SPRINGFIELD, IL – University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) baseball player
Nick Stokowski put together a career performance as UIS powered past the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) with a 19-6 victory on Wednesday.
Stokowski finished 5-for-6 with a near cycle to lead the Prairie Stars (22-4), who are ranked No. 21 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division II poll. The senior outfielders from Monticello, IL drove in seven runs on a pair of three-run home runs and an RBI triple.
Cole Taylor went 4-for-5 with two RBIs.
Michael Rothmund finished 3-for-6 with a two-run blast, a double and three total RBIs.
Chris Mathieu went 2-for-4 with a double while
Myles Hann delivered a two-run double. The Prairie Stars received singles from
John Sechen,
Ryan Dufrene,
Zach Abfall and
Kenny Hansen, rounding out their 19 hits.
John Hilpert contributed a triple for the Tritons (10-13). Cole McDonald, Josh Shoemaker and Keaton King also added singles. UMSL recorded four hits.
Kenny Brokop (1-0) collected the win for the Prairie Stars. The freshman from Bourbonnais, IL struck out four batters while allowing zero hits and two walks in four scoreless innings.
Carter Lawler issued a walk and four unearned runs in one inning.
Brock Immke fanned two batters, yielded one walk and allowed two runs on one hit in one inning.
Trent Sidwell and
R.D. Lutze each punched out two batters while giving up one walk and one hit in one scoreless inning.
Colby Carmichael struck out two batters while issuing two walks and one hit in one scoreless inning.
Bobby Schallenberger (0-2) took the loss. He walked two batters and surrendered nine runs on eight hits in two and one-third innings. Jason Stuckmeyer recorded a strikeout, yielded three walks and conceded three runs on four hits and two and two-thirds innings. Dylan Hoelscher retired each of three batters he faced, including punching out a batter. Shane Melbrod gave up two hits in one scoreless inning. Josh Shoemaker fanned a batter and surrendered seven runs (one earned) on five hits in one inning.
During the bottom of the first inning, Sechen scored from first after an UMSL throwing error. Stokowski ripped an RBI triple and Rothmund singled in a run. The Prairie Stars led the Tritons 3-0.
Taylor scored on a fielding error in the third. Rothmund followed up with a two-run blast to give UIS a 6-0 lead.
Nick Mayerhofer drove in a run on a groundout and Taylor cracked a two-run single to give the Prairie Stars a 9-0 advantage.
During the fifth, Melbrod scored after Xavier Collier reached on a dropped fly ball. On the next at bat, Jayce Timmerman scored after Brian Seymour reached on a fielding error. Coller scored UMSL's third run of the inning off a balk. McDonald then knocked Seymour in on a sacrifice fly, narrowing the deficit to 9-4 for the Tritons.
UIS pulled ahead to a 12-4 lead in the fifth when Stokowski smashed a three-run homer.
Hilpert belted an RBI triple in the sixth. Melbrod then drove in a run on a groundout.
UIS then plated seven runs in the eighth. Hansen knocked in Rothmund on a dropped fly ball sacrifice fly. Hann connected for a two-run double and Dufrene added an RBI single. Stokowski then crushed his second three-run bomb of the day.
The Prairie Stars welcome Robert Morris University-Springfield (1-10) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at UIS Baseball Field. UIS hosts its annual Easter Egg Hunt following the game.
