Valparaiso University baseball seniors Kyle Schmack (Wanatah, Ind. / South Central) and Alex Ryan (Lake Mills, Wis. / Lakeside Lutheran) both launched home runs in the first game of their final collegiate series, but No. 20 Indiana State posted crooked numbers in five of the nine frames including a five-run ninth to prevail 13-4 on Thursday afternoon at Emory G. Bauer Field. Schmack is one home run away from tying the program’s career and single-season home run records. The game started with a 24-minute rain delay and it rained on and off throughout during parts of the contest including a steady rain for an inning or two early in the game.  

How It Happened

• Valpo starter Connor Lockwood (Libertyville, Ill. / Libertyville) retired the side in order in the first, but Indiana State got two in the second including a solo shot that started the inning.
• The Beacons responded in the bottom of the frame when Ryan ripped a two-out homer down the left-field line to make it 2-1.
• Lockwood worked a 1-2-3 third, but a two-run homer in the fourth helped the Sycamores expand the lead to 4-1.
• Indiana State added two unearned runs in the fifth to make it 6-1. The Trees added two more in the sixth including another home run to push the lead to 8-1.
• Lefty Lucas Foley (Deer Park, Ill. / Lake Zurich) entered the game for the seventh and worked a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. He put up another zero in the eighth, then Schmack led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot down the left-field line.
• Later in the inning, Kade Reinertson (Huxley, Iowa / Ballard Community) ripped an RBI single up the middle to make it 8-3.
• Indiana State poured on five more runs in the top of the ninth including a pair of two-run homers to make it 13-3. The Sycamores hit five home runs in the game.
• An RBI single by Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest) in the bottom of the ninth cut the lead to nine, but that would be all for the Beacons in the final frame.

Inside the Game

• Schmack’s home run was his 17^th of the season, one away from tying the program’s single-season home run record of 18 set by Brian Wolotka in 2001.
• Schmack lifted his career home-run total to 35, one shy of tying J.J. Swiatkowski’s (1997-2000) career program record of 36.
• Ryan’s home run was his ninth this season and the 12^th of his career.
• Valpo boosted its team season home run total to 68, the second most in a single season in program history.
• The offense collected 10 hits, but the squad did commit three errors.
• Valpo pitching issued one walk in the game and that one came with two outs in the top of the ninth.

Up Next

Valpo (14-36, 6-19 MVC) will continue the series against No. 20 Indiana State on Friday with a 1 p.m. start on ESPN+.