SPRINGFIELD, IL – Seventh-seeded University of Southern Indiana slipped past the top-seeded University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) baseball team with a 13-11 victory during the NCAA Division II Baseball Midwest Regional on Saturday.
 
Southern Indiana (35-21) advances to Championship Monday with its win. UIS (47-8) is ranked No. 4 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II poll.
 
After starting down 6-0, the Prairie Stars fought to take a 7-6 lead after two innings.
 
"It was a tough loss," UIS coach Chris Ramirez said. "Our guys showed a lot of grit and character to fight our way back after Southern Indiana took the lead early."
 
Jack Schaaf went 2-for-5 with a double and a triple for the Prairie Stars. Chris Mathieu finished 2-for-3 with an RBI double. Myles Hann smashed a grand slam and Zach Speaker crushed a two-run home run. John Sechen finished with a triple and two RBIs. Cole Taylor turned in a run-scoring double. Michael Rothmund and Nick Stokowski added singles to round out UIS's 10 hits.
 
Drake McNamara powered Southern Indiana's offense, closing out the night 3-for-6 with a three-run blast and six total RBIs. Logan Brown went 4-for-6 while Buddy Johnson finished 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Bryce Krizan went 2-for-5. Jacob Fleming and Nick Gobert each turned in run-scoring doubles while Ethan Hunter rounded out Southern Indiana's 14 hits with a single.
 
Kyle Griffin (7-3) picked up the win for the Screaming Eagles after throwing the final three innings of the game. He struck out eight batters, issued two walks and allowed an unearned run on zero hits. Chase Partain walked one batter and conceded four runs on six hits in one and two-thirds innings. Nick Coudret faced four batters, yielded two walks and surrendered three runs on two hits. Tyler Hagedorn punched out two batters, gave up two walks and scattered three runs on two hits in two and two-thirds innings. Jacob Bowles struck out a batter and gave up a walk in one and two-thirds innings.
 
Brayden Jensen started the game for the Prairie Stars. He walked two batters and surrendered seven runs on seven hits in two and one-third innings. Sam Geraci kept UIS in the lead as he completed three and two-thirds innings. He fanned four batters, gave up two walks and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits.
 
"Brayden just didn't have it [on Saturday] but Sam did an outstanding job of coming in and bridging us through those middle innings and giving our offense some time to get back in it."
 
Alec Altmeyer tallied a strikeout, walked a batter and issued zero runs on one hit in two-thirds of an inning. Cameron Zunkel (1-1) was tagged with the loss. He yielded a walk and conceded two unearned runs on one hit in one and one-third innings. Colton Hale struck out a batter, yielded one walk and allowed two runs on three hits in one-third of an inning. Gunnar Kay allowed a walk and surrendered zero runs in two-thirds of an inning.
 
During the top of the first inning, McNamara singled in a run and Johnson added an RBI double.
 
Brown scored on a double-play ball in the second. McNamara delivered a three-run bomb in the second to give Southern Indiana a 6-0 lead.
 
The Prairie Stars poured in seven runs in the second to take a 7-6 lead. Mathieu connected on an RBI double, Sechen tripled in a run, Taylor produced an RBI double and Hann smashed a grand slam.
 
The Screaming Eagles tied the game at 7-all in the third as Sam Griggs drove in Johnson on a groundout.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, Sechen knocked in Ben Schanding on a sacrifice fly.
 
Speaker extended UIS's lead to 10-7 after five innings by crushing a two-run homer.
 
McNamara delivered a two-run single in the top of the sixth.
 
During the eighth, Johnson knocked in McNamara on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 10-all. With two outs and on the 10th pitch of the at bat, Brown delivered the go-ahead RBI single for the Screaming Eagles.
 
Fleming and Gobert both produced RBI doubles in the ninth.
 
During the bottom of the ninth, Schaaf reached base after the shortstop collided with the third baseman after the third baseman got under the popup. Troy Cantu drew a walk to put two runners on with nobody out. After a UIS strikeout, Zach Abfall reached on an error and Schaaf scored on the error. Phillips retired the next two batters to seal the victory.
 
When it's all said and done, we had a chance to win it with a one-run lead in the eighth and we were unable to finish.
 
Fourth-seeded Ohio Dominican University and fifth-seeded Quincy University clash on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Robin Roberts Stadium. UIS faces off the winner of the game on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Robin Roberts Stadium. Quincy is ranked No. 23, nationally.
 
"We will sleep it off and be ready to take care of business [on Sunday]."