Life in the Valley

Perry Goes 7 2/3 Innings to Pick Up 7th Win

It remains to be seen how long Illinois State sticks around in the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship. But the longer the Redbirds stay, the more Noah Rabin is going to have to be considered one of the top players of the tournament.

Rabin homered twice Thursday and went 3-for-4 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs, lifting the Redbirds to a 6-4 win over the Belmont Bruins in an elimination game in Evansville. In 2 games of the MVC tournament, Rabin is 6-for-7 with 5 runs, 5 RBIs, a double, and 4 homers. He now has 17 home runs for the season and a .307 batting average – his average has increased 23 points since the tournament started.

Rabin hit a 2-run home in the 6th inning that gave the Redbirds a seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead. But if we’ve learned anything in his Valley tournament, there’s no such thing as comfortable until the final out is recorded. Belmont came back with 3 runs in the 8th to get within 1 at 4-3. Landon Godsey drove in 2 of the runs with a homer, while Pete Daniel’s single opened the scoring in the inning.

But once again, Rabin had an answer. He homered again in the bottom of the 8th inning, a solo shot that made it 5-3. Judah Morris followed right up with a homer, as Illinois State went back-to-back to take a 6-3 lead.

Blake Barton doubled in Mason Landers in the 9th to cut the lead to 2, but that’s as close as the Bruins (26-32) got. No Bruin had more than 1 hit, as Illinois state outhit Belmont, 9-5. Shai Robinson had 2 hits for Illinois State.

Tanner Perry got the win, going 7 2/3 innings on a day where Illinois State desperately needed many innings out of its starter given there’s another game to play today. Joe Husak earned the save, his 7th of the season, getting the final 4 outs.

Illinois State (29-26) will take on Southern Illinois tonight in the final game of the day, as it’s scheduled now. SIU is undefeated in the tournament, having knocked off top-seed and 20th-ranked Indiana State in 11 memorable innings late Wednesday night.

Game 6
BEL 000 000 031 – 4 5 1 (26-32)
ILS 000 202 02x – 6 9 0 (29-26)
W: Perry (7-6).
L: Zuger (1-4).
S: Husak (7).
HR: Rabin, ILST 2 (16,17); Morris, ILST (14); Godsey, BEL (6).