Opening Weekend
The Missouri Valley Conference opened its 77th baseball season over the weekend as all 10 league teams hit the diamond. This season marks the first time in league history 10 teams compete for The Valley baseball title. 

UIC and Illinois State started the season with a series win over the weekend.  The Flames  went to California and took three out of four against St. Mary’s (CA), while Illinois State claimed two out of three at Austin Peay. 

Belmont went 2-2 vs. UT Martin and Southern Illinois finished 2-2 vs. Wofford and Towson.  Indiana State split a pair of games down in Florida vs. Iowa and Quinnipiac, while Bradley, Missouri State, Murray State and Valparaiso each went 1-2.  Evansville went 0-3 at Troy losing two of the games by a single run.

As a league, The Valley went 14-18 (.438) overall during the opening weekend, with seven of the 18 losses being two runs or less.  

BEL: Many Longballs
Belmont hit six home runs in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, the most for the Bruins in a single game since March 29, 2015, when they hit 12 home runs against UT Martin in a 34-10 victory. The six home runs are believed to be the most in program history for a seven-inning game. 

BRAD: New Career Best
Bradley junior Jackson Chatterton tied a career-high with two stolen bases in Saturday’s win over ULM. 

UE: Dominant Weekend
In his first weekend as a Purple Aces, junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse made a big impact. The newcomer finished the weekend hitting .438 with seven hits, three homers, and five RBI. Fougerousse opened the season in incredible fashion, launching the first pitch of the 2023 campaign over the right field wall to give UE an early 1-0 lead at Troy. Fougerousse would hit another home run on opening day with a solo shot in the eighth inning before adding another homer in Saturday’s game.

UIC: Solid Start
UIC opened the season with a 3-1 series win at St. Mary’s (CA).  UIC currently boasts it’s best four-game record to start the season since 2018, when the Flames also went 3-1 to start the year.

ILS: Comeback Win
Illinois State, which also trailed 10-5 after five innings, fell behind Austin Peay, 13-12, through eight innings. The Redbirds rallied to even the game in the ninth and a Greg Nichols home run in the 10th inning proved to be the game winner. The Redbirds were 0-26 when trailing after eight innings in 2022 and improve to 1-1 in the same situation in 2023.

INS: They Get Plunked
One year after leading the Missouri Valley in getting hit by pitches, the Sycamores are once again on top of the standings through their first two games of the year. The Sycamores were hit five times over their opening games against Iowa and Quinnipiac, including three times during a five-run rally in the win over Quinnipiac. Luis Hernandez has been hit twice on the year to lead the Sycamores, while three other players have all been hit by a pitch this season. Jordan Schaffer led ISU last season after getting hit 23 times. 

MOST: Double Trouble
Missouri State swatted 12 doubles in its opening three-game series at Cal Poly, including eight on Saturday, two shy of the school record and the most by the Bears since at least 2010. Freshman Taeg Gollert collected five two-baggers in his first two games, tying a school single-game record with three on Saturday. The Bears added four homers on the weekend and are slugging .526 on the young season, ahead of last year’s league-leading .512 clip that ranked 17th nationally.

MUR: Breaking Out the Bats
The Murray State offense was able to flex their muscles throughout opening weekend with 11 extra-base hits over the course of the weekend. Four different Racers were able to hit a home run during their series with North Florida. Dustin Mercer pieced together three doubles on the weekend while Taylor Howell led the Racers with two doubles and a home run, good for a .714 slugging percentage.

SIU: Series Win
Junior transfer Steven Loden had a debut to remember for the Salukis on opening day. The second baseman connected on a pair of home runs in the win while driving in four runs. He became just the eighth player in program history to homer for their first career hit and the fourth ever to homer in his first at bat. Teammates Bennett Eltoft and Cole Christman also belted homers in the same game to join the group of eight Salukis to have their first hit be a home run. 

VU: Jumping on the Jayhawks
Valpo belted six home runs including two from Indiana transfer Jake Skrine in a season-opening series vs. Kansas in Copus Christi, Texas. Both losses in the series were tightly contested with Valpo falling 5-1 in Game 1 and 6-4 in Game 3, while the middle game was all Beacons, an 11-3 rout with Kade Reinertson driving in four runs including a three-run homer. That was Valpo’s first win over a power-5 opponent since knocking off No. 25 Illinois 11-7 on April 17, 2018. It marked Valpo’s second win over a Big 12 team during the Brian Schmack Era and first since beating Oklahoma 11-4 on Feb. 24, 2018. 

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player/Pitcher of the Week are Belmont's Mason Landers and Valpo's Connor Lockwood. 

Mason Landers, Jr., 3B, Belmont
Third baseman Mason Landers powered Belmont to their first two wins of the 2023 season on Sunday, leading the charge offensively to help Belmont knock off UT Martin across a doubleheader. Landers hit three home runs, including two in the first game of the doubleheader, and drove in six runs to help the Bruins even the series with the Skyhawks at two games apiece. For the weekend, the Shelbyville, Tenn., native was 6-for-14 (.429) with three home runs, a double, and 16 total bases, driving in six RBI. The junior slugged a remarkable 1.143 for the weekend and finished with an OPS of 1.610. Landers provided the early highlight to the season when he crushed a game-winning, three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs and the Bruins down, 2-1, in the nightcap on Sunday, to help Belmont win, 4-2. 

Other Notable Performances: Ryan Vogel (BRAD); Kip Fougerousse (UE); Charlie Szykowny (UIC); Greg Nichols (ILS); Josue Urdaneta (INS); Mason Greer (MOST); Ryan Rodriguez (SIU); Kade Reinertson (VU)

Connor Lockwood, So., RHP, Valparaiso
Valpo’s Connor Lockwood pitched the team to a power-5 victory on Saturday, logging seven shutout innings of two-hit ball while walking none and striking out six in an 11-3 victory over Kansas. Lockwood was the winning pitcher after the longest outing of his career. The six strikeouts shattered his previous personal best of four. The sophomore sent down the final 16 Jayhawk batters that he faced in the game, helping Valpo to its first power-5 win in five years. 
 
Other Notable Performances: Dominic Baratta (BEL); Travis Lutz (BRAD); Aiden Pavoris (UIC); Matt Jachec (INS); Brandt Thompson (MOST); Jacob Pennington (MUR); Jake Combs (SIU);