Around the Valley

Still not much more than surface film to discuss in the Valley, other than a few rather interesting scores over the past week.

Sycamore Tech, Murray, Saluki City, and the Toddlin' Flames are all holding their own against non-con teams.

Wednesday, Redbird Normals kicked the stuffin' out of Hoosier Bloomingtons 16-6. Danny Pacella is Ill. State's top hitter. He dingered in that one.

On Thursday, the Peoria Plumbers thumped Butler 18-5. That game was in Orlando, which is not near Interstate 74. Jackson Chatterto hit for the cycle in a 5-inning run rule game. Butler came back on Friday to win 19-13, proving something.

Mizzou State is 0-2 so far this weekend against Kansas State. They need to do better than that.

Belmont also has a win and a loss against the IU Hosiery, with the rubber game today.

UIC and Evansville remain 1-2 in team hitting and OPS. The Trees are by far the leaders in overall team ERA. The Aces are quite near the bottom so far in a lot of pitching categories, but since two of the top 4 Aces starters are true frosh, it's just some stats.

Players to watch:

Murray: Carson Garner, 9 HR and hitting .345. Drew Vogel is hitting around .380.
UIC: Zane Zielinski, hitting .443. He also has 11 steals. Jackson Bessette hitting .432.
SIU: Matt Vallee is hitting .390.
Terrible Haute: Diaz-Hernandez-Listi trio for T-Town are all well above .350.
Moe State: Zack Stewart 8 HR, .375 is a legit pro prospect with the Springfield Bears. grrrr. Dylan Leach is a tough out.
Others:
Ty Johnson might be Bradley's best all-around player with speed worth watching. The Bravos have been pretty ordinary otherwise.
Kyle Schmack (schmack'em around, Kyle) is Valpo's main threat with 5 HR. The Beaks have played a lot of road games.
Belmont has Mason Landers, who keeps from ruining the Bruining. Belmont's record is better than its stats.

Pitching is its own monster. Stats don't mean much yet. 

Some really interesting games coming up next week.
IU is at the Terre Haute cemetery, Ball State is at Valpo, Belmont is at Vandy, UIC is at Boilermaker College, Bradley is at Illinois, and Mizzou State is at Oklahoma State.

Evansville is at Kentucky, but we don't care about that game.

Some games coming up that spark a bit of interest.

Today at 6 p.m. in Belnap -- Murray the Mortician is at Westside College of Advanced Learning. The USI Screaming Eagles are 13-15 and 3-3 in the OVC. Murray is 18-10 and losers of 4 straight. They were swept by Belmont, which plays the Aces this week, who were swept by Murray. Murray also plays Indiana State this weekend.

Sickly College is distracted at the moment and might be hung over Friday after the basketball game at Hinkle gym. Might be hung over from sorrow. Either way, it's Terre Haute. Seton Hall doesn't care about that.

Belmont kicked the snot out of South Carolina 11-2. The Carolina Chickens are ranked nationally.

Another fun ranking is Dallas Baptist, which left the Valley last year. They are ranked No. 8 in the country. UE doesn't play them. I wish they did.

Misery State is 1-5 in the Valley, which is a bit of a surprise.

Redbird Normal has won 4 in a row, the longest streak of any of the 10 Valley teams. Birdies are at Evansville April 12-14.

Updated standings

mvc-sports.com/standings.aspx?standings=62