The UIS baseball team dropped two close contests to UIndy on Saturday afternoon, 9-7 and 4-3, but will have a chance to secure a series split in Sunday's finale.

In game one, UIS stayed within striking distance throughout but couldn't slow a steady UIndy offense in a 9-7 loss.

The Prairie Stars struck first when Johnny Wendling singled and came around on Kaden Griffitts' triple to left center, but Indianapolis answered immediately with a four-run bottom of the first — two of those unearned — to take control early.

UIS chipped away in the third. Tommy Atkinson doubled to spark the inning, and Corey Boyette followed with an RBI single. Additional knocks from Wendling and Kody Morton brought home two more, briefly tying the game before UIndy responded to regain a 5-4 edge.

After trading runs in the fourth, UIndy extended its lead with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. UIS made one last push when Atkinson launched a two-run homer in the sixth, scoring Parker Heistand and tying the game at 7-7. A pair of RBI hits in the bottom of the sixth secured the win for UIndy.

Mark DeCicco took the start and pitched three innings. Zach O'Donnell provided 1 2/3 innings of relief, while Kyle Tyler and Derek Huber combined to finish the game. Tyler fell to 1-3 with the loss.

Tommy Atkinson led the offense with three RBIs, while Johnny Wendling and Noah Caceres also added a pair of hits each.

In game two, UIS was locked into another tight battle but couldn't find the late answer, falling 4-3 to close out the day.

UIndy opened the scoring in the first, but the Prairie Stars answered in the second when Boyette tripled and scored on Heistand's single to even things at 1-1.

The Greyhounds regained the lead in the third, and the game remained tight into the late innings. UIS broke through in the sixth, as Boyette doubled and later scored on a Noah Caceres single. Heistand followed with a double to plate Caceres, giving UIS its first lead of the game at 3-2.

UIndy answered in the bottom half to tie the game, then pushed across the go-ahead run in the seventh to secure the doubleheader sweep.

Graham Kasey kept UIS in the game with 5 1/3 innings of work, allowing three runs, before Richie Snider took the loss in relief.

Boyette paced the lineup with a triple, double, and two runs scored, while Heistand drove in two and collected a pair of hits. Caceres also added two hits and an RBI.

UIS moves to 30-15 overall and 18-9 in GLVC play, while Indianapolis improves to 25-20 on the year.

The Prairie Stars will look to salvage a split in Sunday's series finale, set for noon ET.