Life in the Valley

UIC Drops 10-4 Decision to Finish 1-3 in Charleston

A 4-1 lead after 5 innings didn’t hold up, as The Citadel scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning and pulled away for a 10-4 win in Presidents’ Day action in Charleston, S.C.

Matthew Lively drove in 2 runs with a triple to start the scoring in the 6th, then came home on a wild pitch to tie the game at 4-4. Later, Thomas Rollauer doubled in a run, and after a run-scoring ground out, Rollauer scored Garrett Dill’s single to give The Citadel a 7-4 lead. Lively drove in another run in the 7th as the Bulldogs, who plated 3 runs in the 7th to complete the scoring.

Jackson Bessette and Jack Snyder had 2 hits each for UIC (1-3), which dropped 2 games vs. The Citadel on this trip and split two with Charleston Southern. Bessette went 5-for-15 (.333) for the trip with 6 runs scored. Snyder went 4-for-7 (.571) scored 4 runs, and drove in a team-high 7. David Cox started and turned in 5 solid innings for the Flames, allowing 1 run on 3 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Cox threw 69 pitches (4.6 pitches per out).

The road doesn’t get any easier for UIC, which heads south again this weekend for a 4-game, 4-day series at 8th-ranked Georgia starting Thursday afternoon.

SIU Legend Jones Passes Away: Southern Illinois announced Monday that Richard C. “Itchy” Jones passed away at 87. Jones, for whom the SIU baseball stadium is named, was the Salukis head coach for 21 seasons and later held the same position at Illinois for 15 years. Jones took the Salukis to the College World Series 3 times, reaching the championship game in 1971 before falling, 7-2, to USC. In 1974, Jones again led SIU to Omaha, where they were eliminated by USC again, this time in a semifinal, also by a 7-2 score. In 1977, the Salukis again made the semifinal before falling to Arizona State. In all, SIU went an impressive 9-6 in those 3 CWS appearances under Jones.

Jones, a 1960 SIU grad, won 1,240 games in his career with a .633 winning percentage. His teams won 7 MVC regular-season titles, including 4 straight from 1975-78. Jones won 738 games at SIU and 474 at Illinois, where he twice won the Big Ten regular-season title (1998, 2005).

Both SIU and Illinois paid tribute to him Monday.

Tuesday’s Streaming Menu: Just 1 game on the streaming menu. Tuesday’s remaining schedule follows. All times Central. All games weather permitting.

Evansville at Lipscomb, 1 p.m., ESPN+

Belmont at Tennessee Tech, 2 p.m.
Murray State at Tennessee-Martin, 3 p.m.
Indiana State at Florida Gulf Coast, 5:30 p.m.

Ed Morgans is the founder of MVCBaseball.com. An Evansville graduate, Ed has written about and broadcast college baseball, while following the sport for 40 years.