MVC title game rescheduled for 9 a.m. Sunday

Heavy rain ruined Saturday’s plans for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game.

Now Missouri State and Bradley will try again at 9 a.m. Sunday. They may spend parts of the day dodging rain and checking the radar. The forecast for Sunday morning calls for rain, dropping from a 100-percent chance Saturday night to 50 percent by first pitch.

The Valley must have an automatic qualifier ready for the NCAA by 10:59 p.m. Sunday. The NCAA field is announced Monday.

The winner earns the MVC’s automatic bid to the NCAA regionals. Top-seeded Missouri State (44-10) eliminated fourth-seeded Wichita State 6-4 on Friday night. Third-seeded Bradley (35-18) eliminated second-seeded Dallas Baptist 3-1 on Friday.

The Braves are marking their first appearance in the title game since 1996. They last won an MVC postseason championship in 1968 when they swept a best-of-3 playoff from Tulsa. Missouri State won championships in 1996 and 1997. Its most recent appearance in the title game came in 2008, when it lost to Wichita State at Eck Stadium.

Missouri State and Dallas Baptist are considered locks to make the NCAA field. Bradley, ranked No. 20 in the RPI, strengthened its case with Friday’s win over Dallas Baptist. The Braves can clinch their first NCAA bid since 1968 with one more victory.

This story was originally published May 23, 2015 at 9:47 AM with the headline "MVC title game rescheduled for 9 a.m. Sunday."