Illinois State Edged Late by Valparaiso, 7-6

VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Illinois State baseball team was edged by Valparaiso, 7-6, on Thursday at Emory G. Bauer Field as the Redbirds allowed three runs in the 8th inning.

Illinois State (18-30 overall, 7-18 Missouri Valley Conference) will await the result of the Belmont at Bradley game, scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT, to see if it still has a chance at qualifying for the MVC Tournament. Illinois State would need Bradley to sweep a three-game series against Belmont, in addition to winning the final two games at Valparaiso.

The Redbirds were led by freshmen Luke Lawrence and Daniel Pacella with Lawrence reaching base four times and scoring three times while Pacella homered and tallied four RBIs.…