Belmont, Indiana State and Illinois State all went undefeated in league play during the second weekend of Valley action. The Bruins and the Redbirds earned series sweeps on the road, while the Sycamores, who are atop the league standings at 5-1, eclipsed 20 wins on the season with the sweep of UIC at home.
Collectively, Valley road teams posted one more victory than the home teams in week two of the conference slate. Belmont spoiled Murray State's perfect undefeated record at home, handing the Racers a trio of losses.
With a thrilling walk-off win in the 10th inning against Southern Illinois on Saturday, Evansville head coach Wes Carroll earned his 400th career victory at the helm of the Purple Aces' program. Carroll is the 11th Valley baseball coach to reach the 400-win milestone and joins Missouri State's Keith Guttin as the only active MVC head coach with at least 400 Division I wins.
Heading into this past weekend, five Valley teams found themselves inside the top 100 in the RPI. Indiana State jumped four spots, checking in at No. 19, while Missouri State (38) and Murray State (44) found themselves inside the top 50. UIC (88) and Belmont (91) rounded out the league's showing in the top 100.
Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Murray State are each hitting .302 as a team while the Salukis are five hits away from 300 on the year. SIU's Nathan Brady leads the league with a .407 batting average. The Salukis lead the league in hits, runs scored and RBI. Southern has scored 10 or more runs in 12 games this season, scoring 13 or more in seven games.
Indiana State's pitching staff has combined for a league-best 4.28 ERA in 26 games. The Sycamores are holding their opponents to a .242 batting average at the dish. Indiana State has recorded 263 strikeouts on the year led by Luke Hayden, who has fanned 38 batters.
Belmont BRUINS
- Belmont held their own against #16 Alabama on Tuesday night. The Bruins were led offensively by Blake Barton’s 3-for-4 performance and Sam Slaughter’s two-run home run. Blake Ciuffetelli set a new career-high with seven strikeouts in four innings of work.
- The Bruins swept Murray State on the road, to improve to 4-2 in MVC play. Belmont hit .407 as a team, scored 42 runs, totaled 51 hits and smashed six home runs in the series.
- Sam Slaughter led the Bruins in the series with a team-high .533 batting average (8-for-15). He finished the series with six RBI.
- Mason Landers continues to drive in runs for the Bruins. The senior led the team with eight RBIs and three home runs, in the series against Murray State. Landers homered twice in Friday’s 14-4 victory, and once in Saturday’s series finale. He leads the team with ten home runs and 32 RBI on the season.
- Will Pryor recorded another quality start on Thursday. The sophomore went six innings and struck out five Racers, as he improved his record to 3-1.
BRADLEY BRAVES
- The Braves' home opener against Lindenwood was cancelled on Tuesday as Bradley has now played all 25 of its games away from home to start the year.
- Tuesday's non-conference bout with Iowa kicks off a five-game homestand for the Braves.
- Bradley went 1-2 on the week, picking up the series-opening 6-4 victory over Valparaiso on Friday.
- A trio of Braves recorded multi-hit performances in the win, led by Beau Durbin's 3-for-4 day at the dish. He added a pair of runs and a walk to go with a double. Logan Delgado led the way with three RBI marking the fifth time this season the senior catcher has recorded multiple RBI in a game.
- Noah Edders picked up the win on the mound, moving to 4-2 on the year, while Anthony Potthoff earned the save. Edders tossed six complete innings, striking out seven.
EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
- With Saturday's 11-10 victory over Southern Illinois, Evansville head coach Wes Carroll became the 11th head coach in Missouri Valley Conference history to record 400 wins as a dugout boss in the MVC.
- With Carroll's next victory, he will tie former UNI and Indiana State head coach Rick Heller for 10th place in the Valley coaching chart with 401 victories as a Valley head coach.
- The Evansville offense has been double trouble to the opposition this year, as the Purple Aces have knocked a league-high 76 doubles so far this season.
- Evansville is just 19 doubles shy of its season total from a year ago (95) after knocking 14 doubles in four games this week.
- The school record for doubles in a single-season is 136, set by the 1998 team, which happens to be head coach Wes Carroll's freshman season. Carroll still holds UE's career record for doubles, as he is tied for sixth all-time in MVC history with Joe Carter with 74 career two-baggers.
UIC FLAMES
- UIC opened the week with an impressive 11-1 win at home against Milwaukee, using nine hits, including five doubles, and 12 walks to power past the Panthers.
- Freshman Vidal Colon led the way for the Flames against the Panthers, going 2-for-3 with a three-RBI double and a walk.
- Despite the trio of losses at Indiana State, the Sycamores needed extra innings to get past the Flames in the second game of the series.
- After falling behind in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday, a dramatic two-run home run for the Flames caused the game to go to extra innings, where they eventually fell by a final score of 9-8 in 11 innings.
- For the first time this season, four Flames left the yard and four turned in multi-hit performances.
- Kendal Ewell has reached base in all 26 games this season, the longest current streak on the Flames’ roster.
ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS
- Illinois State secured its first three-game road series sweep over Missouri State since 2010, including a pair of comeback victories on Friday (12-11) and Saturday (8-5). The Redbirds outscored the Bears, 15-6, in the final two innings of all three games in Springfield.
- Auggie Rasmussen lifted the Redbirds in Springfield, connecting on two home runs, bringing in six RBI, a double and 10 total bases over the weekend. Rasmussen ended the series with a 2-for-4 performance at the dish, totaling four RBI with a home run and a double versus the Bears.
- Sophomore Thomas Harper was strong out of the Illinois State bullpen this weekend, providing some much-needed relief for the Redbirds. The Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, native came on in relief in the Saturday series clincher at Missouri State, striking out two Bears over 2.0 innings of relief to collect the win in the 8-5 victory for the Redbirds. Harper currently holds a 6.65 ERA over 21.2 innings while recording a 24:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES
- Indiana State’s pitching staff has not skipped a beat in the 2024 season as the Sycamores are off to another dominant start on the mound through the first 25 games. The Sycamores lead the MVC in team ERA (4.28) over 227.0 innings and pace the Valley in strikeouts (263), strikeouts looking (88), and opponent batting average (.242).
- Those numbers are even better in conference play through the first two weeks of the season as Indiana State has shut down both the Missouri State and the UIC bats to go 5-1 in their first six games. ISU’s numbers through the first two weeks include a team ERA of 3.86 over 56.0 innings with Valley highs in strikeouts (67), strikeouts looking (19), and a opposing batting average of .198.
- Eleven different Sycamore pitchers have combined on the mound with Cam Edmonson (0.00), Zach Davidson (1.42), Brennyn Cutts (2.25), and Jared Spencer (2.45) all boasting sub-3.00 ERAs while making multiple appearances on the mound.
MISSOURI STATE BEARS
- Senior catcher Dylan Leach completed the month of March with a .400 batting average over 17 games, reaching safely in 16 of those contests while slugging .738 with a .487 on-base percentage. Leach collected 26 hits, including seven doubles and five homers, and scored 18 runs, all team highs. He also was perfect in 124 fielding chances.
- Despite a late-inning surge by Illinois State in the second game of the series on Saturday, Caden Bogenpohl led off the bottom of the fifth with his seventh homer of the season, and Nick Rodriguez added a two-out solo shot in the seventh before two walks set up Cody Kelly's three-run go-ahead homer for a 5-4 lead.
- The trio of homers marked the fourth time this season at least three different Bears left the yard in a game and fifth time this year that Missouri State launched three-or-more homers in a contest.
Murray State RACERS
- Carson Garner hit his 11th home run of the season during Thursday’s series opener at home against Belmont, surpassing his 2023 season total of 10.
- After hitting 10 home runs last season through 57 games played, his new season best was recorded in 30 less games with 11 through 27 games.
- Going into their midweek games with Southern Indiana, the Racers rank top 50 nationally in batting average, hits, home runs, slugging percentage, win-loss percentage and walks allowed per nine innings.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS
- Southern Illinois is 49-55 on stolen base attempts this season, ranking first in the MVC. Nine players have multiple stolen bases led by Mathieu Vallee who is a perfect 9-for-9. Jake Allgeyer is 8-for-8 on steals while Hesston Gray is 6-of-7.
- The Salukis lead the Missouri Valley Conference in runs (242) and scoring per game (8.6). Southern has scored 10 or more runs in 12 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 184 walks in 28 games (6.57 walks per game). SIU has nine players that have earned 10 or more walks led by Jake Allgeyer's 27 free passes.
VALPARAISO BEACONS
- Valpo prevailed, 13-2, in seven innings in Sunday's rubber match vs. Bradley, invoking the 10-run rule in a league victory for just the second time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, both against the Braves.
- The 11-run win represented Valpo's most lopsided MVC victory since joining the conference prior to the 2018 campaign. The 13 runs were a season high, while Valpo pitching yielded a season-low four hits.
- Valpo senior Alex Thurston posted a .333 batting average over four games this week while reaching base at a .529 clip and slugging .750. He scored six runs and had three extra-base hits including a home run to help Valpo to a 2-2 week that featured a conference series win over Bradley and a one-run loss at No. 7 Vanderbilt. In the three games against the Braves, he hit .444 (4-for-9) with five runs scored while slugging 1.000 and reaching at a .615 clip. Three of his four hits went for extra bases.