The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team will continue their games at home in the early part of the conference schedule against Missouri S&T this weekend. The Prairie Stars and Miners are set to play a four-game series. The series starts with a single game on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Friday starting at 12:00 p.m., and will finish with a lone Saturday game scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
UIS (14-11, 5-7)
The Prairie Stars are coming off a weekend where they split a four game set against McKendree at home. UIS won Game One in resounding fashion, 12-0. McKendree took Game Two 8-3 before the Prairie Stars responded with another big win, 11-1. McKendree won the series finale 6-3 to split the series. In both wins during the weekend, the starting pitcher threw a complete game. Gavin Wahlbrink went all 7 innings in Game One while allowing 0 earned runs, 4 hits, and striking out 10. Riley Moran went all 7 in Game Three as he allowed 1 run, 1 hit, and struck out 7. In Game Two of the weekend, the Bearcats led the entire way through, earning their first conference win of the season. In the weekend finale, some late inning heroics from the McKendree hitters guided the Bearcats to a win and series split.
The Prairie Stars are 7-4 at the UIS Baseball Field this year. As a team, UIS is hitting .316 and have scored 201 runs. Four Prairie Stars currently hold a batting average at .355 or higher. The Prairie Star pitching staff currently holds a 6.92 ERA while allowing 149 earned runs. Opponents have a .298 batting average against Stars pitchers. UIS is second in the GLVC with a .974 fielding percentage.
Missouri S&T (14-11, 5-7)
The Miners are coming off a weekend where they not only earned a series win against William Jewell, but also had players named the Pitcher and Offensive Player of the Week in the GLVC. The Miners were able to find success at the plate last weekend, scoring 42 runs through their four games. In Game One of the series, both teams held leads until S&T scored 9 runs in the seventh inning to run rule the Cardinals, 19-8. Game Two was the only game that Jewell won during the series, and came from taking an early lead for an 8-6 win. S&T responded in Game Three as Estin McBroom threw a complete game of seven innings with 0 earned runs, 4 hits, and 5 strikeouts for a 3-0 Miner win. S&T won the Sunday finale by scoring in every inning but one, earning another run rule victory, 14-4.
The Miners are 3-2 away from home in the 2024 season so far. As a team, Missouri S&T is hitting .280 and scored 179 runs. Three Miners currently have a batting average of .333 or better. The Miner pitching staff currently holds a 6.14 ERA while allowing 135 earned runs. Opponents have a .292 batting average against the S&T pitchers. The Missouri S&T defense has a .956 fielding percentage with 38 errors.
How to Follow
Every conference game of the 2024 season will be streamed on GLVCSN and will have live stats that you can follow. Both the stream and live stat link can be found in the Baseball section on the UIS Athletics website.