Five games in the Valley were decided in extra innings this week, including two wins for Indiana State to keep the Sycamores at a perfect 7-0 on the year. Indiana State is one of 16 teams in the country that remains undefeated and the only team in the league with an untouched record.
Four teams in the league rank in the top-30 nationally in hits led by Evansville's 91, which are the eighth-most in NCAA Division I this season. Southern Illinois (91), Illinois State (85) and UIC (83) round out the Valley's representation among the top teams in the category.
Southern Illinois (12.1) and Evansville (10.7) are the only two teams in the conference averaging over 10 runs per game. Both marks ranks in the top-20 nationally. The Salukis have put up 10-or-more runs in five of seven contests this season while the Purple Aces put up a season high 18 runs in a run-rule win over New Orleans on Sunday.
The Salukis are second in the nation in base on balls (68) behind No. 17 South Carolina's 76. Jake Allgeyer leads SIU and is second the country in the category with 13.
Indiana State's team ERA of 2.08 ranks seventh nationally as Jacob Pruitt's 20 strikeouts are the fourth-most among pitchers in NCAA Division I.
Belmont BRUINS
- Belmont earned its first top-25 win of the season - an 11-2 stunner - over No. 21 South Carolina marking the first ranked win for the Bruins since 2018.
- The last time South Carolina lost in front of a sellout crowd was April 29, 2023, against Auburn while the last time the Gamecocks lost at home to a non-Power 5 opponent was May 17, 2022, to Charlotte.
- Starting pitcher Jake Timbes improved to 2-0, after his five-inning performance on the mound. Timbes allowed one run on five hits, and stranded three runners on base. Hank Liss and Bill Duby both tossed two innings out of the bullpen. Liss, in his third outing of the season, allowed one unearned run on two hits, with four strikeouts. Duby allowed two hits, no runs, and fanned four Gamecocks. Both pitchers set new season highs in strikeouts.
- Brodey Heaton and Landon Godsey each homered. Heaton hit a two-run bomb in the eighth inning, and went 1-for-3 in Saturday’s win. He scored the lone run for Belmont on Sunday, and extended his hit streak to seven games. Godsey launched his team-high third home run, and knocked in three runs.
BRADLEY BRAVES
- Despite falling in all three games at UNLV, the Braves outhit the Rebels in game one, 11-10. Senior Logan Delgado belted Bradley's first home run of the season in the series opener - a two-RBI shot that gave the Braves an early lead.
- Junior Timmy O'Brien led the Braves in hits across the weekend which included three in Friday's game.
- Sophomore Beau Durbin is currently riding a four-game hit streak. He hit his first-career triple at Bradley, and the first of the season by a Brave, in the series opener against the Rebels.
- In the series finale, sophomore Nick Haline pitched three innings, striking out three while allowing just one run and no walks in the outing.
EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
- Evansville has put up some incriminating numbers this year so far in the fifth inning, as the Purple Aces have feasted on opposing pitchers in the frame. So far this year, UE has outscored the opposition 26-1 in the fifth inning. Evansville has scored in the fifth inning in five of its seven games so far, and UE has scored at least three runs in the fifth inning four times already. UE is slashing .500/.947/.655 as a team in the fifth inning, and 10 of the 11 Purple Aces who have had at-bats in the fifth inning this year have collected hits.
- Evansville has been seeing double so far this year offensively, as the Purple Aces enter the week ranked third in the country with 26 doubles. UE has had at least one double in every game this year, and the Purple Aces nearly tied the school record for doubles in a game on Sunday with seven (the record is eight). Evansville currently sits third in NCAA Division I baseball in doubles with 26 right now, trailing only Austin Peay (30) and Texas Tech (29).
- Now healthy this year, Mark Shallenberger has continued to find a way on base this season, as he has reached base safely in all seven games to extend his streak to 23-straight games of reaching base dating back to last season. He is not the only Purple Ace who has an impressive streak dating back to last year going, as junior catcher/designated hitter Evan Waggoner has also reached base safely in 19-straight games dating back to last season.
- Shallenberger hit safely in all four contests this weekend, with three multi-hit games, as he went 9-for-18 (.500) with three doubles, two home runs, five RBI and a team-best eight runs scored. Shallenberger finished a triple shy of the cycle in two games this week, going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run Tuesday against Bellarmine and 3-for-5 with a double and home run on Sunday at New Orleans. He did not go more than two plate appearances without reaching base all week.
- Redshirt sophomore reliver Ethan Bell had a strong start to his 2024 season this week, going 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two relief appearances spanning 4.0 innings of work. Bell earned his first collegiate victory on Tuesday in his first appearance of the year, allowing just a run on a single hit in 3.0 innings of work, while striking out four men against Bellarmine. He retired nine of the 10 men he faced against the Knights. Bell then struck out the side in the eighth inning on Sunday in his lone inning of work against New Orleans. For the week, Bell allowed just two hits and struck out seven in 4.0 innings on the mound.
UIC FLAMES
- Brandon Bak put in 6.0 innings of work on the mound for UIC, picking up his second win of the season against Houston Christian. He fanned five in the outing and held the Huskies to just a .269 average at the dish.
- In four starts for the Flames, Kendall Ewell went .500 at the plate with eight hits, including two doubles, a home run and a team-high 13 total bases.
- Rayth Petersen went 6-for-16 (.375) on the week, including two doubles. The sophomore led the Flames in RBI on the week with seven, and also reached base twice via walks. He scored two runs of his own, and also boasted a perfect fielding percentage with four putouts and five assists.
ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS
- Illinois State collected its first win against Little Rock since Feb. 2020 on Saturday with a 14-5 victory. In the win, the Redbirds were led by junior Noah Rabin who finished 3-for-5 on the day with two RBI and a pair of doubles. The Redbirds also saw multiple hits from sophomore Shai Robinson, redshirt junior Judah Morris, and senior Luke Cheng as the 'Birds led 10-2 after five innings on their way to the 9-run victory.
- Morris was a major key in Illinois State’s series at Little Rock, as Morris posted a .400/1.438/1.000 slash line for the Redbirds. Morris had a hit in all three games of the series, including a pair of RBI doubles in the 14-5 win last Saturday. In the series finale, Morris tallied three extra-base hits for the Redbirds, becoming the first athlete with three extra-base hits for ILS since Ryan Cermak did so at Western Illinois in April 2022.
- Junior Joe Husak made his longest appearance on the mound at Illinois State, going 5.0 innings with three strikeouts while allowing just three hits and one run during Friday night’s 12-inning thriller in Little Rock.
- Freshman Matthew Donnison collected his first collegiate save on Saturday, going 3.0 innings while allowing two runs and one walk to go along with four strikeouts.
- For the second straight Friday, the Redbirds once more looked to senior Cameron Mabee in the series opener at Little Rock. Mabee settled in early on after giving up an early hit before sitting down eight straight Trojans, including four strikeouts, before surrendering his second hit of the game in the fourth frame. Over his final three innings, Mabee punched out three more Trojans to finish the afternoon with seven before turning the ball over to the bullpen in the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead.
INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES
- Indiana State is off to one of the best starts in program history as the Sycamores are a perfect 7-0 through the first seven games of the 2024 season.
- It marks the first time ISU has started 7-0 since the 2019 season and is one of just six times in school history the Sycamores opened the year with the mark dating back to the 1924 season.
- Dating back to the end of the 2023 season, the Sycamores have won 50 of their last 59 contests overall. Indiana State has gotten it done as a complete team effort with six players posting at least six hits on the season, while five players have multiple extra base hits. Seven different pitchers have won a game on the mound, four have recorded saves, and seven have sub-2.00 ERAs.
- Parker Stinson provided the power to Indiana State’s 5-0 week as the senior outfielder connected on a team-high three home runs while hitting .333 and posting a .833 slugging percentage. He reached base safely 10 times over 21 plate appearances.
- Sophomore Jacob Pruitt continued to impress in the 2024 season as the Yorktown, Indiana, native made his second start of the year. Pruitt struck out the first five Marshall batters faced in the game and posted a career-high 11 Ks over 5.2 innings in ISU’s eventual 5-4 win over the Thundering Herd. He currently has posted a 0.77 ERA over 11.2 innings while recording a 20:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
MISSOURI STATE BEARS
- Missouri State’s bullpen has been solid through seven games this year, combining for a 2.29 ERA and .193 op- ponent average over the course of 39.1 innings. A total of 12 Bears’ pitchers have made 27 relief appearances, with 10 of those sporting an ERA of 3.18 or lower when pitching in relief.
- Hunter Day threw four hitless innings of relief Saturday to earn the save at Southern Miss. The senior right- hander did not allow a Golden Eagle to reach safely over the final three innings and just one runner over his four-inning appearance to advance beyond first base in the Bears’ 3-1 victory.
- In Saturday's win over the Golden Eagles, Missouri State loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and scored its second when Jahlani Rogers drew a walk, and Zack Stewart blasted a solo home run – his second of the series – on an 0-2 pitch with two down in the sixth for the final 3-1 margin. Stewart scored twice and had two hits for the Bears, who had plenty of traffic on the bases thanks to drawing seven walks and being hit by pitches twice.
Murray State RACERS
- The Racers are top 15 in the country and second in the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.75, just behind Indiana State’s 5.27. Murray State also leads the conference in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.1, which is among the top 40 in Division I.
- Carson Garner blasted three home runs this week, two of them in a near comeback at SEMO. He reached base 14 different times totaling six hits, drawing six walks and getting hit by a pitch twice while also driving in six RBI. The Franklin, Tennessee, native has reached base in all seven games so far this season and currently leads the MVC in slugging percentage (1.190), on-base percentage (.667), OPS (1.857) and is tied for the most home runs with five. The junior’s five home runs this season are tied for the third-most in the country and is top five in home runs per game at 0.71.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS
- Through two weekends of the 2024 season, Southern Illinois has drawn 68 walks to rank second in the nation behind South Carolina (76). SIU has seven players who have drawn five or more free passes led by infielder Jake Allgeyer who has drawn a team-high 13 walks to rank second in the country.
- In seven games the Saluki offense has scored 85 runs to lead the Valley and rank 11th in the nation. It's 12.1 runs per game is ninth in the country. SIU has scored at least eight runs in each game it has played.
- Steven Loden has hit five home runs in seven games for Southern. He hit home runs in the first four games of the year but was limited to one home run over the weekend at UCA. His mark still ranks third in the country and tops in the MVC.
- Jordan Bach led the Salukis at the plate over the last four games, hitting .550 (11-of-20) to go with a .700 slugging percentage and a .609 on-base percent. Bach scored nine runs, drove in five, and drew three walks. Bach had multiple hits in each game over the week, having three hits in three games.
- Reliever Ben Riffe was strong for the Salukis over the last week, leading the team with a 0.00 ERA in three appearances from the bullpen. He pitched 3.1 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six batters. Riffe allowed just one walk and held the opposition to just two singles.
VALPARAISO BEACONS
- Kyle Schmack holds a team-best .333 batting average through seven games including three at No. 17 Alabama this weekend. He clubbed his 20th career home run this weekend and needs one more long ball to move into the top 10 in program history in career home runs.
- Schmack posted a .500 batting average this week, going 5-for-10 in a three-game series at No. 17 Alabama. He scored four of the team's six runs in the series while also racking up three RBI. Two of his five hits this week went for extra bases, including his 20th career home run.