MARION, Ill. – For the first time since 2003, the University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball is champions of the Great Lakes Valley Conference after defeating top seeded Missouri S&T 13-8 in the championship game at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Ill., on Saturday afternoon. The Tritons improve to 33-20 while the Miners drop to 34-18.
UMSL jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a three runs in the third inning.
Justin Terhaar brought home
LJ Randle with an RBI double to right center and later in the inning
Bennett Cagle hit one through the hole on the left side scoring Terhaar and
Mitch Bonczkowski.
S&T got a run back in its half of the third as Brennon Wibbenmeyer led off the frame with a triple to left center and scored on Drew Baugus' groundout to
Mitch Schleeper.
The Tritons got RBI singles from Randle and Bonczkowski in the fourth to extend its lead to 5-1. UMSL tacked on two more in the fifth as
Garrett Strenger ripped a double down the left field line scoring
Cade Grevengoed and
Justin Simard scored Strenger with an infield single.
The Miners got an RBI single from Baugus in the fifth to cut the deficit to 7-2.
The Tritons got a three-run double from Strenger in the sixth to take a 10-2 lead.
S&T wouldn't go without a fight as they scored four runs in the eighth inning to cut the UMSL lead in half.
The Tritons responded with three runs in the ninth to take a seven-run lead.
The Miners kept punching with two runs in the ninth but
Dustin Hagens got Denton Damgaard fly out to Grevengoed in center for the final out and triggering a celebration on the field.
UMSL had 15 hits in the contest and was led by Bonczkowski with five while Randle added three more. Schleeper got the win giving up one run on three hits with four strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched to even his record at 2-2.
The Tritons had six players named to the GLVC's All-Tournament team with Bonczkowski, Randle, Terhaar,
Brandon Johnson,
Garrett Brunstetter and
Eli Cartwright earning the honor.
With the victory, UMSL earns the GLVC's automatic bid to the Division II Championships and will find out their opponent and destination on Sunday evening during the NCAA Selection Show at 9 p.m. (CDT) on NCAA.com.
