could know their situations in terms of the 2 seed just as their game is starting. Same with Illinois State and the 4 seed.
If You’re Still Starved for More College Baseball: The late-afternoon slate on ESPN+ features the 2nd game of a doubleheader between #19th-ranked Oklahoma State and Houston.
Life in the Valley 
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