VALPARAISO, Ind. - The Illinois State baseball team is scheduled to conclude its 2023 regular season in a "must-win" scenario at Valparaiso as the Redbirds have two paths to the eight-team Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, both of which require Illinois State to win at least two games.
By winning all three games, Illinois State would qualify for the MVC Tournament. If the Redbirds win two-of-three games against the Beacons, ISU would require Bradley sweeping Belmont in order to qualify for the MVC Tournament.
MVC Standings as of 5-17-2023
SCHEDULE (AT VALPARAISO)
Thursday at 3:00 p.m. CT | VIDEO | RADIO | LIVE STATS
Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT | VIDEO | LIVE STATS
Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT | VIDEO | LIVE STATS
ILLINOIS STATE PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Thursday: LHP Zach Holcomb (4.72 ERA in 13.1 IP with 14 K over six appearances - making first career start)
Friday + Saturday: TBD
ABOUT THE VALPARAISO BEACONS
Valparaiso was 16-32 in 2022, going 14-15 on the road. The Beacons are 19-23 in 2023. Valparaiso is 6-5 at home. The lone common non-conference opponent for the two schools is Milwaukee. The Redbirds and Beacons have met 39 times previously, with Illinois State leading, 24-14-1. Their first meeting was in 1969. In the teams' last meeting, Illinois State was limited to just one run by Valparaiso's projected Thursday stater Griffin McCluskey in a 2-1 loss on 4/17/22.
SERIES SWEPT BY UIC
ISU was blown out by UIC on Friday and Saturday but was competitive on Sunday as fifth-year senior Derek Salata threw seven innings and third-year junior Elijah Dale threw two scoreless frames.
Dale has 54 strikeouts on the season, the second-most by a Redbird reliever since 2000 (Kenny Long, 74 in 2010).
WIN VS EVANSVILLE
Second-year sophomore JT Sokolove broke a 2-2 tie in the 6th inning with a 382-foot home run just inside the left field foul pole - postgame, JT said it was his brother's birthday.
Fifth-year senior Derek Salata threw seven innings with seven strikeouts.
SERIES WIN AT SIU
Although ISU was run-ruled in the opening game and trailing after six innings on both Saturday and Sunday, ISU rallied to win the series at SIU.
Third-year junior Elijah Dale stranded runners on second and third in Saturday's game while the Redbirds scored in the 10th, 11th , and 12th innings in Sunday's game to win.
Third-year junior Luke Cheng and second-year sophomore Noah Rabin each hit their first career HR while freshman Daniel Pacella hit his 13th.
WIN VS NIU
Despite having only thrown a third of an inning with a 54.00 ERA entering the game, fourth-year sophomore Zach Holcomb threw four scoreless innings in relief, striking out six and allowing a bloop single and HBP.
Freshman Daniel Pacella hit his 12th HR of the year while freshman Shai Robinson reached base four times and fourth-year junior Shaydon Kubo had three hits.
WIN VS LINDENWOOD
Third-year junior Auggie Rasmussen hit two home runs, freshman Shai Robinson had four hits, and freshman Daniel Pacella had three hits to lead Illinois State to the win in the first meeting between the programs.
STEWART RETURN TO MLB
Redbird baseball alum Brock Stewart was called up on April 25 for the Minnesota Twins - he had last pitched in the MLB with Toronto on 9/24/19 but completed the road back to Big Leagues after Tommy John surgery. Stewart threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts on April 27 against Kansas City. Through May 17, Stewart has thrown nine times, all results in scoreless appearances.
HEADRICK MLB DEBUT
Redbird baseball alum Brent Headrick was called up on April 16 for the Minnesota Twins and made his MLB debut on Wednesday at Boston. Headrick was perfect in his first two innings in relief, highlighted by a strikeout of Silver Slugger Rafael Devers, and ultimately completed three innings to record the save in his first Big League appearance. Headrick also threw five innings on April 26 with eight strikeouts against the Yankees, including one against Aaron Judge.
LINDGREN MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT
Redbird baseball alum Jeff Lindgren was called up on April 3 for the Miami Marlins and made his MLB debut in relief against the Minnesota Twins. The Champaign, Ill. native threw five innings, allowing four runs. Lindgren's final two innings were scoreless.
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