The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team opened up its four-game West Virginia trip on Friday afternoon with an 11-3 victory over the host school, West Virginia State.
 
It took several innings before the Prairie Stars' bats heated up, but starter Christian Stelling kept UIS from falling behind. He allowed just one unearned run and two hits in his five innings of work, and he struck out eight batters.
 
The two teams were tied 1-1 after four innings when the offense got going for UIS. The Prairie Stars scored three times in the fifth inning, had four runs in the sixth, and capped it off with three more in the eighth.
 
Zion Pettigrew and Chris Monroe both had home runs for UIS. Monroe had three RBI, and Ruben Markham, Pettigrew, and Josh Stivers all drove in two. Nick Mayerhofer, Monroe, Chris Mathieu, Pettigrew, and Bobby Bernard each cross the plate two times.
 
Brayden Jensen pitched two innings in relief, and allowed two unearned runs. Cade Sestak and AJ Golembiewski each pitched one scoreless inning to close the game out. In all, the UIS pitching staff allowed just five hits and two walks, while striking out 10 batters.
 
UIS improves to 3-1 on the season. The Prairie Stars will play twice on Saturday, facing Saginaw Valley State and West Virginia State on the day.