MURRAY, Ky. – Top-seeded UIC completed its climb to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference baseball mountain on Sunday evening when it was crowned the 2026 MVC Tournament champion after defeating No. 4 seed Southern Illinois, 7-2 on Johnny Reagan Field at Taylor Family Park in Murray, Ky.
After collecting their 14th regular-season conference title a week ago, the Flames (27-27-1, 16-8 MVC) clinched their ninth conference tournament championship in program history, and the first since 2019 in the Horizon League. It was also the first time UIC swept both the regular season and postseason conference titles in the same year since 2017, likewise in the Horizon League. UIC will be making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance next weekend, with the regional location and opponent named at 11 a.m. (CT) Monday when the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Selection Show airs live on ESPN2.
Facing SIU's Andrew Evans, the MVC Pitcher of the Year, in Sunday's title game, junior
Thomas Curry wasted no time giving UIC an early advantage, launching the first pitch he saw over the left-center field wall for his 14th home run of the season and a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Southern Illinois (27-32, 14-10 MVC) answered with two runs across the next two innings before UIC's senior starting pitcher
Kendall Lyons settled into rhythm on the mound. After Lyons worked a scoreless fourth inning, senior
Will Flanigan delivered a two-out double and later scored on an RBI single from freshman
Sean Cody to even the game at 2-2 heading into the middle innings.
Lyons continued to dominate through the remainder of his outing, allowing just one hit and two baserunners over his final two frames. The veteran would go six innings, surrendering just three hits and one earned run while striking out two.
UIC broke the deadlock in the bottom of the sixth when junior
Alexander Wright scored on a fielder's choice. Later in the inning, junior
Vidal Colon crossed the plate following a fielding error, extending the advantage to 4-2.
After strong relief work from graduate student
Jared Lessman, UIC broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth. With two on, junior
Ashton Kampa turned on the first pitch he saw and launched a three-run home run over the right-center field wall, extending the Flames' lead to 7-2.
Graduate student pitcher
Jake Jakubowski worked a perfect ninth, with his final pitch to Michael Mylott lined directly into the glove of a diving
Jake Busson at second base for the final out, securing the tournament title for UIC and sending the Flames' players, coaches and fans into a celebration seven years in the making.
The entire play-by-play and box score can be found
here.
After the celebratory dogpile near the pitcher's mound and the postgame trophy presentation, several Flames were individually recognized:
Curry was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after batting .462 across three games with six hits, two home runs and seven RBI. He also earned the MVC's Elite 18 Award, presented to the conference student-athlete with the highest GPA among participants competing at each MVC postseason event who have been at their institution for more than one year.
Busson, Flanigan, Kampa and junior pitcher
Mason Lei were also recognized for their performances during the tournament, earning spots on the All-MVC Tournament Team.
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