The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team was able to force a third game at the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regionals in Ashland, Ohio, but it came up one run shy of advancing to the national championship event. After UIS won game two of the series by an 8-4 margin, Ashland won the deciding third game by an 8-7 score.
 
In the first game on Saturday, Andrew Dean improved to 12-0 on the season as the Prairie Stars forced a third game. Dean kept UIS in the game until a four-run sixth inning helped break the contest open.
 
Ashland hit a two-run homer in the first for an early lead, but the Prairie Stars tied the game in the third with two unearned runs. John Sechen drove in the first run with a single, and Austin Alderman grounded out to score another.
 
After allowing the first inning homer, Dean set down ten of the next 11 batters until Ashland hit another homer to lead off the fifth inning. Back-to-back doubles by Zach Abfall and Nick Mayerhofer tied the game in the bottom half of that frame.
 
The sixth inning proved to be the turning point in the game. In Ashland's at-bat, the Eagles loaded the bases with one out, but Dean got the next batter to ground into a double play. UIS then scored four times in the bottom half of the inning without getting a single hit. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases to start the inning. Brandon Bannon hit a sacrifice fly, and a throwing error helped a second run score on that play. A wild pitch scored the third run of the inning. UIS reloaded the bases on two more walks and another hit by pitch, and a sacrifice fly plated the final run.
 
UIS scored once more in the seventh, and Ashland answered with a single run in the eighth. In the ninth, Ashland got runners on second and third, but R.D. Lutze got a fly out for the final out, and to earn the save.
 
Dean went seven innings and allowed six hits, three walks, and four runs. He struck out 12 batters in his performance. Dean ended his UIS career with a 22-1 overall record and a 2.83 ERA. Trent Sidwell, Tyler Horvath, and Lutze got the final six outs, and allowed just two hits and no runs.
 
Abfall led the offense with two hits and three runs. Ruben Markham also scored twice, including a solo homer in the seventh. Alderman drove in two runs, and Mayerhofer had one run and one RBI.
 
In game three of the series, UIS led 6-5 midway through the game when the contest was stopped for a rain delay. After the rain delay, Ashland allowed just one more run, and won the game in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth.
 
UIS's bats were hot early on, including Sechen hitting a homer as the first batter of the game. The Prairie Stars scored every inning but one for the first five innings as they scored six times and had 10 hits in that span. They did miss some opportunities though to lead by more, as they stranded seven runners in those innings.
 
Ashland quickly retook the advantage after the delay with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth that made the score 7-6 in favor of the Eagles. The Prairie Stars tied the game in the seventh after a double by Brandon Bannon started a rally. He then scored on a RBI single by Mayerhofer. UIS loaded the bases later in the inning, but couldn't get a key two-out hit.
 
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. UIS got off to a good start with a groundout, but it then walked two straight batters and hit another batter. With the bases loaded and one out, a wild pitch brought home the winning run.
 
Horvath was the top pitcher in the second game, going three innings in relief and allowing just one hit and one walk. Offensively, the bottom part of the lineup did most of the damage, with the five through nine hitters combining for 10 hits, five runs, and five RBI. Bannon had three hits, two runs, and a RBI. Zach Speaker had two hits, two runs, and a RBI. Abfall and Chris Mathieu each had two hits, and Mayerhofer drove in a pair of runs.
 
UIS ends the season with a 41-17-1 record. The Prairie Stars hit the 40-win mark and reached the NCAA postseason for the second straight season. UIS finished among the final 16 teams in NCAA Division II, its best showing in program history in the national tournament.