Here is your Missouri Valley Conference Recap.
#6 Indiana State 5 #3 Illinois State 2
OMAHA, Neb. – The Indiana State baseball team scored two runs in the top of the first inning on Tuesday and never looked back, opening the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference with a 5-2 victory over the third-seeded Illinois State Redbirds from TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
The win improved the sixth-seeded Sycamores to 27-26 on the season, while the Redbirds fell to 35-17. ISU advances on the winner’s side of the bracket, playing the #2 Wichita State Shockers at 5:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday evening in Omaha, following WSU’s 2-1 win over #7 Evansville.
Junior Colin Rea (8-4) started the game and earned the victory, allowing a pair of hits and one run in five innings with six walks and six strikeouts. Rea consistently worked out of trouble on Tuesday morning, stranding six Illinois State runners on base in innings two through five. Hochstedler kept ISU in front, tossing three innings in relief with four strikeouts, allowing one run on one hit with one walk. Drake came on for ISU in the ninth after Illinois State put the first two runners on base, tallying three straight outs for the save.
Indiana State Recap
Illinois State Recap
#2 Wichita State 2 #7 Evansville 1
OMAHA, Neb. – Wichita State (37-24) scored early and used another solid pitching performance by Charlie Lowell to beat Evansville (28-24), 2-1 to begin the 2011 State Farm MVC tournament at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. The start of the game was delayed two hours and forty minutes by heavy rain in the Omaha area.
Lowell improved to 10-4 on the season after he tossed 6.1 innings and allowed one run against the Aces. The left-hander, who on Monday night was named the 2011 MVC Pitcher of the Year struck out four Aces and allowed only one walk. Cale Elam went 2.2 innings to collect his fifth save of the season for Wichita State.
Cody Fick fell to 7-4 for Evansville after he went 8.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits. The right-hander collected eleven strikeouts and walked four Shockers.
Evansville threatened in the ninth but Elam was able to close the door on the Aces with a timely strikeout and a great catch by Shockers centerfielder Kevin Hall. Eric Stamets singled with one out for the Aces but Elam was able to get Fick to strike out. With two outs, Jared Baehl laced a single to left to bring up Aces centerfielder Greg Wallace. Wallace hit a deep fly ball to center that Hall caught on a dead sprint to end the game.
Evansville Recap
Wichita State Recap
#4 Missouri State 6 #5 Southern Illinois 4
OMAHA, Neb. — Missouri State’s offense broke out of its rut with a TD Ameritrade Park-record 14 hits Tuesday in a 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Southern Illinois at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Omaha, Neb.
All nine Missouri State (32-21) starters recorded a hit, led by Aaron Conway’s 2-for-4, two-run effort, a 3-for-5 and two runs scored from Luke Voit and a key two-run homer out of Tyler Paxson.
The Bears knocked first-team all-MVC selection Cody Forsythe for four runs on nine hits in four innings before his day ended on the final play of the fourth inning with a line drive off his pitching arm.
Southern Illinois Recap
Missouri State Recap
The opening round match between No. 1 seed Creighton and No. 8 Bradley has been postponed to Wednesday morning at 9am due to inclement weather. The schedule of games for Wednesday, May 25 is as follows:
# 8 Bradley vs. #1 Creighton, 9 a.m.
# 3 Illinois State vs. # 7 Evansville, 45 minutes following
# 5 Southern Illinois vs. Loser of Bradley-Creighton, 45 minutes following
# 2 Wichita State vs. # 6 Indiana State, 45 minutes following
# 4 Missouri State vs. Winner Bradley-Creighton, 45 minutes following
