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Tournament Set
Missouri State (18-3 MVC) earned the top seed at the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament, as the Bears claimed their sixth regular-season title in program history. 

Dallas Baptist will be the No. 2 seed after registering a 16-5 MVC record. 

Bradley claimed the No. 3 seed with an 11-10 MVC record, while Indiana State finished as the No. 4 seed at 11-10.  The Sycamores will face No. 5 seed Southern Illinois in the opener after the Salukis finished 10-11 in league play.

Illinois State earned the No. 6 seed at 9-12, while Valparaiso finished as the No. 7 seed with a 6-15 conference record. 

Evansville (3-18 MVC) will be the No. 8 seed in this week’s MVC Tournament.

DBU to Host
Dallas Baptist University will serve as host for the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship for the first time in school history, from May 23-26. The 2018 event will take place at Horner Ballpark, which serves as the home field for the Patriots.
 
Three-Peat?
DBU will look for a third-straight title at the 2018 MVC Baseball Championship. Current league teams have won back-to-back titles four times in league history, – Southern Illinois (77-78); Indiana State (83-84); Missouri State (96-97); and DBU (16-17).  The last school to win three-straight MVC Tourney titles was Wichita State, who claimed four-straight crowns from 2002-2005.
 
Host Team Success
Dating back to 1981, host institutions have been the tournament champion 14 times in 37 years, most recently in 2011 (Creighton), while they have been the tournament runner-up an additional seven times. Wichita State and Creighton are the only tournament hosts to have ever won on their home fields.
 
Top Two Seeds Dominate
If history is any indication, being the No. 1 seed has its benefits as more MVC Tournament champions (17) have come from the top spot than any other seed dating back to 1981. The No. 2 seed has claimed 11 tournament titles, while no other seed has won more than four championships.
 
                       Tournament
Seed        Championships
No. 1                 17
No. 2                 11
No. 3                  4
No. 4                  1
No. 5                  2
No. 6                  1
No. 8                  1
 
Back-to-Back
Missouri State became just the second Valley school to win back-to-back regular-season titles, joining Wichita State. The Shockers won back-to-back titles in 2007-2008, were winners of 14 consecutive regular-season championships from 1987-2000 (includes one shared championship with Southern Illinois in 1990). 
 
The Bears also set a record for the best two-year record in Valley history (since moving to expanded MVC schedule in 1985).  MSU posted a 36-4 (.900) mark over the last two seasons in MVC play.  The 1993 and 1994 Shockers held the previous MVC record, going 36-5 (.878) over a two-season span.
 
Poll Position
Missouri State jumped into the Baseball America Top 25 Poll for the first time this season, appearing at No. 24 this week.  The Bears also remain in the Collegiate Baseball’s Top 30 Poll, sitting at No. 30 this week.  DBU and Missouri State are also receiving votes in this week’s USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll and NCBWA Poll.
   
Four in RPI’s Top-100
Four league teams continue to rank in the top-100 of the RPI, led by Missouri State (No. 30), DBU (No. 37), Indiana State (No. 69), and Bradley (No. 81). 
 
Granberg Named Howser Semifinalist
DBU outfielder Devlin Granberg was named a semifinalist for the 2018 NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy. The award, given to the top player in collegiate baseball, is based on two rounds of national voting, with the winner announced on June 15 prior to the start of the 2018 College World Series.

Follow the Action
Valley fans can take advantage of a free trial offer to watch the 2018 MVC Baseball Tournament from Dallas, Texas, on ESPN+.  Proceed to https://plus.espn.com and click on the Start My 7-Day Free Trial tile.  The free trial timeframe is for new ESPN+ subscribers only.  Patrons will be auto-billed unless they cancel before the end of their free trial period.  Subscription will automatically renew unless canceled and is subject to the ESPN+ Subscriber Agreement.  Participants can be cancel their subscription by logging into their account and clicking ‘My Subscription,” emailing or calling Customer Support at 1-800-727-1800.  Pricing is subject to change.

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week are Missouri State's Matt Brown and Southern Illinois' Dylan Givens, respectively.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Matt Brown, Sr., 3B, Missouri State
Missouri State senior third baseman Matt Brown led the Bears to a Valley title-clinching series win at DBU over the weekend, hitting .444 with three critical home runs, five RBI and six runs scored. Brown posted 2-for-4 performances in each of the Bears’ two victories over the Patriots. In Friday’s 9-5 win, he belted a home run and scored three times, before driving in three of the Bears’ first six runs with his league-best eighth and ninth MVC round-trippers in Sunday’s 10-4 decision. 

Other Notable Performances: Dalton Horstmeier (UE); Collin Braithwaite (ILS); Jarrod Watkins (INS); Nikola Vasic (SIU)

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Dylan Givens, So., RHP, Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois sophomore Dylan Givens pitched five shutout innings in SIU’s lightning-shortened 3-0 win over Bradley in the series finale Saturday. With the game being called after five innings, only a one-out fifth-inning double prevented Givens from throwing a no-hitter. He limited Bradley to an .059 average and struck out two.  

Other Notable Performances: Boby Johnson (BRAD); Triston Polley (INS); Dylan Coleman (MSU)