CARTERSVILLE, GA --- The Prairie Stars (5-3) shutout Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Missouri – St. Louis (0-5) by a score of 11-0 behind the arm of
Ethan Howard. Fresh off a pitcher of the week win, Howard tossed a complete game (seven innings), giving up just five hits while striking out nine against zero walks. UIS is now 1-1 in Georgia after a 5-2 loss on Friday against Wayne State.
WAYNE STATE 5, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2
UIS began a four-game trip in Georgia with Wayne State, falling 5-2.
Gunnar Kay (1-2) was perfect through his first ten batters, but a three-run homerun in the fourth broke up the shutout. Two more runs came across in the inning, leaving Kay with a line of 3.2 innings, five runs, on three hits, with four walks and strikeouts.
Jon Laird threw two complete innings of shutout ball, followed by
Sam Geraci (2.1 innings) and
R.D. Lutze (one inning), totaling five strikeouts and four hits between the three relievers.
Austin Muench put UIS on the board in the fifth with a sac fly, scoring
John Sechen.
Michael Rothmund hit his fourth homerun of the year on a solo shot to left in the ninth to make the score 5-2.
ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 11, MISSOURI – ST. LOUIS 0
The Prairie Stars owned this game from the first pitch, scoring five runs in the top of the first, followed by three more in the second.
Chris Mathieu led off the game getting hit by a pitch and came in to score on an RBI groundout by Rothmund.
Muench followed with a two-RBI double and came into score on an RBI single from
Ben Schanding. The five-run inning concluded with a single from
Drew Harper, scoring Schanding.
In the second, Rothmund walked and advanced on a single from Muench.
Myles Hann was hit by a pitch setting up a bases clearing double from
Zach Patterson, making the score 8-0.
In the fifth, with two-outs and nobody on,
Cole Taylor and
Trey Hannam hit back-to-back singles, setting up Rothmund for a three-run long ball, his fifth of the season.
Howard retired the first nine batters of the game and only allowed two runners to reach second base all game. Howard ended the game by striking out the final three batters, giving him his second straight complete game shutout.
The junior from Prophetstown, IL has now thrown 16 innings on the season, giving up no earned runs and striking out 18.
Muench went 4-for-4 against UMSL with two runs and two RBI while Rothmund scored twice while driving in four. Taylor collected two more hits and now leads the team with 12 hits and 11 runs.
