MURRAY, Ky. (Interstat) — A triumphant return to the mound for Nic Schutte has propelled Murray State into the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, where the Racers will face Indiana State on Thursday night.

Schutte, a right-hander, threw a complete game in his last outing, a 6-4 win over Illinois State on May 20, scattering seven hits and striking out six. That performance was a sharp rebound from a rough stretch in which he had allowed 14 earned runs in 14 ⅓ innings over his previous three starts.

Murray State enters the tournament with a 31-25 record, having won four of its last five games. The Racers took two of three from Evansville over the weekend before dispatching Illinois State in their regular-season finale.

Indiana State, the designated home team for Thursday’s game, is 30-25. The Sycamores have lost three straight, most recently a 5-2 setback to Belmont on May 16. Right-hander Spencer Johnsen is expected to start for Indiana State. He allowed one earned run over 4 ⅓ innings in that loss, striking out three.

The teams are meeting for the fourth time this season. In a three-game series at Murray State from May 8-10, Indiana State took the opener 3-2 before the Racers bounced back with an 8-7 victory in 10 innings and a 10-8 win in the series finale.

Schutte faced the Sycamores in that first game, allowing three earned runs over six innings in a losing effort. Johnsen started the second game of the series and gave up five runs — all unearned — over five innings.

The MVC Championship is being held at Johnny Reagan Field in Murray, Kentucky. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. ET.

Thursday’s winner advances to the next round of the double-elimination tournament. The loser will face elimination.