University of Evansville baseball has championship or bust mindset for MVC tournament
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The goal for almost any program in a mid-major conference tournament is typically the same.
Win the championship, you’re going dancing.
Lose, you’re headed home.
That’s the scenario for the University of Evansville baseball team in this week’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The Aces (30-22) earned the No. 2 seed behind regular-season champion Southern Illinois. Bracketologists even have included them in NCAA projections, but the Aces know they only have one path to continue their year.
“Even if you go 2-2 or make the championship game and you’re going home, we know from an RPI standpoint, we don’t have a chance to play NCAA regionals,” coach Wes Carroll said.
“Missing out on the regular-season conference championship aligns us to go and reach our ultimate goal of dogpiling and winning a tournament championship. It’s that or bust for the short picture, but on the big picture, we’ll be proud of whatever fight we give this week.”
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Basically, the MVC will be a one-bid league if Dallas Baptist is the tournament champion. No one else has a strong enough resume to make the field as an at-large.
Although third-seeded DBU didn’t dominate conference play, its RPI ranks 14th nationally because it played the toughest non-conference schedule in college baseball. Southern Illinois has the next-highest RPI at 75th while UE ranks 88th.
“Our expectation is to win and be playing on Saturday in the championship game,” Carroll said. “This group deserves a special moment and I think we’re very capable of doing it. We’re talented enough and confident enough to win a Missouri Valley Conference championship.”
UE was projected earlier this season to play in the South Bend regional if Notre Dame were to host. The Aces haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 2006.
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Nevertheless, the program has taken a significant step forward. That was reiterated when the All-MVC awards were announced Tuesday as Carroll was named the MVC Coach of the Year and Boonville graduate Nick Smith was awarded the MVC Pitcher of the Year.
Smith is one of four Aces who received All-MVC First Team honors along with Brent Widder, Mark Shallenberger and Shane Gray. Three more landed on the All-MVC Second Team: Tanner Craig, Simon Scherry and Drew Dominik.
“If you take a step back and just look at what we’ve done, (earning the No. 2 seed) is something we take a lot of pride in and we have a lot of confidence going into the conference tournament in what we’re capable of doing,” Carroll said.
When the Aces left town Monday for Springfield, Missouri, they didn’t know who they’d face opening the double-elimination tournament. They will play at 3 p.m. Wednesday against the lowest seed remaining between No. 5 Indiana State, No. 6 Missouri State, No. 7 Illinois State and No. 8 Valparaiso.
They’re hoping to buck some recent trends. UE has lost six consecutive MVC tournament games.
“It’s always interesting not knowing who you’re going to play and it’s a strange kind of bracket,” Carroll said. “But we’re fortunate to be in the top four and be in this position compared to years past.”
The door was open for UE to win the regular-season title. It entered Saturday with a chance to at least tie SIU if it could finish a weekend sweep of Valparaiso. Then UE allowed four runs in the first inning on the way to an 8-4 loss.
Smith started but threw just 11 pitches before he exited the game with forearm tightness. Then Saturday’s finale was declared a no-contest because of rain, so UE finished a game back.
“Nick has been our workhorse and our steady hand the entire year with the effort he’s given us,” Carroll said. “For him to come out in the first inning threw all of us on our heels in one of the most important games of the year and we couldn’t recover from that.”
The good news? The Aces have a chance to bounce back when it matters most and their MVC Pitcher of the Year is expected to be available.
Chad Lindskog is the sports editor of the Courier & Press. You can contact him by email, clindskog@gannett.com, or on Twitter: @chadlindskog.
Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament
This week in Springfield, Missouri. All games will be streamed on ESPN+
Tuesday (single-elimination)
G1: No. 6 Missouri State vs. No. 7 Illinois State, 1:30 p.m.
G2: No. 5 Indiana State vs. No. 8 Valparaiso, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday (start of double-elimination)
G3: No. 1 Southern Illinois vs. highest Tues. seed, 1:30 p.m.
G4: No. 2 Evansville vs. lowest Tues. seed, 5 p.m.
G5: No. 3 Dallas Baptist vs. No. 4 Bradley, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday
G6: Loser of G3 vs. Loser of G6, 11 a.m.
G7: Winner of G3 vs. Loser of G5, 3 p.m.
G8: Winner of G4 vs. Winner of G5, 7 p.m.
Friday
G9: Loser of G8 vs. Winner of G6, 11 a.m.
G10: Winner of G7 vs. Winner of G8, 3 p.m.
G11: Loser of G10 vs. Winner of G9, 7 p.m.
Saturday
G12: Championship, 3 p.m.
G13 (if necessary): 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville baseball eyes Missouri Valley Conference tournament title
