The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) baseball team captured a 12-6 victory during Saturday's matchup against Saginaw Valley State University. UIS closed out its season-opening road trip to Emerson, Ga. with a 3-0 record.
 
"Opening weekend is always an exciting weekend for everyone," UIS coach Chris Ramirez said. "Both players and coaches get to shake off the rust and early-season jitters."
 
Zach Speaker went 2-for-3 with two doubles and also drew two walks for the Prairie Stars (3-0). Chris Mathieu cranked a three-run home run. Ryan Fish finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Chris Monroe went 2-for-6 with a double and two RBIs. John Sechen, Austin Alderman and Brennan Brogni rounded out UIS's 10 hits.
 
The Prairie Stars limited the Cardinals (0-3) to just five hits. Collin Winters and Joshua Riggs each provided RBI doubles. Derrek Clyde, Jordan Swiss and Gerrit Eding each contributed singles.
 
Brock Immke (1-0) earned the win after tossing three perfect innings in relief and striking out four batters. Brayden Jensen started the first three innings. He recorded two strikeouts, walked three batters and allowed two runs on four hits. Nick Alvarado issued two walks and yielded two runs in one-third of an inning. Mason Coon walked the only batter he faced. Trent Sidwell retired both of the batters he faced. Alec Altmyer faced three batters, issued one walk and surrendered two runs (one earned) on hit. Tyler Horvath recorded a strikeout and allowed a walk in one scoreless inning. Ryan Jemar fanned two batters and threw a perfect ninth inning.
 
Throughout the weekend, 13 UIS players made their debut in a Prairie Star uniform.
 
"We had a lot of players make their UIS Baseball debut this weekend and get a taste of what this level is all about."
 
In the early part of the season, the Prairie Stars expect to play a variety of players to figure out their optimal approach for success.
 
"Early, we are going to do our best to see as many of our players as possible and work to figure out how this team is going to win ball games."
 
Amani Godfrey (0-1) was hit with the loss. He punched out four batters, issued four walks and surrendered four runs on five hits in four and two-thirds innings. John Fantauzzo walked a batter and yielded one run on one hit in one and one-third innings. Brandon Wise issued a walk and allowed three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Eric Fritz faced two batters, walked one batter and yielded two runs on one hit. Nolan Knauf struck out a batter, issued two walks and gave up two runs on one hit in one inning. Tyler Stambaugh issued a walk and gave up zero runs on zero hits in one-third of an inning. Swiss fired a scoreless inning while fanning two batters.
 
Monroe singled in a run for the Prairie Stars in the top of the third inning. During the bottom half of the inning, Andrew Burke scored on a wild pitch. Winters followed up by cracking an RBI double to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
 
Brogni delivered a run-scoring single in the fourth to tie the game.
 
During the fifth, Monroe doubled in a run and scored later in the inning off a wild pitch.
 
UIS plated seven runs in the seventh to take an 11-2 lead. Alderman and Fish each contributed RBI singles. Sechen delivered a two-run single and Mathieu followed up with a three-run blast.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, Burke drew a bases loaded walk. Swiss then knocked in Clyde on a sacrifice fly.
 
During the eighth, Fish drove in Brandon Bannon on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 12-4. In the bottom half of the inning, Riggs provided a run-scoring double and Clyde drew a bases-loaded walk.
 
UIS hosts Purdue University Northwest (0-0) for a home-opening series next weekend. The two teams are scheduled for a pair of 12 p.m. doubleheaders at UIS Baseball Field on Saturday and Sunday.
 
"There are a bunch of positives to take away from this weekend. We need to have a good week of practice and get ready for Purdue Northwest."