MURRAY, Ky. (Interstat) — Southern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago meet Thursday in the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship at Johnny Bench Field, each seeking to extend its season after finishing regular-season play with identical struggles.

The eighth-seeded Salukis (24-30) face the seventh-seeded Flames (24-27) in an elimination game scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT. The winner advances to face the loser of Thursday’s earlier game between top-seeded Indiana State and Evansville.

Southern Illinois arrives after a 8-4 victory over Evansville on Wednesday, a game that featured ace Andrew Evans striking out 10 over six innings while allowing two earned runs. Evans, a right-hander, has been erratic down the stretch. He tossed eight scoreless frames in a win at Belmont on May 8, but also surrendered five earned runs in a loss to Murray State on April 24. For the season, he holds a 4.02 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 72 innings.

The Salukis’ offense was powered Wednesday by catcher Mason Schwalbach, who homered and drove in three runs. Southern Illinois has won five of its last six, including a three-game sweep at Belmont on May 8-10.

Illinois-Chicago (24-27) comes in following a 6-2 loss at Bradley on Saturday. Right-hander Kendall Lyons took the loss despite a strong performance: six innings, no hits, one earned run, two strikeouts. Lyons has been inconsistent but dominant at times. He threw a seven-inning, five-hit shutout against Youngstown State on April 26, but also allowed three earned runs in four innings against Illinois State on May 10. His season ERA is 3.80 with 52 strikeouts in 64 innings.

The Flames dropped two of three at Bradley to close the regular season, but had won four of five before that. UIC’s offense has been erratic, scoring 10 or more runs four times this season but being held to two or fewer in 11 games.

These teams met in a three-game series in Carbondale in late March. UIC won the first two games, 10-9 and 6-5, before Southern Illinois salvaged a 5-4 victory. The Flames outscored the Salukis 20-19 in that set.

Both teams enter with sub-.500 records, but the MVC tournament offers a fresh start. The winner Thursday keeps its championship hopes alive; the loser is eliminated.

Notes: Southern Illinois ranks seventh in the MVC in team batting (.268) and eighth in ERA (5.72). Illinois-Chicago is sixth in batting (.274) and fifth in ERA (5.10). The game will be televised on ESPN+.