ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis opened its final series of the regular season with a 14-0 win in eight innings against crosstown rival Maryville at Weber Field on Thursday afternoon in St. Louis. The Tritons improve to 28-19, 22-7 GLVC while the Saints drop to 25-21, 19-10 GLVC.
UMSL opened the game with a lead-off single from
LJ Randle. Randle went to second on an error by the center fielder and advanced to third on a throwing error by Braeden Sunken
. Mitch Bonczkowski hit a two-run home run to right center for his 20th of the season and RBIs 60 and 61 to break the single season record of 59 held by
Andrew Buescher.
The Tritons got a two-out RBI single back up the middle from
Justin Simard in the second inning scoring
Cade Grevengoed to make it 3-0.
Bonczkowski hit his second home run of the contest in the third inning on a fly ball to left field scoring
Justin Terhaar to make it 5-0. UMSL added a third run in the frame as
Owen Faith scored on a double play.
The Tritons scored again in the sixth as Randle hit a sacrifice fly to right scoring
Noah Tomaras as he slid in just ahead of the tag.
UMSL put the game away in the eighth scoring seven runs on seven hits with a hit by pitch. Bonczkowski drove in two with a double to right center. Faith brought home Bonczkowski with a double to left center that made it 10-0. Grevegoed hit a two-run double to left center and Simard added a two-run double to left center.
That was more than enough run support for
Eli Cartwright as he threw seven shutout innings allowing two hits and two walks while striking out 10 to improve to 8-3 on the season.
Cale Berkbuegler worked around a hit and a walk to complete a scoreless eighth to preserve the shutout.
The Tritons had 17 hits in the contest and were led by Simard with four while Randle and Bonczkowski added three each.
UMSL and Maryville continue its four-game series with a doubleheader on Friday at Weber Field starting at 1 p.m.
