The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team continued its dominant pitching on day three of the GLVC Tournament in Ozark, Mo. The Prairie Stars advanced to the tournament's championship game for the first time in program history after a 3-2 victory over Maryville.
 
UIS has allowed just 15 hits and four earned runs during its three games at the conference tournament. On Saturday, Brock Immke started and threw seven innings. He gave up two runs, just one earned, and three hits, and he struck out six. Nick Alvarado and Colton Thompson each threw a scoreless inning in the game.
 
Offensively, John Sechen led off the bottom of the first for UIS by getting hit by a pitch. He advanced home after singles by Chris Monroe and Zach Speaker. Maryville tied the game in the fourth with a solo homer, and then scored an unearned run in the sixth for a 2-1 lead.
 
UIS tied the game at two in the seventh after back-to-back doubles by Zach Abfall and Brandon Bannon. An inning later, Sechen opened up the frame with a double. He advanced to third on a fly out by Ben Schanding, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Monroe.
 
In the ninth, Maryville put a runner on to start the inning after a passed ball on a strikeout. After two outs, the go-ahead run reached on a walk. Thompson got the next batter to pop up in the infield though to end the game. Alvarado earned his first win of the season, and Thompson clinched his first save.
 
UIS will enter tomorrow's championship game with a 37-14-1 record. The Prairie Stars will take on Bellarmine at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow for the GLVC Tournament title.