ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team split its doubleheader against Illinois Springfield by identical 10-7 scores at the UMSL Baseball Field on Friday afternoon. The Prairie Stars (9-9, 4-5 GLVC) won game one but the Tritons (17-8, 7-3 GLVC) won the nightcap.
Game 2 – UMSL 10 UIS 7
UIS struck first in the second game with an unearned run in the first inning. Mark Kattula singled with one out, went to third on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt from
Bryce Stenzel and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ivan Dahlberg.
UMSL answered with three runs in its half of the first.
Cade Grevengoed tripled to right center to drive home
Braedon Stoakes who led off with a bunt single. After a walk,
Andrew Buescher singled through the hole on the left side of the infield to score Grevengoed.
Dane Stevenson brought home the third run with a ground out to short.
The Prairie Stars got a run back in the second as Ty Hollandsworth scored on a wild pitch but
Nate Kemp got Dillon Smail fly out to
Jake Isaacs to preserve the lead.
The Tritons added two runs in the second on an RBI double from Stoakes and later in the inning Stoakes stole third and scored on a throwing error by the catcher.
UIS tied the game in the third with three runs but UMSL rallied with three in the fourth to retake the lead. Isaacs scored the go-ahead run on an error by Ethan Bowers at short. Stoakes scored on a wild pitch and Grevengoed scored on Buescher's single through the right side of the infield.
The Prairie Stars cut the Triton lead to 8-7 in the sixth and had the bases loaded with no one out but
Cody Brooks got two pop outs to second and a fly out to right to end the threat.
UMSL tacked on two insurance runs in its half of the sixth as
Logan McIntyre brought home
Barrett Rose with a sacrifice fly to left and
LJ Randle scored on
Cooper Blythe's single up the middle.
UIS brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the seventh but Brooks got Smail to foul out to first and struck out pinch-hitter Nate Bingman for the final out of the game.
The Tritons had 13 hits in the nightcap and were led by Stoakes, Buescher and Blythe with three apiece. Grevengoed and Buescher drove in two runs each.
Trey Schneider picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season and Brooks nailed down his first save of the year.
Game 1 – UIS 10 UMSL 7
The Prairie Stars jumped on top in the opening game of the day as Noah Caceres led off the second inning with a home run to center. UMSL tied the game in its half of the second on
Noah Tomaras's fourth home run of the season to left center.
UIS got a solo home run from Bowers in the third, a two-run home run from Jonny Wendling and a solo home run from Michael Paule in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.
The Tritons rallied in the fifth scoring three runs as Grevengoed tripled to right center bringing home Isaacs and Stevenson and Rose hit a sacrifice fly scoring Grevengoed.
The Prairie Stars scored twice in the sixth on an RBI double from Paule and an RBI single from Bowers to take a 7-4 lead. UMSL tied the game in the sixth as Stevenson singled to left scoring
Mitch Bonczkowski and Stoakes tripled to right center to bring home Stevenson and Isaacs with the tying runs.
UIS retook the lead in the seventh as Kattula scored on a wild pitch and Caceres scored on Wendling's single to right center to make it 9-7. The Tritons had a chance to take the lead in the eighth as they loaded the bases with two out but Seth Masters got
Luke Saxton to ground out to second for the final out of the inning.
The Prairie Stars added an insurance run in the ninth.
UMSL had 11 hits in the opener and was led by Grevengoed and Tomaras with three each.
Jacob Arndt took the loss to fall to 2-2 on the season.
The Tritons and UIS conclude their four-game series with another doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the UMSL Baseball Field.
