ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team dropped its final two games of the season to No. 21 Illinois Springfield on Sunday afternoon at the UMSL Baseball Field. The Tritons dropped the opener 16-5 and the nightcap 14-9.
Game 1 – UIS 16 UMSL 5
The opening game was scoreless until the third inning when the Prairie Stars hit four home runs in the inning. With one out, Brandon Bannon and Brant Vanaman hit back-to-back home runs to put UIS in front 2-0. Sam Bieser singled to left and scored on Mike O'Conor's two-run home run to center.
Braedon Stoakes nearly robbed O'Conor but the ball just eluded his glove. Peyton Dillingham went back-to-back as he hit a no doubt home run to left.
UMSL got three of those runs back in its half of the third. With one out,
Carson Holin homered to right and with two out,
Andrew Buescher homered to center to make it 5-2.
Brandon Olion walked, stole second and scored on
Mitchell Green's double down the left field line for the final run of the frame.
The Prairie Stars got two runs in the fourth as Vanaman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run and TJ Yakimisky singled to short to bring home Asher Bradd.
The Tritons cut UIS' lead in half in their half of the fourth.
Bryce Kulinski led off the inning with a double to center, advanced to third on
Cooper Blythe's fly out to right and scored on
Justin Simard's groundout to first.
The Prairie Stars added two more in the fifth, four in the sixth and three in the seventh.
UMSL's final run came in the sixth on Blythe's double down the right field line that scored
Carson Steiner.
The Tritons finished with seven hits in the contest and were led by Buescher with two hits.
Trent Anderson took the loss giving up five runs on six hits with three strikeouts in three innings pitched to fall to 4-1.
Game 2 – UIS 14 UMSL 9
UMSL jumped on UIS starter Connor McKenna to start game two. Simard led off with a single to left, stole second, went to third on Blythe's single to right and scored on Olion's single through the right side of the infield. Olion stole second and went to third on a throwing error by Ivan Dahlberg which allowed Blythe to score to make it 2-0. Buescher drove in Olion with the final run of the inning with a groundout to first.
The Prairie Stars scored twice in the second to cut the Triton lead to 3-2. Dahlberg drove in Colton Klein with a groundout to short for the first run of the frame. The second run scored on an error by Buescher that allowed Zach Dillman to score from third.
UIS took the lead in the third on O'Conor's two-run home run to left center. The Prairie Stars extended their lead to 8-3 with a four-spot in the fourth. Bannon had the big hit in the inning as he launched a three-run home run to left. Klein drove in Vanaman with the final run of the inning with single to right.
UMSL countered with a run in the fourth. Simard drove in
Leighton Keller with a sacrifice fly to left center.
The two sides traded runs in the fifth and sixth as UIS led 10-6 heading into the final three innings.
The Prairie Stars scored three runs in the seventh to extend its lead. Yakimisky drove in the first run with a groundout to first. A throwing error by
Jared Bryant allowed Bannon to score the second run and Klein's double to left drove in the final run of the inning.
UIS added another run in the eighth on Bannon's single to center that scored Bieser with its final run of the contest.
The Tritons scored one in the eighth as Kulinski scored on a wild pitch to make it 14-7. UMSL scored two more in the ninth as Kulinski hit one off the top of the fence in left for an RBI single that scored Steiner and Holin hit a sacrifice fly to left center that scored Keller.
UMSL had 12 hits in the nightcap and was led by Keller with three while Simard and Olion had two hits apiece.
Nick Torres took the loss allowing nine runs, five earned, on 11 hits with five strikeouts in five innings pitched to drop to 3-6.
The Tritons finish their season with a record of 21-29 including 14-18 in the GLVC.
