Life in the Valley

Indiana State Beat Illinois in Elimination Game Earlier in the Day

Indiana State’s 44-win baseball season came to an end on Sunday night with a 5-0 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the first regional final game at the Lexington Regional. The Sycamores (44-15) had earned their trip to the regional final with a 13-2 hammering of Illinois in the first game of the day. That win avenged Indiana State’s first loss of the double-elimination regional, a 4-1 defeat to the Fighting Illini on Friday.

But needing to beat the Wildcats twice to advance to the SuperRegionals for the 2nd consecutive season, the Sycamores could never get their offense going against Kentucky in the nightcap. UK starter Mason Moore pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up just 4 hits with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Indiana State put runners on in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th but couldn’t get hit or break needed to get any runs in.

Kentucky (43-14) had no such trouble, taking the lead in the 1st inning against Indiana State’s Cole Gilley when Devin Burkes’ sac fly scored Emilien Pitre. Ryan Nicholson doubled the lead to 2-0 with a 2nd-inning homer. UK got another run in the 3rd when Nolan McCarthy was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 3-0.

The game stayed that way until the 7th, when Pitre’s 2-run homer gave UK a 5-0 lead. Relievers Jackson Nove and Cameron O’Brien worked the final 3 innings, giving up just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 5. O’Brien got Indiana State 1-2-3 in the 9th to end the game and the Sycamores’ season.

Indiana State, winners of 89 games the last 2 seasons, saw Randal Diaz go 2-for-4 in the season finale, while Mike Sears doubled for the Sycamores’ lone extra-base hit.

Gilley departed with 2 outs in the 2nd. Jacob Pruitt and Simon Gregersen combined to finish the game off. Gregersen threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless, hitless relief with 3 strikeouts.

Indiana State 13, Illinois 2: The MVC regular-season champion Sycamores won earlier in the day, scoring 7 runs in the 3rd inning to break open what had been a scoreless game en route to a 13-2 rout that eliminated the Fighting Illini. Parker Stinson and Adam Pottinger both had 2-run hits in the 7-run uprising. Sears hit a grand slam in the 8th inning to make it 12-1, giving him 24 homers on the season. It also allowed Sears to edge Luis Hernandez for the team RBI lead with 77, 1 more than his teammate. Hernandez also homered, his 23rd of the season.

The Sycamores finished the season with 106 homers as a team.

Needing to save the bullpen for 1 or possibly 2 games against Kentucky, Indiana State got the outing it needed from MVC Pitcher of the Year Brennyn Cutts, who set aside some recent shaky performances to throw a complete game, his second of the season, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits with 5 strikeouts on 117 pitches (4.33 pitches per out). Cutts finished the season 7-1 with a 3.69 ERA and 75 strikeouts.