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Indiana State University Athletics

jachec
5
UIC UIC 28-24
8
Winner Indiana State INS 39-14
UIC UIC
28-24
5
Final
8
Indiana State INS
39-14
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UIC UIC 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 8 0
Indiana State INS 1 1 1 0 4 0 1 0 X 8 10 1

W: Jachec, Matt (7-3) L: NEWTON, Peter (2-2) S: Gregersen, Simon (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Seth Montgomery | GoSycamores.com

No. 1 Sycamores top No. 6 UIC, 8-5, to open 2023 MVC Baseball Championships

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Matt Jachec went seven strong innings and Grant Magill drove in four RBIs as No. 1 Indiana State held off the challenge from No. 6 UIC on Wednesday afternoon at Bob Warn Field, 8-5.
 
The Sycamores (39-14) and Flames (28-24) traded runs over the first four innings before ISU took firm control of the game in the bottom of the fifth. UIC led 4-3 heading into the Sycamore at-bats thanks to a pair of early home runs from Cole Conn before ISU utilized clutch hitting to pull away.
 
UIC walked the bases loaded to open the bottom of the fifth inning as Luis Hernandez, Adam Pottinger, and Keegan Watson all drew free passes from reliever Peter Newton (2-2). Mike Sears was hit by a pitch bringing home Hernandez to tie the game up for the fourth time in the contest at 4-4.
 
Three batters later, Magill connected on a 2-2 offering from UIC reliever Matt Zahora and connected on a line drive down the left field line. The ball was initially ruled foul, but upon review the call was reversed giving Magill a three-run double and ISU the 7-4 lead as Pottinger, Watson, and Sears all scored on the play.
 
Jachec (7-3) took over from there as the redshirt junior retired the final six batters he faced in recording the third MVC tournament win of his collegiate career. Jachec allowed six hits and four runs (three earned), while striking out seven before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
 
Cam Edmonson went 0.2 innings in relief for the Sycamores, while Simon Gregersen (S, 1) recorded his first save of the season going the final 1.1 innings with a strikeout.
 
Magill added a late RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Sycamores. UIC's AJ Henkle responded with an RBI single in the top of the eighth to provide the final 8-5 margin.
 
Randal Diaz, Hernandez, Watson, and Sears all had multi-hit games for the Sycamores as ISU connected on 10 hits in the game. Diaz added his team-leading third trip of the year to leadoff Indiana State's at-bats in the game.
 
Conn was UIC's star at the plate in the contest as the catcher went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs, a double, and three runs scored. Henkle added two hits in the loss.
 
Brandon Bak went the first 3.0 innings allowing six hits and three runs in the no decision. Newton surrendered four runs over his 1.0-inning of work, while Zahora went the final four innings in closing out the contest.
 
How They Scored
  • Randal Diaz jumped on the first pitch of the ISU at-bats in the bottom of the first for a leadoff triple and Luis Hernandez followed up two batters later with an RBI single to center field to give the Sycamores the early 1-0 lead.
  • UIC responded with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning as the Flames took advantage of a Sycamore error to go ahead 2-1. Breck Nowik singled home AJ Henkle and Carson Roberts scored Ryan Nagelbach on a groundout to short to put the Flames up early.
  • ISU strung together a rally in the bottom of the second as Mike Sears singled and Parker Stinson walked, before Henry Brown delivered the RBI single through the left side of the infield to tie the game up at 2-2.
  • Cole Conn put UIC back in the lead in the top of the third with a leadoff solo home run over the right field wall to give the Flames the 3-2 advantage.
  • The Sycamores tied it up again in the bottom of the third inning as Keegan Watson singled through the left side scoring Luis Hernandez to make it a 3-3 game.
  • Conn put the Flames back in the lead in the top of the fifth inning as the junior catcher connected his second solo home run of the game to put UIC ahead 4-3.
  • Grant Magill came through with the clutch two-out, three-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning as the ball skipped off the left field line scoring Mike Sears, Keegan Watson, and Adam Pottinger to give ISU the 7-4 lead. Sears brought home the first run of the four-run inning getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded scoring Hernandez.
  • Magill added another RBI with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning as the redshirt junior catcher connected on a sacrifice fly scoring Watson to give ISU the 8-4 lead.
  • UIC cut into the Sycamore lead on Henkle's two-out RBI single scoring Conn in the top of the eighth inning to make it an 8-5 ballgame.
News & Notes                                                                                                                                    
  • Indiana State opened the Missouri Valley Championship Tournament with a win for the sixth consecutive season as the Sycamores took their opening contest on Wednesday afternoon.
  • ISU's 8-5 win over UIC in the postseason came in the two team's first postseason competition against each other.
  • The Sycamores won their third postseason game in Terre Haute dating back to the 1982 season and first since 2016 when ISU topped Wichita State, 7-1, back on May 26, 2016.
  • ISU improved to 3-1 against UIC in the 2023 season as the Sycamores won their third consecutive contest against the Flames dating back to the series over March 31-April 2.
  • The Sycamores continued their streak of winning at least one MVC Tournament game every season since 2014 with Tuesday's victory.
  • Although technically it is considered a neutral site win, Tuesday's contest marked ISU's 16th win at Bob Warn Field in 2023 marking the most by the program since the Sycamores went 17-8 in Terre Haute back in 2015.
  • Grant Magill posted the third four-RBI game of his collegiate career and second in 2023. He previously drove in four runs after connecting on a grand slam back on March 10 at Memphis.
  • Matt Jachec saw his postseason scoreless streak snapped in the second inning on Tuesday afternoon. The streak was at 13.2 innings dating back to 2021 season. The streak spanned a 3.0 scoreless relief stint against SIU on May 29, 2021, 1.2 against Georgia Tech on June 6, 2021, and 8.0 scoreless against Valparaiso last season on May 25, 2022.
  • Adam Pottinger reached base safely three times in Wednesday afternoon's game to run his on-base streak to 29 consecutive games. His on-base streak is tied for the second-longest in the Mitch Hannahs coaching era with Andy DeJesus (2015) and trails only Romero Harris (31, 2018).
  • Indiana State is at an even 100 hit-by-pitches in the 2023 season after Keegan Watson and Mike Sears were both plunked on Wednesday afternoon. It marked the third time in recent history ISU has been hit by at least 100 pitches in the same season and most since the Sycamores were hit 105 times in 2018. 
Up Next
Indiana State will continue the MVC Tournament on Thursday afternoon with the Sycamores lining up at 4 p.m. ET. Their opponent will be the winner of Thursday morning's 9 a.m. contest between No. 3 Southern Illinois and No. 7 Belmont. The game will be carried live on 105.5 The Legend and ESPN+.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
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