Hitting and Scoreless Inning Streaks Become Story of 2025 Valley Baseball Season
One of the beauties about baseball is its consistency. The sport is there, every day, to be enjoyed, even if it means watching 2 teams you’ve never heard of or aren’t familiar with. It also means appreciating those that are able to do their jobs at a high level consistently, day after day, week after week.
Right now, 4 Valley players are on streaks the likes of which make fans and neutrals alike check the boxscores each day to see if they continue. Let’s take a look at each of them, and hope not to jinx them!
Nick Rodriguez
Missouri State
32-game Hitting Streak
Everyone associates hitting streaks with the number 56, thanks to Joe DiMaggio’s Major League Baseball-record streak in 1941. Many also remember such a streak at the college level, as Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura hit in 58 straight games in 1987.
Rodriguez is having a stellar season, one that may well land him Valley Player of the Year honors. Batting .372, he leads a potent Missouri State lineup that has lifted the Bears to first place at 15-6 in their final season in the MVC. But Rodriguez leads in far more than just average. He’s also carrying a 1.177 OPS, has hit 20 doubles, 16 home runs, driven in 52 runs, and scored 56 times in 45 games. He only has 4 more strikeouts than walks.
His hitting streak, now a school record, began quietly enough with a 1-for-5 effort against Wichita State on March 9. The Shockers had held him hitless the day before in 4 at-bats, after Rodriguez had gone 7-for-14 in his previous 4 games against Wichita State, Saint Louis, and Louisiana-Monroe.
The first multi-hit game of the streak came 2 games later, when Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a double against SIU-Edwardsville. Rodriguez went on to have 6 hits in that series, with three 2-hit games. Multi-hit games would become a theme for him as the streak continued. In his most epic performance, Rodriguez went 5-for-6 with 2 homers and a double in Missouri State’s 14-13 midweek win at then-#2 Arkansas. In the 32 games, Rodriguez has had 18 multi-hit games, including 2 different streaks of 4 multi-hit games in a row. In his last 6 games, Rodriguez is 11-for-27 with 4 homers and 7 RBIs.
Over the 32-game span, Rodriguez is hitting .397. In 21 conference games, he’s batting .402 with 10 doubles, 12 homers, and 34 RBIs.
Joe Ruzicka
Belmont
20 1/3-inning Scoreless Streak
Were it not for 1 inning against Southern Illinois 3 starts ago, the entire college baseball world would be talking about Belmont’s Joe Ruzicka. The former Saturday starter who has earned his way into the prime Friday starting spot in the Bruins rotation allowed 4 runs to the Salukis in the 2nd inning on April 18, a game the Bruins eventually dropped, 4-3. But before and since then, he’s been nearly untouchable.
In Ruzicka’s 5 starts spanning April and May, he’s allowed just those 4 runs to SIU, and a mere 12 hits in a span 35 2/3 innings. That makes for a 1.01 ERA (dazzling at any level but especially in college baseball). During that span, he’s pitched to a stellar 0.70 WHIP.
The junior righty from Webster Groves, Mo., was a fixture in the Belmont rotation last season, making 15 starts and throwing 73 2/3 innings. He showed glimpses early this season of what he could do, holding Notre Dame to 1 run on 3 hits over 6 innings March 1, then combing back in his next start at Little Rock and allowing just 1 earned run over 6 innings, again with only 3 hits. But there would still be the occasional shaky outing in games such as vs. Butler and Missouri State, where he gave up 11 runs on 12 hits over 8 2/3 innings (though Belmont won both games).
There’s been no such concern lately. Against Indiana State and Bradley, he pitched 14 combined innings, giving up just 3 hits with 0 runs, 5 walks, and 17 strikeouts – all on 210 combined pitches. After the 4-run 2nd against SIU, Ruzicka shut down the Salukis for 5 1/3 innings, keeping Belmont in the game.
In his last 2 starts, however, not only has Ruzicka been stingy, but he’s been more efficient. Over 15 shutout innings against Valparaiso and Evansville, Ruzicka has allowed 4 hits with 5 walks and 10 strikeouts, but he’s needed only 182 pitches in the process. He 1-hit Valpo over 8 innings on just 83 pitches – a sparkling 3.46 pitches per out.
Ruzicka is 5-2 on the season, matching his career high in wins, with a 3.00 ERA. He’s fanned 58 in 66 innings and a 1.12 WHIP during that time. Opponents are batting just .179 against Ruzicka in 66 innings going 40-for-223.
Luke Stulga
Illinois State
21-game Hitting Streak
Stulga gave everyone a hint of what he was capable of as a freshman in 2024, hitting .326 with 6 doubles in 20 appearances, scoring 14 runs. He struggled a bit early this season, going 7-for-39 in his first 11 games, with his batting average bottoming out at .179. All of that is well in the past now, however, as Stulga has hit safely in all but 2 of the last 33 games, raising his season average more than 100 points to .297, including a high-water mark of .305.
Stulga, a sophomore from Tinley Park, Ill., is batting .342 during the 21-game hitting streak, going 27-for-79 (after 2 games, Stulga appeared as a defensive replacement vs. Murray State but had no plate appearances. He’s since hit in 19 additional consecutive games). Stulga’s gotten exactly 1 hit in each of Illinois State’s last 9 games, which makes for remarkable consistency. His high point in the streak so far came in the middle game of a series against Bradley, where he went 3-for-6 in a 14-13 loss, 12-inning loss, scoring twice and driving in a run. He also drove in 4, going 2-for-3, vs. Murray State to start the streak.
Stulga hit a grand slam in a 6-5 win vs. Iowa on April 29, helping the Redbirds to a 2-game season sweep of the Hawkeyes out of the Big 10. His hitting streak has also featured hits in a pair of games against Illinois, going 1-for-4 each time. His .297 season average is complemented by a an .818 OPS. He’s 5 homers and driven in 35 runs, which is good for 4th in a talented Redbirds’ lineup.
Carter Beck
Indiana State
17-game Hitting Streak
It was an offseason of upheaval at Indiana State, where long-time and successful head coach Mitch Hannahs left Terre Haute to take the top job at South Florida. In the aftermath, almost the entire roster entered the transfer portal, with many signing elsewhere and some going pro where possible.
That left question marks as to who was going to pick up the slack for this season’s Indiana State club. Sophomore Carter Beck has been a rock among those players trying to steer the Sycamores in the right direction. That’s been especially true for the Saskatchewan native since Valley play began. Beck is currently riding a 17-game hitting streak and has hit safely in every game of the Sycamores’ past 4 conference series.
Beck’s streak started when he doubled, scored, and drove in 2 runs on a 1-for-4 day vs. SIU. Right after that, Beck went 10-for-20 in his next 5 games, including 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs at Purdue, 2-for-3 with 3 runs at Indiana, and 6-for-12 with 3 runs and 5 RBIs in a 2-1 weekend series win over Southern Illinois.
Beck’s last 2 conference series have also stood out. Against Murray State, Beck went 7-for-14 with 4 RBIs and two 3-hit games. Last weekend vs. Bradley, Beck had 2 hits in each game, going 6-for-12 with 4 runs and 2 RBIs.
For the season, Beck is hitting .325 with 47 runs and 47 RBIs. He leads the Sycamores in runs and 2 RBIs behind Carlos Pena for the team lead. Beck has a .971 OPS and has stolen 11 bases. He’s also tied for the team lead with 13 doubles.
How long will these streaks continue? Only the college baseball gods know. But the streaks have become a focal point of this Valley baseball season and another cool thing to follow as the postseason nears.
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.
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