Wichita State was crowned the 2007 MVC Regular-Season Champion after a 6-0 shutout of Illinois State in the season finale coupled with a 4-3 loss by Creighton at the hands of tournament host Missouri State. WSU's 20-4 conference mark earns the Shockers the No. 1 seed in this year's baseball championship, while the pairings have been set for next week's (May 23-26) tournament in Springfield, Missouri.
The last time Wichita State was regular-season champion was in 2004, after a 28-4 conference mark back when 4-game series were played. Creighton's loss ended the Bluejays hopes of a second MVC Regular-Season Title, and also ended CU's 17-game win streak at the CU Sports Complex. Additionally, it was just the second loss for the Bluejays in 23 games.
2007 MVC Baseball Championship Seeds:
No. 1 Wichita State (20-4)
No. 2 Creighton (19-5)
No. 3 Bradley (13-11)
No. 4 Evansville (13-11)
No. 5 Southern Illinois (13-11)
No. 6 Missouri State (7-17)
Wednesday, May 23 - Day One of Championship:
Game 1: No. 1 Wichita State vs. No. 6 Missouri State - 7 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Creighton vs. No. 5 Southern Illinois - 11 a.m.
Game 3: No. 3 Bradley vs. No. 4 Evansville - 3 p.m.
Thursday, May 24
Game 4 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 11 a.m.
Game 5 -- Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 1 3 p.m.
Game 6 -- Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 7 p.m.
Four Teams Remain after Game 6
Friday, May 25
Game 7 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 6 11 a.m.
Game 8 -- Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 3 p.m.
Game 9 -- Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 26
Game 10 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 1 p.m.
*Game 11 -- Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10 7 p.m.
Five Teams Remain after Game 6
Friday, May 25
Game 7 -- Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 11 a.m.
Game 8 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 3 p.m.
Game 9 -- Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 26
Game 10 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 1 p.m.
*Game 11 -- Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10 7 p.m.
Three Teams Remain after Game 9
Saturday
Game 10 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9 1 p.m.
Game 11 -- Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 7 p.m.
• The host school shall play at 7 p.m. Wednesday, regardless of seed
Click on the link at the top of this page for a complete bracket:
A three-way tie between Bradley, Evansville and Southern Illinois was broken after composite records amongst teams tied was used to determine which team won more games against the other tied teams (BU-4-2; UE-3-3; SIU-2-4).
Despite a 7-17 mark in this year's regular-season race, the MSU Bears earn the sixth spot in the tournament field as the host school gets an automatic spot.
The 2007 MVC Baseball Championship will get underway next Wednesday, May 23, in Springfield, Missouri. The six-team, double-elimination tournament will be played at Hammons Field, home of not only Missouri State, but also the Springfield Cardinals.
The Missouri Valley Conference will televise the championship game(s) from the 2007 MVC Baseball Tournament on Saturday, May 26, on FSN Midwest, Fox College Sports, Comcast SportsNet (formerly known as Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and Metro Sports.
On Saturday, May 26, Valley TV cameras will showcase Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo., for the 1 p.m. Central and -- if necessary -- 7 p.m. Central telecasts. The first championship contest will be shown live at 1 p.m. Central on May 26 on FSN Midwest, Fox College Sports, Comcast SportsNet and Metro Sports -- the league's production company. If there is only one championship game, the 1 p.m. Central contest will also be replayed at 10 p.m. Central on May 26 on FSN Midwest.
Should a second championship game be needed, the contest will be shown live at 7 p.m. Central on May 26 on Fox College Sports and Metro Sports and on tape-delay at 10 p.m. Central on May 26 on FSN Midwest and at 1:30 a.m. Central on May 27 on Comcast SportsNet.
SATURDAY RESULTS - REGULAR-SEASON FINALES
Wichita State 6, Illinois State 0
Wichita State was crowned the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champions Saturday afternoon, as the Shockers defeated Illinois State, 6-0.
Creighton lost, 4-3, earlier in the day to Missouri State, opening the door for Wichita State to clench the title.
The Shockers shut out the Redbirds for the second straight day with Anthony Capra leading the charge on the mound for a career-high eight innings. The sophomore held Illinois State to two hits and struck out eight while walking no one. Capra retired the first 11 batters of the game, before giving up his first hit.
Aaron Shafer made his first appearance since April 21st and struck out the side, facing three batters in the ninth.
Wichita State got on the board in the second inning, after Matt Brown legged out a lead-off infield hit. Conor Gillaspie drove him in with a double off the center field wall and then slid under a tag at home plate on a groundball from Tyler Hill.
The Shockers scored four runs off of two hits, two walks and three ISU errors. Senior Derek Schermerhorn singled down the left field line and Damon Sublett reached on an error. Both runners advanced on a double steal and the bases were loaded as Brown once again used his speed to get on base on a drop third strike. Gillaspie singled to collect his second RBI of the day and back-to-back walks to Josh Workman and Blake Hurlbutt brought in another run. Tyler Weber reached on a fielder’s choice that brought in Gillaspie to cap the four-run inning.
Gillaspie led the Shockers offensively, going 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Brown went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
UNI 14, Bradley 5
Seniors Curt Bradley, Boone Bugger, Nick Cameron, Eric Hoffmann and Tim Smid were honored before the opening pitch, and each played a pivotal role in the University of Northern Iowa baseball team’s 14-5 drubbing of Bradley, Saturday. The Panther bats scored 14 runs on 15 hits and the arms, led by a stellar outing from Guido Fonseca held the Braves to just one hit during his six innings in the win.
The four senior batters combined to go 8-17 on the day, including a perfect 3-3 day from Bugger (Bozemon, Mont./Bozemon), a 2-4 afternoon by Bradley (Colombia, Mo./Rock Bridge) and a 2-5 day from Cameron (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley).
Fonseca (West Covina, Calif.) tossed five brilliant innings and earned his team-best fifth win of the season. Smid (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary’s) and Taylor Sinclair (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) pitched the seventh inning and allowed five runs to cross the plate. Sinclair remained on the mound for the rest of the game and rode out the 14-5 Panther victory.
The Panthers scored all of their 14 runs in the second, third and fourth innings, including a seven-run third frame.
Bugger roped an RBI double to left to kick off a four-run second inning for UNI. Bugger’s hit scored Jordan Kraayenbrink (Decorah, Iowa/Decorah) from third and put runners at second and third for Deric Manrique (Sioux City, Iowa./North). One swing of Manrique’s bat sent the ball over the centerfield fence, scored Bugger and Travis Hendrix (Sonora,
Calif./Sonora) and gave Fonseca and UNI a 4-0 lead through two.
In the third, Kraayenbrink slapped an opposite field single to score Brandon Douglas (St. Charles, Iowa/I-35), move Cameron to third base and knock Bradley starter Jon Goebel out of the game. Kraayenbrink fell into a rundown between first and second, allowing Cameron to steal home for UNI’s sixth run. Kraayebrink returned to first safely and scored when Jeremy Weih clubbed his third home run of the season over the left field wall. The home run cleared the bases and gave UNI an 8-0 lead with one out in the third inning.
A walk, a single and an HBP loaded the bases for Hoffmann (Erskine,
Minn./Win-E-Mac) who drove in Bugger and Bradley with a bloop single to left field. Douglas followed with a line drive to left, scoring Manrique from second and extending the Panther advantage to 11-0.
The Panthers netted three more runs in the fourth, one on an RBI double by Bradley to score Bugger, and two more on Manrique’s second homer of the . Three runs in the fourth and a scoreless fifth gave UNI a 14-0 lead through five innings.
Smid and Sinclair entered in the seventh and allowed the Braves to climb to within nine runs, forcing the continuation of the game. Sinclair finished out the game and the Panthers won 14-5.
The win gave UNI a 2-1 series win over Bradley, who will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament next week. The Panthers finish the season with a 23-28 overall record and an 8-16 Valley mark. Bradley falls to 30-19 overall, 13-11 in the MVC.
Missouri State 4, Creighton 3
Tim Clubb threw 7.2 innings of relief and struck out a career-high eight Creighton hitters to lead the Bears to a 4-3 Missouri Valley Conference win over the Bluejays in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at the CU Sports Complex in Omaha. Missouri State closes the regular season schedule at 22-32 overall and 7-17 in the Valley. Creighton finishes at 40-13 and 19-5 in conference action with just its second loss in the last 23 games.
Clubb entered the game with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning and proceeded to sit down all but four of the 26 batters he faced while improving to 6-3 on the season. He allowed three hits, a walk and a run with eight strikeouts.
The Bears jumped up early with three runs in the first. Ben Woodbury and Tanner Mattson each singled to put runners on the corners with no outs and Brayden Drake drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Josh Mazzola grounded a ball to shortstop but the Jays were unable to turn two and end the inning as Mazzola reached first safely and Woodbury scored the Bears’ first run. Matt Lawson then smashed a ball to third that Steve Winkelmann failed to field cleanly and Mattson scored from third. Shane Elenz added an RBI single through the left side as the Bears sent eight men to plate in the first.
It took Creighton just four batters to answer and the Jays put two on the board in the bottom of the first. Darin Ruf poked an RBI single to right and Andrew Small lifted a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left.
The first four Bears reached in the second to load the bases with no outs after an RBI single by Mattson that scored Ryan Mantle, but Drake struck out while being hit by the same pitch for the first out and the Jays turned a double play to end the frame trailing just 4-2.
Creighton loaded the bases with one out in the second to knock Jake Shafer out of the game, but Ross Sinclair lifted a fly ball into foul territory that was caught by Nolan Keane who then fired the ball home to beat a tagging Chad Ogden for the double play.
CU pulled to 4-3 in the third when Winkelmann hit a towering pop fly to left that none of the three chasing Bear defenders could haul in before it landed for an RBI triple.
After the third, the game remained scoreless thanks to terrific relief by both bullpens. CU’s ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte sat down the first nine batters he faced before Woodbury led off the ninth with a single. Venditte threw four scoreless to extend his shutout streak to 32.2 innings.
Creighton starter Ben Mancuso (9-2) was handed his second loss of the year.
Missouri State begins Missouri Valley Conference Tournament play at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Springfield. The Bears enter the six-team tournament as the sixth seed and will face No. 1 Wichita State.
Southern Illinois 9, Indiana State 8
The Indiana State Sycamores concluded the 2007 college baseball season with a narrow 9-8 loss to Southern Illinois at Sycamore Field. ISU ends the season at 26-26, 8-16 MVC while the Salukis move onto next week’s MVC Tournament with a 34-20 overall record and a 13-11 MVC finish.
ISU belted a season-high four homeruns in the game, including a pair from junior designated hitter Chris Schmidt. Schmidt, who entered the game with just one round tripper on the season and only two during his three-year career, delivered two against the Salukis today. Schmidt finished the game by going 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of runs scored and four RBI.
His first of the day was a three-run shot in the bottom of the third which helped ISU knot the score at four after having trailed 4-1. SIU scored at least one run in each of the first five innings as they led
9-4 through five frames.
Freshman Nick Ciolli put the Sycamores on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo homer to deep centerfield. The solo shot was his team-leading seventh of the season.
Trailing 9-4 in the bottom of the sixth, the Sycamores got the bats rolling with two runs in that frame to inch closer at 9-6. Senior Ryan Bond’s double to right center with runners at first and second plated Brumagin and Ciolli.
Trailing 9-6 in the bottom of the seventh, junior catcher Sean Osborne drilled a homer down the left field line - his first of the season - to make the score 9-7.
Schmidt’s second homer of the game came in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 9-8.
Indiana State had a chance to tie in the bottom of the ninth when Casey Martin singled to right field to start the frame. He moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Strange and went to third on a grounder from Osborne. The Sycamores left him stranded at third when Ryan Strausborger grounded out to second to end the game and the season.
Sophomore Matt Shelton fell to 5-2 on the season after going three innings, allowing five hits and six runs (four of which were earned). He struck out seven batters during the outing. Senior Adam Lindsay capped off his career with 3.1 innings of work, allowing six hits and three runs while striking out one. Junior Josh Varno worked the final 2.2 innings, allowing a hit and striking out a pair.
The victory went to SIU’s Jordan Powell, who tossed 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits and six runs. Bryant George, who took the loss in the first game of the series, earned the save by working a one-hit ninth inning.
The Sycamores conclude the season with a 26-26 record and finish just outside of the Top 6 in the Valley standings.
Indiana State set school records this season for sacrifice bunts with
47 and hit batsmen with 88. The school record of a. 966 field percentage, set in 2002, was nearly eclipsed by this season’s mark of .964.
Osborne owns the new school record for times being hit by a pitch with 26.