Life in the Valley

Missouri State Defeats Oklahoma State; Valley Goes 6-3 on Tuesday

After winning at 2nd-ranked Arkansas last week, 14-13, in 10 innings, the Missouri State Bears climbed over the .500 mark for the season overall with a 10-8 victory over visiting Oklahoma State Tuesday night in Springfield. The Bears are 2-0 this season against Power-4 competition, with games left at Kansas State, Missouri (twice), Arkansas, and UCF.

Missouri State (14-13, 5-1 Valley) took the lead for good in the 4th inning, after each team had scored twice in both the 1st and 3rd innings to leave the game in a 4-4 stalemate. But William Zareh hit a solo homer in the 4th to give the Bears the lead. Later in the inning, Taeg Gollert reached on a fielder’s choice and an error allowed Nick Rodriguez to score.

The Bears added 4 more in the 6th to take a 10-4 lead. Caden Bogenpohl walked to force home Dylan Robertson to make it 7-4. Zack Stewart scored on a wild pitch, Zareh came home via a fielder’s choice, and Jake McCutcheon singled home Bogenpohl.

Alex Conover’s 6th-inning homer cut the Missouri State lead to 10-6, and a 2-run single by Beau Sylvester made things tight in the 9th at 10-8, but starter/closer Jackson Holmes struck out Conover and Brayden Smith to end the game. Holmes fanned 4 in going the final 2 innings, while Owen Slater got the win in relief. Jett Hope took the loss for Oklahoma State, which is having an unusually substandard season so far at 14-13 overall.

But that doesn’t diminish Tuesday’s win in any way for the Bears, who make it a point to schedule tough in the non-conference, and have an advantage geographically with being able to schedule SEC and Big 12 schools for mid-week games, something other schools in the Valley can’t necessarily do on a regular basis.

Robertson led the Bears, going 3-for-5 with a run, while Rodriguez, McCutcheon, Gollert, and Knight all had 2 hits. Missouri State outhit Oklahoma State, 14-11. Max Knight and Tyler Epstein each stole 2 bases for Missouri State.

The Bears are in tough again this weekend, as they will play a much-anticipated conference series at high-flying Southern Illinois.

Here’s a quick look at other results around the Valley on Tuesday:

Salukis Win 8th Straight: It was a different formula for Southern Illinois Tuesday, as instead of bashing teams into submission with offense, the Salukis (21-7, 5-1) pitched their way past Lindenwood, 3-0. Tyler Timmerman pitched 8 scoreless innings, giving up just 2 hits with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts on 103 pitches. Timmerman, a junior from O’Fallon, Mo., has now had 2 scoreless, 2-hit starts this season; the other coming vs. Southern Indiana. Timmerman lowered his season ERA to 3.00 and the 6 strikeouts were a season high. Matt Schark, who is among the national leaders in RBIs with 41, Michael Mylott, and Cecil Lofton drove in the runs for SIU – all in the 5th inning.

McGinnis RBI Propels Purple Aces Past SEMO: Cal McGinnis singled to score Drew Howard in the bottom of the 8th inning, closing the scoring on Evansville’s 7-6 win over Southeast Missouri. McGinnis (.360 average leads club) went 3-for-5 in the game, and was joined in the 3-hit club by Matt Flaherty, Sunday’s walk-off hero against Valparaiso, who went 3-for-4 in this one with another homer, a double, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs. Flaherty has now homered in each of his last 2 games after not homering in his first 16. Ty Rumsey, who entered the day tied for 34th in the country in stolen bases, swiped another in this win to give him 17 on the season. Eric Stamets holds the UE record for steals in a season with 43, set in 2010. Rumsey has only been caught 3 times.

Sycamores Reach .500: Indiana State overwhelmed SIU-Edwardsville, 12-5, Tuesday night to get to 14-14 on the season (4-2 MVC). After a scoreless 1st inning, the Sycamores plated 8 runs over the next 3 innings to take an 8-1 lead and control of the game. Jackson Taylor’s 2-run single gave Indiana State a 3-0 lead in the 3rd. Keegan Garis drove in another run with a bunt single and Eli Gipson walked to force in Carter Beck to make it 4-0. A 2-single by Carlos Pena keyed a 4-run 4th inning, which also featured bases-loaded walks to Gipson and Jeremy Martinez. Pena, Weston Fulk, Garis, and Nomar Garcia all had 2 hits each for Indiana State. Colby Morse worked the final 3 scoreless innings to get a save, walking none and striking out 6 on 49 pitches.

Hogart Slam Sends Racers Past North Alabama: Lou Holtz used to advise college football writers that you need to be wary of directional schools. But Jonathan Hogart has no such fear. The redshirt senior center fielder hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 5th inning to lift the Racers past North Alabama, 5-3. The slam made it 4-3; Dom Decker’s double play ball scored Luke Mistone with the final run in the 6th. Dustin Mercer had 3 hits for Murray State. Graham Kelham and Derek Lebron worked the final 3 2/3 innings, allowing 0 runs on 2 hits with 0 walks and 5 strikeouts to close it out. The Racers (16-8, 2-4) are back in action today at Tennessee-Martin.

Beacons Prevail in Rare Home Game: Valparaiso (7-17, 2-4) played at home for just the 3rd time this season and made the most of it, downing Milwaukee, 8-6. After the Panthers scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st, the Beacons responded by not only tying it in the bottom half of the 1st, but scoring 4 more in the bottom of the 2nd to take the lead for good at 7-3. Spencer Warfield’s 2-run double completed the scoring in the 2nd. Warfield later homered in the 5th to make it 8-3. Austin Amburgey drove in 2 runs for the Beacons, as did Connor Giusti. Lucas Foley started and got the win, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits through 5 innings with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts on 83 pitches. Three relievers combined to finish it off, with Ryan Kruse working a scoreless, hitless 9th to get his first save.

Flames Fall in 10 to Northwestern: Leading Wildcat hitter Trent Liolios homered in the top of the 10th inning to give Northwestern a 2-1 win over UIC. Liolios entered the game pacing Northwestern in average (.357), homers (12), and RBIs (27), so it’s no surprise he was the hero on Tuesday. He also scored Northwestern’s other run when Jack Lausch grounded out in the top of the 2nd. UIC tied the game in the 8th when D.J. Butler grounded out and A.J. Taylor scored. Luke Nowak and James Harris had 2 hits each for the Flames (6-21, 2-4). Jake Jakubowski, Michael Vitellaro, Payton Barton, and Colin Hawkins combined to throw 5 innings of scoreless relief for UIC.

Late Punch Powers Illinois Past Redbirds: Illinois State was in the game at Illinois Tuesday, trailing 3-0 in the 7th inning. But the Fighting Illini swiftly put the game away after the 7th-inning stretch, scoring 5 times en route to an 8-2 victory. Greg LaChance doubled in a run to make it 4-0 before Jack Zebig singled in another run. After an RBI ground out, Collin Jennings hit a 2-run homer to complete the rally. Daniel Contreras hit a 2-run single in the 8th to get Illinois State on the board as part of a 2-hit night. Shai Robinson also had 2 hits for the Redbirds (12-15, 4-2).

Hawkeyes Use Pair of 5-Run Innings to Beat Bradley: Iowa scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st and 5 more in the 5th in a 13-3 rout over Bradley (3-21, 0-6). Three of Iowa’s 1st-inning runs and 1 in the 5th scored on bases-loaded walks. Timmy O’Brien homered twice for the Braves, his second multi-homer game the season. O’Brien now has 8 homers this year to go with 18 RBIs.

Today on Valley Diamonds: It’s a rather quiet Wednesday in the Valley with just 2 games scheduled. As always, times are Central, games are weather permitting, and streaming information is the best I can find. All things subject to change.

Murray State at Tennessee-Martin, 3
Trevecca Nazarene at Belmont, 4, ESPN+

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.