The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team will return to Springfield for their first home conference games. The Prairie Stars and Bearcats are set to play a four-game series. The series starts on Friday at 1:00 p.m. before a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m. and finishing with a lone Sunday game at 12:00 p.m.
UIS (12-9, 3-5)
The Prairie Stars are coming off a tough weekend where they dropped a series on the road to William Jewell. On Friday, UIS came up just short in a nailbiter when they fell 5-4 in an intense game to start the series. Game One of Saturday's doubleheader spelled trouble for the Stars again as the Cardinals jumped into an early lead that UIS wasn't able to recover from. Jewell's twelve runs in the first three innings were more than enough on the way to a 14-4 Cardinal win. In Game Two of the doubleheader, UIS flipped the script and jumped on top early. With a lead going into the sixth inning, the Stars scored three runs in both the sixth and seventh to pull away for their first win of the weekend, 11-6. In Sunday's series finale, William Jewell hit two three-run home runs on their way to a win, 11-7.
The Prairie Stars are 5-2 at the UIS Baseball Field this season. As a team, UIS is hitting .325 and have scored 172 runs. Four Stars currently hold a batting average over .375. Mark Kattula is 34-for-76 (.447) with an OPS of 1.178, 22 RBIs, and 17 runs. Jackson Blemler is 27-for-69 (.391) with an OPS of 1.028, 9 RBIs, and 27 runs. Brant Vanaman is 28-for-73 (.384) with an OPS of 1.276, 27 RBIs, and 24 runs. Mack Clark is 23-for-61 (.377) with an OPS of 1.081, 18 RBIs, and 10 runs.
McKendree (7-14, 1-7)
The Bearcats are coming off of a difficult weekend against conference leading Indianapolis. McKendree was swept in the four-game series and are currently on a six-game losing streak. Friday's game was close the whole way through as McKendree stayed within striking distance, but UIndy was able to close the door in the later innings to secure the win, 7-4. On Saturday night, both teams were able to get the bats going as there were a combined eighteen runs. An eight-run seventh and five-run eighth pushed the Greyhounds to another win in this electric encounter, 14-9. Sunday featured a doubleheader, with Indianapolis taking Game One handily, 18-1. In the series finale on Sunday afternoon, McKendree found themselves leading in the late innings by two runs. The Greyhounds showed why they can be found on the top of the conference with a four-run seventh inning to give them the lead and win, 8-6.
The Bearcats are 4-10 on the road so far this season. As a team, McKendree is hitting .283 and has scored 156 runs. Four Bearcats currently have a batting average over .300 this season. Kaid Muth is 17-for-48 (.354) with an OPS of 1.133, 11 RBIs, and 13 runs. Noah Nelson is 25-for-75 (.333) with an OPS of .993, 17 RBIs, and 17 runs. Joey Kossina is 28-for-87 (.322) with an OPS of .838, 16 RBIs, and 21 runs. Harrison Toone is 21-for-69 (.304) with an OPS of .762, 10 RBIs, and 14 runs.
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.