Southern Illinois and Murray State are the league's only undefeated teams in MVC play after the opening weekend of conference action. The Salukis earned a trio of home wins while the Racers picked up three victories on the road. Collectively, the Valley road teams squeaked out one more win than the home teams during opening weekend.
Indiana State joined Southern Illinois as the only other home team in the league to earn the series win during conference-opening weekend. UIC and Bradley picked up series victories on the road alongside Murray State.
Indiana State, Murray State and Southern Illinois have each earned 17 wins headed into week seven of the 2024 season. There are only 33 other NCAA Division I programs in the country with at least 17 wins at this point in the year. The Sycamores boast the 18th-best win-loss percentage in the country (.773).
Indiana State leads the Missouri Valley Conference with a team ERA of 4.10 with three shutouts. The Sycamores are one of 24 programs in the country with three-or-more shutouts on the year.
Missouri State's Brandt Thompson is fourth in NCAA Division I with seven starts on the mound for the Bears while UIC's Reese Lawler's 13 appearances are tied for the 11th most in the nation. Southern Illinois' Aidan Foeller is averaging 14.67 strikeouts per nine innings which leads the league and ranks 12th nationally.
Southern Illinois has scored a league-leading 213 runs this season, averaging nearly nine per contest. The Salukis have an MVC-best 246 hits while Jake Allgeyer has scored 30 runs for SIU. Southern Illinois' Steven Loden leads the Valley with 34 RBI.
The top four individual batting averages in the MVC are from student-athletes from four different programs. UIC's Zane Zielinski is the only Valley player batting over .400 at this point in the season (.410) while Indiana State's Luis Hernandez (.396), Evansville's Mark Shallenberger (.386) and Murray State's Drew Vogel (.376) follow closely behind.
Belmont BRUINS
- Belmont fell to #3 Vanderbilt 3-1 on Tuesday in the All 4 Lou Showdown at First Horizon Park. The two-run loss marked the smallest win margin for the Commodores in their six games against an MVC team this season.
- Belmont was the sixth Valley school to face nationally-ranked Vanderbilt this season, falling 3-1, in its midweek matchup against the Commodores.
- The two-run setback marked the smallest margin of victory for Sandy against an MVC team this year.
- Blake Ciuffetelli made his first start as a Bruin against Vanderbilt and recorded a season-high five strikeouts. The lefty tossed five innings and allowed two runs on four hits.
- Sam Slaughter had a team-high six hits in the weekend series against UIC. He went 3-for-4 with a run in Saturday’s win. Slaughter also had a three-hit performance on Tuesday night against No. 3 Vanderbilt.
- Mason Landers drove in five runs over the weekend and homered in Friday’s game. Landers’ five-game home run streak ended Saturday. He is the first player in program history to achieve such a streak.
BRADLEY BRAVES
- Bradley opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a series win over Illinois State, taking the first two games of the series from the Redbirds.
- Bradley spent its first 22 games of the season on the road and will play host to Lindenwood on Tuesday (March 26) in its home opener. The Braves will be home for six of their next 10 games.
- Junior Travis Lutz was 4-for-8 with three RBI on the weekend, and he contributed the game-winning home run that lifted the Braves past the Redbirds, 9-8, in the series opener. Lutz added a pair of doubles to his stat line in the three-game series.
- On top of his offensive performance, Lutz tossed 6.0 innings, striking out three, while only giving up one earned run and no walks, in the second game of the series.
EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
- Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger was hit by five pitches this week to raise his total to a team and league-best 15 hit-by-pitches on the season. He enters this week not only third in NCAA Division I baseball with those 15 HBPs, but he has also closed to within just four HBPs of UE’s career record. Shallenberger is currently eighth all-time in MVC history with 47 career HBPs, and he is just four shy of Troy Beilsmith’s UE career record of 51.
- UE graduate third baseman Brent Widder collected his 200th career hit on Sunday with an RBI double against Murray State. He should also join UE’s 200 games played club this week, as he enters the week having played in 199 career contests as a Purple Ace.
- The Purple Aces look to jump back in the win column this week, hosting SIUE in a midweek contest before welcoming Southern Illinois for a three-game set this weekend.
UIC FLAMES
- UIC has won five of its last six contests and are an impressive 7-1 at home this season.
- Dylan White appeared in three of UIC’s four games this week, allowing just one earned run in 5.3 innings pitched (1.69 ERA). The graduate student surrendered only four hits and struck out two.
- After toppling Belmont, 7-4, on Sunday, the Flames earned their fifth weekend series win in as many tries this season.
- UIC still ranks in the top 50 (48) in the NCAA in fielding percentage, and rank first in the Valley in team batting average (.310).
ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS
- Illinois State went 3-2 last week, rounding out their five-game homestead with a 12-3 win over Bradley on Sunday.
- Illinois State defeated SIUE (14-3) and Northern Illinois (16-12) in midweek contests on Tuesday and Wednesday.
- The Redbirds put up 56 runs in five contests, averaging just over 11 runs per contest last week.
- Junior Tanner Perry dazzled in his fifth start of the season in the series finale versus Bradley, earning his second win of the year. Perry went seven complete innings, striking out five and surrendering just two walks.
- In the series finale victory, the Redbirds scored 12 runs on 12 hits, highlighted by a trio of Redbirds who finished with three RBI apiece. Auggie Rasmussen led the way offensively for Illinois State, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, three runs scored and a walk in the outing.
INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES
- Indiana State recorded its 11th consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series win over the weekend as the Sycamores rallied back from Friday’s opening loss to Missouri State with 3-0 and 8-5 wins over the Bears to continue their longest conference series winning streak in program history. ISU’s streak dates back to the end of the 2022 season when the Sycamores went 2-0-1 against Dallas Baptist with Saturday’s series finale ending in a 2-2 tie. Over the series winning streak, the Sycamores are 11-0 in game two and 10-0-1 in the final game of the series with ISU rallying back from four first-game losses to win.
- The Sycamore bullpen was key in the series against Missouri State with six relievers combining for a 1.29 ERA over 14.2 innings pitched, allowing the Bears to hit just .143 from the plate while striking out 20.
- Luis Hernandez (21-game hitting) and Dominic Listi (22-game on-base streak) continue to boast some of the longest streaks in the NCAA in the 2024 season following the weekend series against Missouri State as the Sycamore duo continued to get it done over the week’s four games. Listi has reached base in every single game in the 2024 season with the redshirt senior outfielder posting a .525 on-base percentage on the season. Hernandez is hitting a team-high .396 from the plate and homered twice over the week in extending the longest hitting streak in the Mitch Hannahs coaching era.
- The duo are the first Sycamore pair to have concurrent 20-plus game on-base streaks since last season when Hernandez (26 games) and Mike Sears (23) were both streaking at the same time midway through the year.
MISSOURI STATE BEARS
- The Bears return home to Hammons Field after an 11-game road trip for four games this week.
- Missouri State owns a winning record at the facility in 18 of their first 20 seasons and a 2-1 mark thus far in 2024.
- Missouri State swept three of their five home MVC series last season, with their first MVC series of this year at home on tap with Illinois State.
- With the 6-5 series-opening win over Indiana State on Friday, the Bears moved to 25-8 all-time in conference openers.
- Right-handed hurler Brandt Thompson tossed five shutout innings in the conference-opening victory at Indiana State on Friday. The senior struck out six against just two walks to improve to 3-0 on the season. Thompson allowed only three Sycamores beyond first base in the contest.
Murray State RACERS
- Murray State was just one of two Missouri Valley Conference schools to start conference play with a perfect 3-0 record along with Southern Illinois.
- The Racers were tabbed 18th in this week’s mid-major power rankings, per 11point7 College Baseball and are one of two MVC schools (Indiana State) among the top 40 in Division I RPI.
- Murray State’s 39 home runs lead the conference and rank 28th nationally and are top 40 in Division I in strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP and walks per nine innings.
- Taylor Howell blasted two home runs this past weekend at Evansville - a solo shot in Friday’s 13-6 win and a go-ahead game-winning home run in the top of the 10th in a 6-5 victory on Sunday to propel the Racers to a sweep over the Purple Aces to open MVC play.
- He batted .500 with three doubles and two home runs recording a slugging percentage of 1.250 while scoring four runs and driving in five RBIs. After the weekend’s play, Howell is second in the conference in RBIs, tied for the second-most home runs and has a top-five slugging percentage.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS
- Southern Illinois entered the weekend tallying 28 stolen bases in 31 attempts over 21 games. Against the Beacons, SIU was 17-for-18 on the bases with eight different players recording a steal. Trey Cutchen led the squad with four steals. Cole Christman and Hesston Gray were each 3-for-3 on steals. The Salukis are now 35-of-39 on steal attempts on the season.
- The Salukis lead the Missouri Valley Conference in runs (213) and scoring per game (8.8). SIU has scored 10 or more runs in 10 games this season, scoring 13 or more in seven games.
- The Salukis have shown patience at the plate, ranking tops in the MVC after drawing 167 walks in 24 games (6.95 walks per game). SIU has nine players that have earned 10 or more walks led by Jake Allgeyer's 25 free passes.
- Southern Illinois right-hander Aidan Foeller struck out a career-high 11 batters during SIU's Sunday afternoon win to secure a series sweep of Valparaiso. Foeller pitched six complete innings and allowed just three runs. He did not issue a walk in the outing. He struck out five of the first seven batters he faced.
VALPARAISO BEACONS
- Kyle Schmack ripped a pair of home runs on his 23rd birthday in the 9-6 home win over Ball State on Tuesday. He drilled a go-ahead, two-run shot that turned a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning. He became the third Beacon to enjoy a multi-homer game this season, joining Kevin Denty on March 1 at Elon and Alex Ryan on March 16 at No. 21 Campbell.
- This was Schmack’s third career multi-homer game and first since Feb. 26, 2023 at UT Martin. He also left the yard twice on April 16, 2022 at Illinois State. Schmack now has three career birthday bombs. He also homered on his 21st birthday in 2022 at Murray State. Lucky for opposing pitchers, Valpo did not play on his 22nd birthday in 2023.
- Valpo's Alex Thurston hit .500 by going 6-for-12 over four games this week. He slugged 1.083 for the week as three of his six hits went for extra bases. He homered in Tuesday's home win over Ball State and Friday's conference opener at Southern Illinois. Thurston drove in four runs and scored three times while also playing flawless defense with 11 assists and six putouts.
- Valpo pitcher Grant Jablonski saw action in two games out of the bullpen and logged five innings this week, yielding just one run on three hits while walking two and striking out five. Opponents hit just .176 against him for the week as he went 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He picked up the victory in Tuesday's midweek win over Ball State, logging three scoreless innings of two-hit ball while walking one and striking out four.