Wichita, Kan. — The team that fought last was destined to win the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament opener between Indiana State and Wichita State on Wednesday.
Unfortunately for ISU, Wichita State landed the final knockout punch ... and it sent the Sycamores spiraling into a nightmare.
ISU spotted the host Shockers a four-run lead, but fought back, as the Sycamores took a three-run lead out of the sixth inning.
The Shockers’ counter-punch packed a wallop. Wichita State scored 11 unanswered runs, eight coming in a nightmarish eighth inning against ISU’s bullpen, as Wichita State won 15-7 at Eck Stadium.
“I don’t know what happened, I really don’t. I just kind of lost it. I didn’t hit spots, it just wasn’t a good game,” said ISU relief pitcher Michael Manus, who allowed the first two runs of the eighth as he took the loss.
“We knew this was the biggest game of the season. We had a good tempo through the eighth inning. Then we hit a wall. The pitchers just couldn’t get it done today,” said ISU reliever Matt Shelton, who came in for Manus and gave up four runs in the eighth.
ISU (33-19) has lost five in a row and now needs help to qualify for Saturday’s MVC championship game. The Sycamores need to win its remaining games and Wichita State has to lose its remaining games. ISU plays Illinois State at 4 p.m. today and Southern Illinois at 11 a.m. on Friday. Wichita State plays Creighton at 8 p.m. tonight and Illinois State on Friday night.
“We didn’t play a smart game. We weren’t tough at the plate — we put 13 guys on base — you just can’t do that in this environment against a good team,” ISU coach Lindsay Meggs said.
Wichita State (28-24) worked ISU starting pitcher Eric Valdez for a single and a pair of walks to set up center fielder Ryan Jones, who lined an 0-2 pitch just over the right field fence for a grand slam. As it was at Missouri State, when Valdez conceded five runs in the first, Wichita State jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
ISU wasted little time getting off the mat. Ryan Strausborger knocked in Brian Jett with an infield single. ISU later loaded the bases for Ciolli, who hit a harmless grounder to shortstop Tyler Grimes. However, Grimes’ throw to first drew first baseman Clinton McKeever off the bag and Ciolli got into first just in time as Ben Ferrell scored. ISU’s deficit was down to 4-2.
ISU wiped out the other half of their deficit in the third. With one out, Bronco Lafrenz was hit by a pitch, Jett singled to right and Ferrell walked. After Strausborger struck out, Burnam hit a sharp grounder that struck pitcher Tim Kelley’s leg and richocheted into left field, scoring both Lafrenz and Jett to tie the game.
A hard-nosed play by Jett gave ISU the lead. Tyler Graham led off with a walk and eventually went to third on a wild pitch and groundout. Jett was then hit for the second time. Ferrell hit a tailor-made double play ball to short, but Jett slid in hard and took out WSU second baseman Chance Sossamon, allowing Ferrell to reach on the fielder’s choice and Graham to score. ISU led 5-4. ISU tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a Brady Shoemaker double and Luke Fieser single.
Then the game turned on a dime.
Jones struck again against Valdez, who had allowed only one base hit since the first inning, with a solo bomb to dead center field to make it 7-5. Fieser then made a throwing error on a Bret Bascue chopper behind third base, allowing Bascue to go to second. Engrav followed with a single to right, scoring Bascue, and suddenly, the Shockers are right back in it at 7-6.
A double play got ISU out of trouble ... for a fleeting moment.
Wichita State’s first two batters in the eighth walked, which prompted Meggs to go to Matt Shelton.
“The back-to-back walks ... we wanted Manus to be able to get through the first few guys to face the lefties that were lurking there, but when he couldn’t throw a strike, it put us in a bind because we had to go to Matt, and he struggled. It all snowballed from there,” Meggs said.
The ISU senior gave up a run-scoring single to Chris O’Brien which tied the game. Jones hurt the Sycamores again with a go-ahead RBI single to left to make it 8-7.
“I tried to get ahead of them with guys on base, but they came out free-swinging,” Shelton said. “Last time, they’d take for a few pitches and I could get ahead of them, and it worked. But this time, they squared the ball up and hit it where they wanted to hit it.”
After that the floodgates opened. A wild pitched scored O’Brien, followed by a two-run double by Ryan Engrav to make it 11-7. There were still no outs.
It took four ISU pitchers to retire the side. By the time it was over, Wichita State had a 14-7 lead. A solo home run in the ninth by Bascue tacked on another run.
Insult to injury for ISU ... Illinois State will start ace Ryan Camp today in a must-win for both teams. ISU will start Jake Petricka.
Wichita State 15, ISU 7
WSU ab r h bi ISU ab r h bi
Grimes ss 6 0 2 0 Strsbgr 2b 6 0 2 1
Lassley c 5 2 1 0 Burnam rf 5 1 3 2
Baez dh 2 1 0 0 Meggs ph 1 0 0 0
LeTrnu pr-dh 1 1 1 2 Shmaker lf 4 1 1 1
McKevr 1b 4 1 1 1 Ciolli cf 5 0 2 0
O'Brien 3b 4 2 1 1 Fieser 3b 5 0 2 1
Jones cf 5 3 3 6 Graham dh 3 1 0 0
Bascue lf 4 3 2 1 Caple ph 1 0 0 0
Engrav rf 5 1 3 3 Lafrenz c 4 1 2 0
Sssamn 2b 2 0 0 0 Jett 1b 3 2 1 0
Brown ph-2b 2 1 1 0 Ferrell ss 3 1 1 1
Caple ph 1 0 0 0 Kraemer ph 1 0 0 0
Total 40 15 15 14 Totals 41 7 14 6
Wichita State 400 000 281 15
Missouri State 022 012 000 7
E —Grimes (10); Fieser (7). DP —ISU 2. LOB —WSU 5, ISU 13. 2B —Shoemaker (19), Lafrenz (14), Ferrell (5). HR —Jones 2 (6), Bascue (2) CS —Burnam (4).
Wichita State
IP H R ER BB SO
Kelley 5 9 7 6 3 4
Johnson (W, 3-0) 2 3 0 0 0 3
Flynn 2 2 0 0 0 1
Missouri State
IP H R ER BB SO
Valdez 6 6 6 6 2 4
Manus (L, 2-2) 1 1 2 2 2 1
Shelton 0 3 4 4 0 0
Greene 1/3 0 2 2 1 0
Harlan 1 2/3 5 1 1 0 1
WP —Kelley 2 (11), Shelton (4), Greene (2). HBP —by Kelley 3 (Jett, Lafrenz, Jett); by Shelton (Bascue); by Greene (Brown). T —3:25. A —3864.
College
MVC baseball tournament: Wichita State scores 11 unanswered runs to knock off ISU
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“It was a really good experience for everybody. It felt great to finally come out here and put some things together. It’s also really nice when your offense puts a lot of runs on the board,” Moore said.
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