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Tournament Set
Southern Illinois earned its first MVC regular-season title since 1990, including eighth in program history, as the Salukis claimed the tournament’s top seed with a 16-5 MVC record. SIU won all seven Valley series during the regular season and have not lost a single three-game series all season long.
Evansville is the No. 2 seed this week after finishing the regular season with a 14-6 MVC record. DBU claimed the No. 3 seed with an 11-9-1 MVC record, while Bradley finished as the No. 4 seed at 11-10. Indiana State went 10-10-1 in MVC action, claiming the No. 5 seed.
Host Missouri State earned the No. 6 seed at 8-13, while Illinois State finished as the No. 7 seed with a 7-14 conference record. Valparaiso (5-15 MVC) will be the No. 8 seed in this week’s MVC Tournament.
Bears Set to Host
Missouri State University will serve as host for the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship for the fifth time in school history and first time since 2017, from May 24-28. The 2022 event will take place at Hammons Field, which serves as the home field for the Bears.
Repeat?
DBU will look for a second-straight title at the 2022 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). DBU has appeared in the last five MVC title games, matching Wichita State’s five-straight title game appearances from 2007-11. The last team to reach six-straight title games was Tulsa, who reached nine-straight trips from 1968-1976.
Host Team Success
Dating back to 1981, host institutions have been the tournament champion 14 times in 40 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.
Title Game Streak
DBU has appeared in the last five MVC title games, matching Wichita State’s five-straight title game appearances from 2007-11. The last team to reach six-straight title games was Tulsa, who reached nine-straight trips from 1968-1976.
5 or More Consecutive Title Game Appearances
Oklahoma A&M 1953-57 (5)
Saint Louis 1962-67 (6)
Tulsa 1968-1976 (9)
Indiana State 1983-1987 (5)
Wichita State 2007-2011 (5)
DBU 2016-pres (5)
Top Two Seeds Dominate
If history is any indication, being the No. 1 seed has its benefits as more MVC Tournament champions (19) 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 five championships.
Seed Championships
No. 1 19
No. 2 11
No. 3 5
No. 4 1
No. 5 2
No. 6 1
No. 8 1
Regular Season Champs
For the first time in 32 years, the Southern Illinois University baseball team sits atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings at the end of the regular season. The Salukis clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as well as their first MVC regular season title since 1990, with a 7-1 win in game two of Friday’s doubleheader against Illinois State. It marks the eighth MVC regular season title in school history.
Top 10 Conference
As of Sunday morning (WarrenNolan.com), The Valley ranks 9th nationally behind the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, Conference USA, Sun Belt, American and Big Ten.
Conference RPI
1. SEC
2. ACC
3. Big 12
4. Pac-12
5. C-USA
6. Sun Belt
7. American
8. Big Ten
9. Missouri Valley
The Valley has four teams sitting in the Top 100 of the RPI, including DBU at No. 14, Southern Illinois at No. 75, Evansville at No. 87 and Indiana State at No. 98.
Top Tier League
Since the 2011 season, the Missouri Valley Conference has ranked among the Top 10 leagues nationally in RPI in nine of the 11 seasons (including 2022). In fact, The Valley has ranked among the top seven conferences in seven of those 11 seasons.
Season RPI NCAA Selections
2011 7 1
2012 6 3
2013 15 1
2014 7 2
2015 6 3
2016 9 1
2017 17 2
2018 10 2
2019 6 3
2021 7 2
2022 9 ??
Multi-Bid League
Since the 1981 season (40 seasons), the MVC has placed multiple teams into the NCAA Tournament 26 times (65%), including six of the past seven NCAA tournaments. On seven occasions (1990, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2012, 2015, 2019) the MVC has put three teams into the NCAA field.
The Valley has placed multiple teams in the NCAA field seven out of the last nine NCAA tournaments.
Power Play
The Valley finished non-conference play 31-46 vs. Power Five conferences, going 18-24 vs. the Big Ten, 9-9 vs. the Big 12, 3-7 vs. the SEC and 1-6 vs. the ACC. The 31 wins vs. Power Five opponents rank as the second most by The Valley in the last 20 seasons behind 2005 (33).
Season Power Five Wins
2005 33
2016 31
2022 31
The Valley had a total of 127 non-conference wins this season with 24% of those wins coming vs. Power Five opponents.
BRAD: Program First
Bradley finished the 2022 regular season with an 11-10 record in conference play, marking the program’s fourth-straight winning season in Valley action. The Braves, who won 5-of-7 series against Valley teams in 2022, posted a winning MVC campaign in four-straight seasons for the first time in school history as BU previously had three-straight winning seasons in 1949-51, 1959-61 and 1967-69.
DBU: Active Hit Streak
Ryan Wrobleski enters this week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on a 17-game hit streak. The streak is the longest by a Patriot this season. Over the past 17 games, Wrobleski is hitting .375 (27-72) with four home runs, 16 RBI, and has compiled a .639 slugging percentage. Patriot legend Jason Krizan holds the program’s all-time record with a 39-game hit streak during the 2011 season.
UE: Best in Eight Years
The regular season came to an end on Saturday with the Aces finishing with a 30-22 overall record and a 14-6 mark in MVC play. The 30 overall wins and the 14 conference victories are the most since 2014 for the Aces and the No. 2 seed that UE has earned in the MVC Tournament is its best seed since being the top seed in 2014.
ILS: Most HR Since 1999
Ryan Cermak tied Mike Prior (1985) and Brad James (1991) on Illinois State’s single-season home run record list with his 19th home run of 2022 on Friday and needs four more home runs to catch Ryan Duncheon (23 - 1999). Cermak also tied Prior for 4th on the career home runs list with 32. Cermak is the lone Redbird since 1999 to hit at least 15 home runs in a season.
INS: We Connected
Indiana State led the conference in hitting throughout the season and kept it going in Missouri Valley play on the year as ISU hit a league-leading .303 from the plate in 2022, while also leading the conference with a .295 team batting average in conference play. The Sycamores led the lead with 213 hits in conference play on the year and tied for the MVC lead with 48 doubles. Overall, three players finished in the top-15 in the Valley in batting average in conference play paced by Seth Gergely (.368), while Luis Hernandez (.347) and Sean Ross (.345) also were among the MVC leaders. The .303 batting average was nearly 30 points higher than last season’s .278 mark, while the .295 average in conference play was six points higher (.289).
MSU: MVC Tourney History
Missouri State is 56-50 all-time at the MVC Tournament with titles coming in 1996, 1997, 2015 and 2018. The Bears have won at least one tournament game in 24 of their last 25 appearances, the exception an opening round loss to Valparaiso in 2021. MSU has not gone 0-2 at the event since 1994.
SIU: 40 Wins Again!
SIU’s win over Illinois State on May 21 gave the Salukis their 40th win of the season, which marks the first time in program history that Southern has won 40 or more games in back-to-back seasons.
In addition to winning 40 games and earning the number one seed in next week’s conference tournament, Southern also capped off a remarkable regular season in which it lost only one weekend series all season and won all seven of its Missouri Valley Conference series. SIU’s .740 winning percentage is the 10th-best in NCAA DI.
VU: 16-Hit Effort
Valpo matched a season high with 16 hits in the final game of the regular season, an 8-4 victory at Evansville on Friday night. Six of those hits came as part of a four-run first. The 16-hit output equaled the team’s season high on March 25 vs. St. Bonaventure and represented the team’s highest total in MVC play this year.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week are Bradley's Keaton Rice and SIU's Matthew Steidl.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Keaton Rice, Sr., C, Bradley
Senior Keaton Rice led Bradley during the final regular season weekend as BU won a series versus Missouri State. The catcher hit .571 against the Bears with one home run, three doubles, six runs scored and seven RBI. Rice recorded multiple hits in all three games with a 3-for-5 contest on Friday with four RBI and three runs scored highlighting the weekend.
Other Notable Performances: Tanner Craig (UE); Josue Urdaneta (INS); Jack Rigoni (SIU); Nolan Tucker (VU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Matthew Steidl, Jr., RHP, Southern Illinois
Matthew Steidl went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in seven innings of work to help SIU clinch its first MVC regular season title since 1990. Steidl made two appearances and allowed just six hits, all of which were singles, and didn’t allow an earned run. He struck out 10 and walked just two while holding opponents to a .231 batting average. The Gallatin, Tenn. native threw an inning of scoreless relief in the opener and followed with one of his best outings of his collegiate career as he set or tied career-bests in innings pitched and strikeouts. Steidl improved to 6-2 on the year after he threw six innings, allowed just four hits and struck out nine. Steidl hasn’t allowed an earned run in 20-consecutive innings across eight appearances.
Other Notable Performances: Shane Gray (UE); Luke Patzner (INS); Jake Miller (VU)