ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team took both ends of its doubleheader against Walsh to complete the four-game series sweep on Sunday afternoon at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. The Tritons won the first game 6-5 on a walk-off in the seventh and held on to win game two 8-7. UMSL is now 10-5 on the season while the Cavaliers fall to 0-6.
Game 1 – UMSL 6 Walsh 5
The Tritons jumped out to an early lead as
Cooper Blythe led off the game with a home run to right field. UMSL added two more in the second on a two-run double from
Dane Stevenson that scored
Owen Polly and
Garrett Strenger.
The lead grew to 5-0 in the fifth as
Barrett Rose reached on an error by the second baseman scoring Blythe and Stevenson.
The Tritons still led 5-0 heading into the seventh but Walsh rallied scoring five runs in the frame highlighted by a three-run home run from Cam Hollobaugh down the right field line that tied the game.
UMSL loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh and scored the winning run when Brady Rice uncorked a wild pitch allowing
Cade Grevengoed to score from third.
The Tritons had nine hits in the contest and were led by Blythe, Stevenson and
Braedon Stoakes with two apiece.
Bryce Nicolay got the start and threw five scoreless innings as he struck out a career-high 10 batters, didn't walk a batter and allowed three hits.
Cale Willson pitched the final two innings to earn his first win at UMSL.
Game 2 – UMSL 8 Walsh 7
The Cavaliers struck first in the nightcap with a run in the first as Patrick Ciccantelli drove in Josh Algarin with a double to right.
The Tritons answered in their half of the inning scoring six runs on seven hits as they batted around in the frame. Rose tied the game with a double to right center that scored Stoakes.
Luke Saxton, Grevengoed and Stevenson followed with RBI doubles to make it 5-1.
Jake Isaacs singled to second bring home Stevenson with the final run of the inning.
Walsh got one of those runs back in the second as Mason Stoldt scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded. The Cavs added two more runs in the fourth on a two-run single back up the middle from Brody Acres.
Isaacs drove in his second run of the contest with a single through the right side of the infield in the fifth to score Grevengoed.
Walsh crept closer as Kyle Benson reached an error allowing Brandon Hire to scoreto make it 7-5 in the seventh. It had the go-ahead run at the plate but
Jacob Arndt struck Acres out looking to end the inning. The Cavaliers got a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth to close within a run and had a chance to tie the game but Benson was retired on a bang-bang play at first to end the inning.
UMSL got a big insurance run in the bottom of the frame as Blythe scored on a wild pitch.
Walsh wouldn't go quietly getting three straight singles with one out in the ninth to pull within 8-7. It had the go-ahead run at the plate but Arndt struck out Andrew Morse and got Ryan Bruni to ground into a force out at second to end the game.
The Tritons outhit the Cavaliers 13-12 and were led offensively by Grevengoed with three hits while Stoakes, Rose and Isaacs had two apiece.
Cody Brooks allowed one run on four hits in 2.2 innings of relief work to move to 3-0 on the season while Arndt got the final seven outs to pick up his first save of the year.
UMSL opens Great Lakes Valley Conference play next weekend as it travels to Rolla, Mo., for a four-game weekend series against Missouri S&T that starts on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Ballpark at S&T.
