Life in the Valley

Streaking Murray State Beats Bradley, Level with Purple Aces

Down 4-2 in the top of the 9th inning, the UIC Flames rallied for 2 runs to tie its game at Evansville and send it into extra innings, where in the 10th, Jackson Bessette doubled in Zane Zielinski with the eventual winning run as the Flames stunned the Purple Aces, 5-4. The win moves UIC into 2nd place alone in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 16-9 record (33-16 overall). UE (29-23) fell to 15-10 and are now 4th, tied with Murray State but the Racers swept the Purple Aces earlier this season.

It was Bessette who started UIC’s rally in the 9th, singling to lead off the inning. Kendal Ewell followed with a single and a bunt by A.J. Taylor moved both runners into scoring position with 1 out. Ryan Nagelbach delivered a sac fly to make it 4-3, and Ewell was able to advance to third. Two batters later, Ewell scored the tying run on Rayth Petersen’s single.

Reece Lawler walked 1 and fanned 1 but didn’t allow any hits or runs in the 10th to earn his conference-leading 12th save. Zack Milsap improved to 3-0 in getting the win.

For the 2nd straight week, UE wasn’t able to win on a night where it got a solid start from Kenton Deverman, who went 7 innings and fanned 9 with 0 walks, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits. UIC got to Jakob Meyer to tie the game and Drew Fieger (0-2) took the loss.

In the battle between Ewell and UE’s Mark Shallenberger for the MVC batting title, Ewell, who has reached base in every game this season, went 1-for-4 and is now hitting .394. Shallenberger went 0-for-4 (he did walk to extend his on-base streak to 22 games), and fell to .387. Ewell entered the day with a 1-point edge over Shallenberger.

Cal McGinnis went 3-for-5 for UE with an RBI.

Murray State 9, Bradley 3: Streaking Murray State won its 6th straight, scoring 6 runs in the 6th inning to erase a 1-0 deficit en route to a 9-3 win over the Bradley Braves (14-35-1, 6-19). The Racers kept their hopes alive for a possible 2-seed in the Valley tournament next week with the win. They need to sweep Bradley and now hope UE comes back to win the series from UIC to land both the Racers and Purple Aces on 17-10, while UIC would finish 16-11.

Carson Garner (2-run single); Jonathan Hogart (2-run homer), and Riley Hawthorne (2-run double) had the big hits in Murray State’s 6-run uprising. Dustin Mercer and Ethan Krizen later added sacrifice flies, while Garner drove in another run with a fielder’s choice. Mercer led Murray’s 11-hit attack with 3 knocks.

Bradley outhit Murray, 12-11, but left 10 men on base.

Murray State (35-18, 15-10) ace Cade Vernon got the win, his conference-leading 9th of the season against just 2 losses. Vernon went 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits with 0 walks and 6 strikeouts on 96 pitches (4.80 pitches per out).

#20 Indiana State 13, Valparaiso 4:

Mike Sears hit 2 home runs and drove in 4, part of a 5-homer barrage for Indiana State as the 20th-ranked Sycamores blasted Valparaiso, 13-4. Sears now has 21 homers on the season to lead the Valley. Luis Hernandez homered (18th) and drove in 2 runs, tying him with UIC’s Ewell for the conference RBI lead (63). Josue Urdaneta led the Sycamores with 3 hits, including one of the homers. Sears, Parker Stinson (HR), Adam Pottinger, and Grant Magill all had 2 hits each for Indiana State (37-11, 20-5).

Sears is now the all-time single-season homer leader for the Sycamores with 2 regular-season games, the MVC tournament, and NCAA regionals (at least) to play. He moved 1 ahead of Murray State’s Drew Vogel and Missouri State’s Zack Stewart atop the conference leaderboard with his performance today.

Not to be outdone, Indiana State starter Jared Spencer improved to 6-0 with a 10-strikeout performance in just 5 1/3 innings. He gave up 1 run on 4 hits.

Valpo fell to 14-36, 6-19.

Belmont 11, Illinois State 5: Belmont overcame an early 3-0 deficit, scoring runs in 5 consecutive innings to down the Illinois State Redbirds, 11-5, in Normal Thursday. Brodey Heaton got Belmont (25-28, 12-13) on the board in the 4th with a solo homer, then his 2-run single in the 7th gave Belmont the lead at 6-5 and the Bruins didn’t look back. Heaton finished 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs. Nine different Bruins had at least 1 hit and 8 different Belmont players scored at least 1 run.

The Redbirds (26-25, 14-11) had taken a 3-0 lead in the 1st, thanks to Judah Morris’ RBI double and a 2-run single off the bat of Noah Rabin. Morris later tripled in 2 runs in the 5th to give Illinois State a 5-2 lead, but the Redbirds never scored again.

Cade Granzow got the win for Belmont, improving to 5-2 on the season by getting the last 13 outs in scoreless fashion, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks with 2 strikeouts on 69 pitches (5.31 ppo).

Missouri State 11, Southern Illinois 4: Missouri State hit 3 more homers and scored 5 runs in the 8th inning to pull away from visiting Southern Illinois in an 11-4 win. Logan Chambers homered in the 2nd inning to give Missouri State a 2-1 lead. Dylan Leach went deep in the 5th, scoring Caden Bogenpohl ahead of him to make it 6-3. In the 8th, Taeg Gollert put the finishing touches on the win with a 3-run homer to left center, his 10th of the season. Missouri State has 6 players now with at least 10 homers for the first time since 1999, according to the MC22 broadcast.

Gollert’s homer capped a 4-hit game. Bogenpohl and Leach each drove in 2 runs, while Cody Kelly and Nick Rodriguez had 2 hits each. Leadoff man Mathieu Vallee had 2 hits and 2 RBIs for the Salukis, while Trey Cutchen went 2-for-4 with 2 runs.

Dalen Stewart got the win for Missouri State in relief, his first of the season.

All 9 SIU hits were singles.

Where We Stand: About the only remaining seeding chaos possibility is if UE beats UIC twice; Murray State splits the last 2 with Bradley; and Illinois State wins the last 2 over Belmont. That would give UE the 2-seed at 17-10 and leave 3 teams at 16-11 in Murray, UIC, and Illinois State, who all went 3-3 head-to-head against each other. Coin flip? Draw straws? Home run derby?

1. Indiana State 20-5, clinched #1 seed
2. UIC 16-9, clinches #2 seed with win Friday
3. Murray State 15-10 (3-0 HTH vs. UE), clinches a top-4 seed with win Friday.
4. Evansville 15-10, clinches a top-4 seed with win Friday
5. Illinois State 14-11
6. Belmont 12-13
7. Southern Illinois 11-14
8. Missouri State 10-15
9. Valparaiso 6-19 (2-1 HTH vs. BRAD), will miss MVC Tournament
10. Bradley 6-19, will miss MVC Tournament

Individual Races:

• As noted earlier, UIC’s Kendal Ewell now leads the batting title race at .394 with UE’s Mark Shallenberger 2nd at .387. Bradley’s Beau Durbin sits 3rd at .367.
• Indiana State’s Mike Sears leads the HR race now at 21, with Murray State’s Drew Vogel and Zack Stewart (Missouri State) at 20, while Ewell and Taylor Howell (Murray State) have 19.
• The craziest race now is in hits. Illinois State’s Luke Lawrence went hitless Thursday, but still leads with 75 knocks for the season. However, Lawrence has a 4-way battle just 1 hit behind him, as Shallenberger, Ewell, Indiana State’s Luis Hernandez, and Vogel all sit on 74 hits after tonight.
• Three UE player are tied atop the conference in doubles with 18, as Kip Fougerousse joined teammates Shallenberger and Harrison Taubert at the top. But 4 players are right behind that UE trio with 17, including Ewell, teammate Zane Zielinski, Illinois State’s Judah Morris, and Missouri State’s Taeg Gollert.
• There was no change atop the stolen base race. Zielinski, J.T. Sokolove of Illinois State, and Belmont’s Sam Slaughter all still have 19, but Missouri State’s Tyler Epstein swiped a base Thursday and is 1 back in 4th.
• After their final regular-season starts, Evansville’s Kenton Deverman leads Murray State’s Cade Vernon by 1 in innings pitched. Deverman has thrown 89 1/3 to Vernon’s 88 1/3; but Vernon is 2 up in wins on Deverman with 9.

Friday on Valley Diamonds: All 5 series continue on ESPN+, all times Central:

SIU at Missouri State, 11 a.m.
Murray State at Bradley, 11 a.m.
#20 Indiana State at Valparaiso, 1 p.m.
Belmont at Illinois State, 3
UIC at Evansville, 6

If You’re Still Starved for More College Baseball: Hawaii carries an 11-game winning streak into Long Beach State to take on the Dirtbags at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN+.