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Indiana State earned its first MVC regular-season title since 2012, including only the second outright title in program history, as the Sycamores claimed the tournament’s top seed with a 24-3 MVC record. Indiana State won all nine Valley series during the regular season and claimed the Valley title by six games over No. 2 seed Missouri State (18-9 MVC). The six-game gap was the league’s largest since Wichita State won the title by eight games in 1998.
No. 3 Southern Illinois (15-12 MVC) will face host No. 4 Evansville (15-12 MVC) in Wednesday’s first game slated for 9 AM (ET).
No. 5 Murray State (14-13 MVC) will face No. 8 Valparaiso (10-17 MVC) at 6 PM (ET) on Tuesday, while No. 6 UIC (13-14 MVC) will open the tournament against No. 7 Belmont (10-17 MVC) at 2:30 PM (ET) Tuesday.
Sycamores Set to Host
Indiana State University will serve as host for the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship for the fourth time in school history and first time since 2016, from May 23-27. The 2023 event will take place at Bob Warn Field, which serves as the home field for the Sycamores.
Repeat?
Missouri State will look for a second-straight title at the 2023 MVC Baseball Championship. Current league teams have won back-to-back titles three times in league history, – Southern Illinois (77-78); Indiana State (83-84) and Missouri State (96-97).
Host Team Success
Dating back to 1981, host institutions have been the tournament champion 15 times in 41 years. Last season, Missouri State claimed the title on its home field, marking the first time since 2011 (Creighton) a Valley team won the crown at home. Hosts have been tournament runner-up an additional eight times. Wichita State, Creighton and Missouri State 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 (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 2
No. 8 1
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 12 seasons (including 2023). In fact, The Valley has placed multiple teams in the NCAA tournament in 8 of those 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 2
2023 11 ?
Multi-Bid League
Since the 1981 season (41 seasons), the MVC has placed multiple teams into the NCAA Tournament 27 times (66%), including seven of the past eight 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 eight out of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
Sycamores Secure Outright Title
Indiana State secured the program’s first outright regular season championship since 2012 and second overall as the Sycamores swept Missouri State over the weekend series. The Sycamores finished the 2023 regular season with a 24-3 overall mark in conference play and won every single conference regular season series for the first time in program history. The 24 wins are tied for the third-most all-time in Valley history, while ISU’s six-game margin in the standings marked the largest spread since 1998.
Projected NCAA Field
Baseball America currently has Indiana State hosting a regional as the 16th overall seed, hosting Tennessee, Iowa and Central Michigan. D1baseball.com has the Sycamores as a No. 2 seed going to No. 10 national seed Kentucky.
Solid vs. the B1G
Valley teams finished 18-18 vs. the Big Ten this season. Indiana State was 5-4 vs. the B1G and 6-8 overall vs. Power Five opponents, while UIC was 5-4 vs. Power Five teams and 5-1 vs. the B1G. Overall, Valley teams finished 23-47 vs. Power Five opponents this year.
RPI Update
The latest NCAA RPI report on Sunday has three Valley teams ranking in the top 100 of the RPI. Indiana State, Missouri State and Evansville all sit in the Top 100 as the Sycamores sit No. 10, the Bears 76 and the Aces 86 entering the week. The Valley ranks 11th nationally as a conference.
20-20
Evansville utility player Eric Roberts enters this week’s MVC Tournament just two stolen bases shy of accomplishing something that has been achieved only once in the MVC since 1991. With two stolen bases, Roberts would reach the 20-home run/20-stolen base plateau. He would join former Wichita State standout Jeff Ryan as the only two players in the MVC since 1991 to reach the 20-20 plateau in a single-season.
Turning Two
Five Valley teams currently rank Top 50 nationally in double plays turned per game this season, including two top 10 teams nationally. Southern Illinois leads the nation, averaging 1.04 double plays per game, while UIC ranks sixth nationally with 0.98 per game. Valparaiso (26, 0.89), Indiana State (32, 0.87) and Missouri State (45, 0.83) also rank among the top 50.
BEL: Postseason History
Last season, Belmont made a run through the OVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, and held a lead in the ninth inning in the OVC Championship game before falling to Southeast Missouri State in the tenth inning. Belmont advanced to their only two NCAA Regionals in program history in back-to-back years, 2011 and 2012.
UE: History Made
Graduate utility player Eric Roberts made history this week, as Roberts broke the UE single-season home run record by blasting four home runs to raise his season total to 21. Roberts’ total breaks the previous mark of 20, set by Ed Kothera in 1987. Roberts also made history on Thursday, becoming just the second Purple Ace in the Division I era (since 1977) to hit for the cycle, as he did so in UE’s 9-8 win at UIC.
UIC: Red Hot Flames
UIC enters tournament play winning 12 of its last 16 games. The Flames were close to earning a top four seed in the tournament before giving up two runs to Evansville in the ninth inning Saturday. UIC closed Valley play 10-3 down the stretch after starting league play 3-11.
INS: Dominant Stretch
Indiana State has been dominant going 30-3 over its last 33 games dating back to the start of Valley play back on March 25. The Sycamores have not lost a non-conference game since March 21 with midweek wins against Indiana, at Purdue, at Vanderbilt, against Illinois, and against Ball State. ISU nearly posted a perfect month in April going 16-1 overall with key non-conference wins against Indiana and at Vanderbilt during the stretch.
MOST: Tourney History
Missouri State is 61-51 all-time at the MVC Tournament with titles coming in 1996, 1997, 2015, 2018 and 2022. The Bears have won at least one tournament game in 25 of their last 26 appearances, the exception an opening round loss to Valparaiso in 2021. MSU has not gone 0-2 at the event since 1994.
MUR: Winning MVC Record
Murray State picked up the series win over preseason favorites Southern Illinois over the weekend. The series win clinched the fifth seed for the Racers and gave them a winning record in the conference as first-year members. The Racers also clinched their fourth consecutive winning season overall after taking their 28th and 29th wins of the season this week.
SIU: Bombs Away!
With four home runs over the weekend at Murray State, Southern Illinois baseball has now hit 76 bombs in 55 games. The home run total marks the third-most home runs in a season in program history trailing the 2022 (88) and 2021 (84) seasons. Three Salukis have hit 10 or more homers led by infielder Steven Loden who has hit 18 home runs – which is tied for second for home runs in a single season. Pier-Olivier Boucher has 15 to rank tied for fifth for home runs in a single season.
VU: Valpo’s Valley Peak
Valpo has enjoyed its best season since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, notching the team’s highest win total both overall (20) and in league play (10) in that time. The Beacons also own the program’s highest league-only winning percentage since joining the conference prior to the 2018 campaign. This marks the first time since joining the league that Valpo has finished ahead of multiple teams in The Valley standings, and the Beacons picked a good time to do so as this marked the first year during Valpo’s Valley tenure that not every team qualified for the MVC Tournament.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week are Evansville's Eric Roberts and Jarrett Blunt.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Eric Roberts, Gr., Util, Evansville
Graduate utility player Eric Roberts had an historic week this week for the University of Evansville as he not only hit for the cycle in Thursday night’s win at UIC, but he also broke the UE single-season home run record by blasting four home runs this week to move his season total to 21 overall. In UE’s four games, Roberts hit .471 (8-for-17) with a double, a triple, four home runs, seven RBI and seven runs scored, while slugging 1.353 and posting a .526 on-base percentage. Roberts blasted a pair of home runs Tuesday night at Indiana. Then, on Thursday, Roberts hit for the cycle, including launching a grand slam to tie UE’s single-season home run record, while going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI to help UE to a 9-8 victory. He also threw two runners out from right field in one of the top individual games in UE history. Roberts then broke the UE single-season home run record on Friday night with his 21st home run of the year.
Other Notable Performances: Ethan Harden (BEL); Luke Lawrence (ILS); Keegan Watson (INS); Bennett Eltoft (SIU); Jake Skrine (VU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Jarrett Blunt, Gr., RHP, Evansville
Making just his fourth start of the year, graduate RHP Jarrett Blunt helped Evansville clinch a first-day bye in the MVC Tournament with a career-long 7.0 inning outing in Saturday’s 2-1 UE victory at UIC. Blunt allowed just a single run in the first inning on five base hits, while striking out seven men. Blunt’s previous high for innings pitched was just 5.0.
Other Notable Performances: Derek Salata (ILS); Cam Edmonson (INS); Allen Roulette (MUR); Easton Dermody (SIU)