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Tournament Set
DBU (14-7 MVC) earned the top seed at the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament, as the Patriots claimed a share of their second regular-season title in program history. 

Host Illinois State will be the No. 2 seed after  sharing the title with DBU at 14-7, claiming the program’s third league crown. 

Indiana State claimed the No. 3 seed with a 13-8 MVC record, while Evansville finished as the No. 4 seed at 11-10.  Bradley also went 11-10 in MVC action, claiming the No. 5 seed.

Missouri State earned the No. 6 seed at 10-11, while Valparaiso finished as the No. 7 seed with a 6-15 conference record. 

Southern Illinois (5-16 MVC) will be the No. 8 seed in this week’s MVC Tournament.

Redbirds Set to Host
Illinois State University will serve as host for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship for the second time in school history, from May 21-25. The 2019 event will take place at Duffy Bass Field, which serves as the home field for the Redbirds.

Repeat?
Missouri State will look for a second-straight title at the 2019 MVC Baseball Championship. Current league teams have won back-to-back titles four times in league history, – Southern Illinois (77-78); Indiana State (83-84); Missouri State (96-97); and DBU (16-17).  The last school to win three-straight MVC Tourney titles was Wichita State, who claimed four-straight crowns from 2002-2005.

Tournament Top Dog
Indiana State boasts 69 MVC Tournament wins, the most in the league, while DBU holds the league’s top winning percentage (.783) in tournament play. 

Team         Tournament Record    Winning %
Bradley                  53-76                 .411
DBU                        18-5                 .783
Evansville             26-39                  .400
Illinois State          28-45                  .384
Indiana State         69-61                  .531
Missouri State       55-47                  .539
Southern Illinois    56-65                  .463
Valparaiso                 1-2                  .333

Host Team Success
Dating back to 1981, host institutions have been the tournament champion 14 times in 38 years, most recently in 2011 (Creighton), while they have been the tournament runner-up an additional eight times. Wichita State and Creighton are the only tournament hosts to have ever won on their home fields.

Top Two Seeds Dominate
If history is any indication, being the No. 1 seed has its benefits as more MVC Tournament champions (18) have come from the top spot than any other seed dating back to 1981. The No. 2 seed has claimed 11 tournament titles, while no other seed has won more than four championships.

Seed    Championships
No. 1    18
No. 2    11
No. 3    4
No. 4    1
No. 5    2
No. 6    1
No. 8    1

Regular Season Champs
DBU’s 12-1 win over Southern Illinois Saturday clinched its first regular-season Missouri Valley Conference title since 2016 and second in program history. DBU has finished no worse than tied for second in the MVC since joining the league in 2014.

An 11-4 win in the regular season finale over Evansville gave Illinois State a share of the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference regular season title at 14-7 in league play.  The Redbirds also won an MVC crown in 2013 and shared the title with Wichita State in 2010. 

DBU and Illinois State finished with the same conference record, meaning the regular season conference title will be shared. However, DBU enters the MVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Tight Races
Since the start of the 21-game conference schedule in 2010 (three-game series), the top two places in the regular-season standings have been separated by one game or less five times. 

2010 - Wichita St. & Illinois St. 15-6 
2011 - Creighton 15-6 & Wichita St. 14-7
2012 - Indiana St. 14-7 & Missouri St. 13-7
2014 - Evansville 15-6 & DBU/Indiana St. 14-7
2019 - DBU/Illinois St. 14-7 & Indiana St. 13-8

Polling
DBU remains in the national rankings heading into this weekend’s MVC tournament.  The Patriots appear No. 24 in the D1baseball.com Top 25 and moved up to No. 22 in this week’s Baseball America Top 25 poll.  DBU sits No. 28 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll and appeared at No. 27 in last week’s NCBWA Top 30 polls.

Valley RPI Ranks No. 6
According to the latest RPI update from WarrenNolan.com (May 20), the Missouri Valley Conference ranks No. 6 amongst 31 leagues. Four of the Power-Five conferences (SEC, Big 12, ACC, Pac-12) hold four of the top five positions, while the American sits fifth just ahead of The Valley.

The last time the MVC finished a season rated 6th in conference RPI was in 2015 when the league sent Bradley, DBU and Missouri State to the NCAA Tournament. 

.700 Club
Entering the MVC tournament, DBU and Indiana State each have a winning percentage at or above .700. Since the 1981 season, 35 MVC teams have posted a .700 winning percentage or better.  Only four times has one failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

Year     Team                 Win%
1985   Indiana State     .722
1986   Wichita State     .714
1993   Bradley              .714
2008   Missouri State    .702

Projected NCAA Field
Baseball America continues to have three MVC teams in the projected NCAA field of 64 as of May 15. The publication has DBU as the No. 2 seed in the Oklahoma State Regional, Indiana State as a No. 2 seed in the UCLA Regional and Illinois State as the No. 3 seed in the North Carolina Regional.

Power Company
The Valley has three teams ranking in the Top 35 of the RPI, joining only the Power Five leagues in the club.  The SEC leads the nation with 11 teams in the RPI top 35, while the ACC (5), Big 12 (4), Pac-12 (5), MVC (3) and Big Ten (3) round out the elite club. 

Multi-Bid League
Since the 1981 season (38 seasons), the MVC has placed multiple teams into the NCAA Tournament 25 times (66%).  On seven occasions (1985, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2012, 2015) the MVC has put three teams into the NCAA field.

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week are Illinois State's Nick Zouras and Indiana State's Tyler Whitbread, respectively.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Nick Zouras, Sr., C, Illinois State
Illinois State’s Nick Zouras led the Redbirds this week offensively as he slashed .538/.538/.769 going 7-for-13 at the plate with three doubles, six RBI, and four runs. Zouras was a perfect 4-for-4 in the series opener against Evansville with two RBI and two runs scored in the win. The Prospect Heights, Illinois, native went 1-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored on Saturday. He finished on senior day going 2-for-5 with three RBI including the go-ahead RBI in the fifth inning, and then a two-run double in the seventh to secure the series victory over the Aces.   
 
Other Notable Performances: Luke Shadid (BRAD); Bryce Ball (DBU); Troy Beilsmith (UE); Luke Fegen (INS); Jack Duffy (MSU); JT Weber (SIU) 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Tyler Whitbread, Sr., RHP, Indiana State
Indiana State’s Tyler Whitbread improved to 7-2 on the season following a series clinching eight-inning outing against Bradley Saturday. Whitbread allowed just four base hits to the high-powered Braves lineup, holding Bradley out of the hit column until the sixth inning. Whitbread fanned eight Braves and issued just two walks while retiring Bradley in order in five different innings.     

Other Notable Performances: Jordan Martinson (DBU); Justin Hayden (UE); Jeff Lindgren (ILS); Davis Schwab (MSU); Justin Yeager (SIU)