NCAA Baseball Scores: Indiana State Picks Up Critical Sweep In MVC - SB Nation

Read More: Louisville Cardinals, Indiana Hoosiers, Penn St. Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers, Valparaiso Crusaders, Indiana St. Sycamores

The Indiana St. Sycamores may have staked a claim to an at large NCAA Tournament berth this week with an impressive sweep of Southern Illinois. The Trees won 6-3, 7-5, and 10-4 to move to 39-12 overall, and 13-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. With Missouri State losing twice to Evansville, Indiana State will carry a 1.5 lead into the final weekend of the regular season.

The Missouri Valley has the No. 6 conference RPI in the country, and multiple teams are expected to reach the NCAA Tournament from the league. Indiana State saw its RPI jump to 41 as well, which should be good enough to get the Trees into the tournament. ISU finishes with a game at Purdue on Tuesday before a three games set against second place Missouri State. With one win over the Bears, ISU will be the regular season champion in the MVC.

Another Indiana team is close to a conference title as the Valparaiso Crusaders are a game behind Wright State in the Horizon League after taking two of three from Illinois-Chicago this weekend. Valpo hosts last place Youngstown State next week, while Wright State goes to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Louisville Cardinals won 5-0 over St. John's on Friday and 6-4 on Sunday, but a 6-2 Saturday loss kept the Red Storm in first place in the Big East by a game over Louisville and South Florida. The Cards should be safely in the field, and if they make up a game next week they now hold the tiebreaker on St. John's.

Finally, in the Big Ten the race is all but over. The Purdue Boilermakers had a chance to clinch the outright Big Ten title on Sunday, but Michigan ruined the party by turning a double play on a line drive when Purdue had second and third with one out in the ninth. Michigan held on to win 4-3, but Purdue can still clinch the outright title with a win over Iowa next week or a single loss each by Indiana and Penn State.

The Indiana Hoosiers took two of three at Northwestern to maintain second place at 13-8 in league play. Indiana closes out at home against Ohio State next week, and with one win or a Minnesota loss Indiana assure it will be in the Big Ten Tournament. the Hoosiers also won the regular season series with Penn State, so if they stay tied with the Nittany Lions IU would get the valuable first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament with Purdue.