ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team dropped both ends of its doubleheader against No. 21 Illinois Springfield at the UMSL Baseball Field on Saturday afternoon. The Prairie Stars won the opener 11-4 and took the nightcap 14-4. The Tritons drop to 21-27, 14-16 GLVC while UIS improves to 33-11, 23-7.
Game 1 – UIS 11 UMSL 4
The Prairie Stars jumped out to an early lead scoring three times in the first inning. Asher Bradd led off the game with a single, advanced to third on a throwing error by
Ryan Berry on a pickoff attempt and scored on a wild pitch. Three pitches later Brandon Bannon hit a solo home run to left center. Brant Vanaman followed with a triple down the right field line and scored on Sam Bieser's sacrifice fly to center.
UMSL got back-to-back home runs to start the second from
Mitchell Green and
Andrew Buescher to cut UIS' lead to 3-2 before the game was delayed for nearly an hour due to weather.
The Tritons took the lead in the fifth.
Carson Holin led off the inning with a walk and went to second when
Braedon Stoakes was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced when Tyler Horvath tried to pick off Holin at second but the throw went into center field. UMSL scored the go-ahead runs when Green hit a slow roller to third that Mike O'Conor threw wildly down the right field line that allowed Holin and Stoakes to score.
The Prairie Stars regained the lead in the sixth scoring five runs on three hits and two errors. With one out, TJ Yakimsky tied the game with a solo home run to left center. With two out, Johnny Colombo reached on an error by Buescher and then Ivan Dahlberg was hit by a pitch. Bradd drove in Colombo with a single to left to put UIS back in front. The final two runs of the inning scored when Vanaman hit a ground ball to
Justin Simard at short but he couldn't handle it allowing Bradd and Bannon to score.
The Prairie Stars added two more in the seventh as Bradd singled to right center to bring in Yakimsky and Mack Clark to make it 10-4. UIS scored its final run in the eighth when Yakimsky scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Tritons had five hits in the contest and were led by Buescher with three while Green and
Leighton Keller had one hit each.
Jack Rhodes took the loss giving up five runs, one earned, on three hits with a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched.
Game 2 – UIS 14 UMSL 4
UIS sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning of game two scoring six runs on five hits and two errors. Bannon and Colombo each homered in the inning. Bannon's second home run of the day gave the Prairie Stars a 1-0 lead while Colombo's two-run homer to left capped the scoring in the inning.
UIS added three more in the second, one in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth to extend its lead to 14-0.
UMSL got on the board in the home half of the sixth. With one out and the bases loaded, Holin ripped a double down the right field line scoring Simard, Keller and
Bryce Kulinski.
The Tritons scored their final run in the seventh as
Jared Bryant lined a single into center field scoring Stoakes from second.
UMSL had 10 hits in the nightcap and was led by Green with two hits while Holin drove in three runs.
Cody Brooks took the loss giving up nine runs, six earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts in two innings pitched.
The Tritons and Prairie Stars wrap up their four-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. at the UMSL Baseball Field.
