Life in the Valley

MVC Teams Drop All 5 Games in Midweek Action

Well I guess there are gonna be some days like this, huh?

It wasn’t a cheery night for baseball in the Missouri Valley Conference, as the league dropped all 5 of its non-conference games Tuesday, including high-profile matchups at #15 Tennessee, home to UCF, and at Illinois. Two other games. Evansville at Southern Indiana and UIC vs. Iowa were postponed and canceled, respectively.

Vols Make Short Work of Sycamores: Tennessee scored 2 runs in each of the first 2 innings, then broke open a 4-1 game with 4 more runs in the 4th en route to a 12-1, 7-inning win over Indiana State (22-26). Leadoff man Gavin Kilen went 3-for-4 for the Vols, with 3 runs, 4 RBIs, and 2 homers. Tennessee, the defending College World Series champions, hit 5 homers on the night. Tennessee is tied for 2nd in the nation in HRs with 107, along with East Tennessee State. Georgia leads the world at 119. Missouri State (90) is tied for 7th nationally and leads the Valley.

Andrew Ortiz had 2 hits for the Sycamores and Mason Roell scored the only run. Carter Beck went 0-for-4 to end his hitting streak at 17 games.

Duck Tales: UCF survived an early delay caused by a stray duck on the field, scoring 11 runs in the final 3 innings to overwhelm Missouri State (25-21), 13-2. The game was tied at 2-2 after 6, before UCF took the lead for good on DeAmez Ross’ solo homer in the 7th. In the 8th and 9th, the Knights parlayed 3 singles, 2 doubles, a hit batter, a sac fly, and a Dylan King homer into 10 runs. UCF also had 4 doubles.

Nick Rodriguez doubled leading off the 5th inning to extend his hitting streak to a school-record 33 games. He later scored one of Missouri State’s 2 runs on the night.

Illini Take Control After the Stretch: A 3-run 7th-inning broke a 3-3 tie and propelled Illinois to a 6-4 win over visiting Bradley. The Braves wrapped up their non-conference schedule with a loss despite home runs from Cole Smith and Nick Hosie. Smith also doubled. He was the only Brave (11-33) with 2 hits. Smith opened the scoring with his solo homer in the 1st. Bobby Atkinson scored on a wild pitch in the 6th to tie the game at 3. Atkinson scored 2 runs.

Huskies Walk-Off Redbirds: Will Couchman hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning to lift Northern Illinois past Illinois State (22-24) in a surprise. The Redbirds had scored 3 in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game at 4. Those runs all came off the bat of Shai Robinson, who homered with Kyle Gibson and Daniel Contreras aboard. Illinois State’s other run came via a Judah Morris homer in the 6th. Matthew Donnison pitched 3 innings of scoreless, no-hit relief with 5 strikeouts to keep Illinois State in the game.

Luke Stulga went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 22 games.

Western Michigan Sweeps Season Series from Valparaiso: Unfortunately, another streak continued on Tuesday, as Valpo lost for the 16th straight game, falling 7-3 to Western Michigan. The Broncos won the season series between the clubs, 2-0. Valpo (8-35) held a 3-1 lead after 4 innings thanks to an RBI single in the 3rd from Aidan Thaxton, a Liam Patton sac fly in the 4th, and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Patrick Ilitch in the 4th. Thaxton and Thomas Cooper each had 2 hits for the Beacons.

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.