Life in the Valley

Battles Up and Down the Valley Standings with 2 Weeks to Go

This week in the Monday 9, I’ll take a look at the Missouri Valley Conference standings, including races for the top seed, the 4th seed, and the 8th seed, that are far from decided with 2 conference weekends left in the regular season. I’ll also take a look back at this past weekend’s action, while looking forward to what’s on tap this week.

Tomorrow here on the blog, I’ll take a look at streaks – long hitting streaks for Missouri State’s Nick Rodriguez (32), Illinois State’s Luke Stulga (19), and Indiana State’s Carter Beck (17), as well as Joe Ruzicka’s scoreless innings streak (20 1/3) for Belmont.

1 – But the Point is, They Wore It: It’s often said that uneasy is the head that wears the crown. But doesn’t stop anyone from wanting to wear it. And like a car in the lead on the final lap at Talladega or Daytona, there’s plenty of potential carnage behind Missouri State if the Bears spend too much time looking in their review mirrors. But week after week, Missouri State does what’s necessary to continue wearing that crown. At 15-6, the Bears find themselves still 1 game up in the Valley standings over Murray State. If things stay that way after next weekend, we’ll get a showdown for the Valley regular-season title and the top seed in the MVC Tournament May 15-17, when the Bears visit the Racers to wrap things up.

But there’s much that can happen along the way. Indiana State comes to Springfield this weekend, while Murray State renews old Ohio Valley Conference hostilities with Belmont. The Bruins are in the race for the top spot themselves now, 3 games behind Missouri State and 2 back of Murray. The Bruins end the season at UIC (12-9 themselves) in what could also turn out to be a very important series. UIC is at Illinois State this weekend.

Also figuring into the race for the top spot is Southern Illinois, which downed Murray State, 11-0, to avoid a sweep over the weekend, falling a game behind Murray and 2 back of Missouri State in the process. But SIU’s schedule leaves them well in consideration for the top spot, as they finish at home to Evansville and at Valparaiso – 2 of the bottom 3 teams currently in the standings.

2 – But Let’s Not Forget About 4th: One thing the Bears probably know is that barring a catastrophic downturn in form over the last 2 weeks, they’ll be one of the top 4 seeds for the MVC Tournament. But figuring out the rest of the teams who will move straight to the double-elimination rounds of the event is work for folks with intelligence of the highest order.

Consider, if you go all the way down to 7th-place Indiana State, there are 5 teams within 3 games of each other spanning from 3rd to 7th. Teams seeded 5th through 8th make the conference postseason, but will have to play a single-elimination game in the first round, then 6 teams will advance to the double-elimination rounds. If the season ended today, which would be a surprise to everyone, one of Belmont or UIC would be the 5th seed (no tiebreaker since they haven’t played yet), Illinois State would be the 6 and play Indiana State, while 8th-seed Evansville would take on either Belmont or UIC. It would have been hard to imagine one of the Redbirds or Sycamores being gone after just 1 game, but that’s where we’re at as things stand.

3 – But Wait, There’s More!: Aforementioned Evansville caught a break on Sunday with Bradley falling to Indiana State and not pulling off a sweep of the Sycamores. The Braves are 7-3 in their last 10 conference games after an 0-11 start, putting them in line to battle for what was once perhaps an unthinkable berth in the Valley Tournament. Now, the Braves sit just 1 game behind the Purple Aces, who should be in better position but fell victim to two 9th-inning collapses against Belmont over the final 2 games of the series, which saw the Bruins score 7 runs in the 9th Saturday and 9 more in the 9th on Sunday as the Bruins swept. Since winning its series vs. Indiana State, the Purple Aces have dropped 7 of 8 overall and 5 of 6 in conference.

And if it’s more intrigue for the final weekend that you want, Bradley visits Evansville to end the campaign after UE visits SIU this weekend. The Braves hosts Valparaiso this weekend, whose offensive struggles (4 runs total in the last 8 conference games, all losses) and 15-game losing streak see the Beacons at 3-18 in the Valley and 8-34 overall. Having Bradley still head-to-head could give the Beacons life if they sweep and UE drops 3 this weekend. Valpo finishes the regular season at home vs. Southern Illinois. Evansville also holds the tiebreaker against Valparaiso, having won 2 of 3 March 28-30. Any UE win eliminates Valpo.

4 – Bak Authors No-Hitter; Flames Sweep: Brandon Bak pitched a 7-inning no-hitter in the 2nd game of Saturday’s doubleheader, giving UIC a sweep for the day and the weekend, 10-0. You can read more about Bak’s effort here. The Flames, just 4-20 outside the conference, are now 12-9 in the Valley. UIC outscored Valpo, 22-1, in the sweep. Dillon Schueler pitched a 1-hit, 9-inning shutout on Friday, walking none and striking out 5 in UIC’s 3-0 win. In Saturday’s opener, a 9-1 Flames victory, Luke Nowak went 4-for-5 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs, while Thomas Curry finished 3-for-3 with 2 walks, a run, and an RBI, in the win. James Harris drove in 2 and walked twice, as UIC accepted 11 free passes. Curry homered twice in the win to support Bak, driving in 3. Nowak is now hitting .385 on the season with a team-leading 30 RBIs. Curry has 5 homers and 21 RBIs in just 92 plate appearances.

5 – Sycamores Stave Off Sweep: After falling at Bradley, 8-7 and 7-3 on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Indiana State Sycamores needed a win Sunday to keep themselves in the fight for a top-4 seed. Carter Beck, Nomar Garcia, and Carlos Pena used their bats to make sure that happened, as Indiana State prevailed 4-2 and that trio combined to go 7-for-12 with all 4 runs and 2 RBIs. Pena homered (14th of the season) and stole a base. On the mound, Grant Parson got the win with 6 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts. Gavin Morris got his 4th save. Bobby Atkinson homered Friday and Cole Luckey went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs Saturday as the Braves took the first 2 games to continue their recent resurgence. Josh Vaughn started Saturday and threw 5 scoreless, n0-hit innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts to get his 1st win of the season.

6 – Bruins Go Bonkers in 9th to Crack Aces: Belmont extended its winning streak to 7 games by sweeping Evansville over the weekend. On Friday, the Bruins got 7 shutout innings from Ruzicka and 2 more from Ethan Harden to close the door on a 3-0 win. But in the next 2 games, it was 9th-inning heroics that carried the day for the Bruins. Saturday, Belmont trailed, 8-6, entering the 9th inning, before Mike Sprockett hit a 2-run homer to tie the game. That sparked a 7-run rally that saw Sprockett close the scoring, as well, with an RBI single in the Bruins’ 13-8 victory. Sunday, Belmont didn’t necessarily need runs in the 9th, they led 7-6 after UE had rallied from 5-0 down to take a 6-5 edge in the middle innings on the back of homers from Charlie Longmeier and Harrison Taubert. But up 7-6, the Bruins left no doubt, scoring 9 in the 9th in a 16-6 victory. All of the runs scored on either singles, walks, a hit batter, or a ground out. Landon Godsey drove in 4 in the win, while Ty Allen, Michael Lareau, and Jake Maddox all had 3 hits. Longmeier had 4 RBIs in the loss. Lake Morris worked 3 innings of scoreless relief to get the win.

7 – First Place and Holding: Missouri State won a tight 4-3 affair at Illinois State Sunday to stay in first place in the Valley and win the weekend series, 2 games to 1. The Bears took a 3-2 lead in the 5th when Tyler Epstein scored on a fielder’s choice. It stayed that way until the 9th, when Curry Sutherland gave the Bears an insurance run with an RBI ground out. But the Redbirds wouldn’t go quietly in the 9th, however, getting one back on a fielder’s choice to get within a run. Shai Robinson singled and Daniel Pacella walked to load the bases with 2 outs, but Judah Morris fouled out to end the game. Starters Tyler Charlton (Missouri State) and Tanner Perry (Illinois State) struck out 11 and 9, respectively, in just 9 2/3 combined innings. Nick Rodriguez homered twice and drove in 3 in Missouri State’s Friday 14-10 win, in which the Bears scored 6 in the 8th to turn around an 8-6 deficit. Rodriguez has now hit in a school-record 32 straight games.

8 – Racers Keep Up with Bears: Murray State took the first 2 games of its series against Southern Illinois, winning Friday 8-3 and taking the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, 3-2 in 10 innings. In Friday’s win, Murray’s Nic Schutte got the better of fellow ace Alec Nigut, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings with 5 strikeouts. Murray knocked out Nigut after 2 innings with 4 runs and 4 hits. SIU made Schutte work for it – he threw 111 pitches in those 6 frames. Carson Garner went 3-for-5 in the win. Saturday’s game was rained out, leading to Sunday’s doubleheader. Garner ended Game 1 with a double to left center that scored Dustin Mercer. SIU had erased a 2-0 deficit thanks to a John Lemm homer and Cecil Lofton’s RBI triple. Issac Silva got a no-decision for the Racers, but went 7 2/3 innings with 2 runs and 5 hits, striking out 6 on 120 pitches.

SIU hit 4 homers in the finale, as Jordan Bach, Lofton, Lemm, and Gabe Petrucelli all went yard. Lofton and Petrucelli’s homers were both 3-run shots. Al Holguin went 6 innings and combined with Tanner Gerdes and Blaine Harpenau on a 2-hit shutout with 8 strikeouts. The Racers did draw 8 walks, but were unable to push a run across.

9 – The Week Ahead: Seven games dot the Tuesday schedule, including 4 matchups against Power-4 competition. The highlight of those is Indiana State hitting the road to take on 15th-ranked and defending College World Series champion Tennessee. Also, Bradley visits Illinois; UIC hosts Iowa; and Missouri State is home to take on UCF. All these matchups are of course weather permitting, and we’re getting into the part of the season where RPI concerns also play a part in games being played. Check your local listings.

Other matchups Tuesday include Illinois State at Northern Illinois; Valpo hosting Western Michigan; and Evansville heading west on the Lloyd Expressway to take on Southern Indiana. SIU is in action in the lone Wednesday game, at SIU-Edwardsville.

Friday, the penultimate weekend of the conference season kicks off as 2 series feature matchups between clubs with winning Valley records: UIC (12-9) at Illinois State (11-10) and Murray State (14-7) visits Belmont (12-9). Leaders Missouri State (15-6) host Indiana State (10-11), while SIU (13-8) welcomes rival Evansville (8-13). Bradley (7-14) tries to make its case for the Valley Tournament as its hosts Valparaiso (3-18).

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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.