LOUISVILLE, KY --- Austin Muench connected for a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the seventh to give Illinois Springfield their first lead of the game, leading to a split with the Bellarmine Knights. The Prairie Stars (20-14, 10-4) split with the Bellarmine Knights (22-14, 9-5) on the first day of a four-game series large in part to the late game heroics from the Prairie Star senior.

GAME ONE: BELLARMINE 8, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2
The Knights opened the day with a run in the third and another in the fifth, both courtesy of wild pitches from the Prairie Stars. UIS got on the board for the first time in the sixth inning on a solo home run from Trey Hannam, his fifth of the season.

Down just 2-1, Bellarmine plated six runs in the bottom half of the sixth to break open the game, capitalizing on two UIS errors in the inning. Trailing 8-1 at the end of the frame, UIS scored once more in the ninth, again courtesy of a solo home run, this time off the bat of Kenny Hansen. The blast was Hansen's third of the season.

Ethan Howard (5-3) took the loss on the hill for UIS, throwing five innings and surrendering five runs (two earned) on five hits. The right-hander struck out two and walked two on the day. Austin Kapusinski and Chase Lowman each pitched scoreless relief, as Lowman retired all six batters he faced, striking out one.

Muench and Hannam each recorded two hits in the loss while Ben Schanding went 3-for-4.

GAME TWO: ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 6, BELLARMINE 5
As in game one, UIS fell behind early as the Knights plated two runs in the second inning. And as was the case in game one, UIS got on the board with their third solo home run of the game, this time off the bat of Michael Rothmund. The blast was his GLVC leading 17^th of the season, giving him his 45^th RBI.

The Knights came back with two runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 4-1, but UIS turned up the offense after that, scoring the next five runs en route to the victory.

Hansen tallied his second RBI of the day with sacrifice fly scoring Hannam in the fifth and UIS went into the final frame down 4-2.

In the seventh, Myles Hann led off the inning with a walk and was pinch ran for by Troy Cantu. After advancing on a wild pitch, Cantu scored on a single from Chris Mathieu, which was followed by a single from Ben Schanding, his fourth hit on the day.

With two-outs, Muench blasted his third home run in the last week, giving UIS their first lead of the day.

Not to go away easy, Bellarmine plated a run in the ninth but R.D. Lutze came in with runners on second and third with one-out and struck out the first batter he saw before inducing a pop-up to complete the comeback and end the game.

Along with the go-ahead home run, Muench went 3-for-5 with a run and three RBI while Hannam collected two more hits on the day.

Cameron Zunkel (1-1) picked up his first win of the season, throwing six innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on just seven hits. Zunkel struck out three batters in the outing before giving way to the bullpen. Lutze recorded his second save of the season, holding the tying and winning runs on base when entering the game.

Head coach Chris Ramirez notched his 98^th career win as he continues his search to reach the triple digit bench mark.

These two teams will take the field again on Saturday to complete the series with the first-pitch coming at 11:00 CT.