The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team earned a series victory in its first GLVC series of the year on Sunday afternoon at the UIS Baseball Field. The Prairie Stars defeated Southern Indiana by an 8-5 score, and finished the four-game set with three victories.
 
Southern Indiana scored three times in the first inning, but UIS got one back later in the frame. In the second, back-to-back homers by Chris Mathieu and Brandon Bannon put the Prairie Stars ahead by a 4-3 margin.
 
The game was in the hands of the bullpens after that. UIS's allowed just two runs over the final eight innings of the game, while Southern Indiana's pen allowed four runs over seven innings. The score was tied at five in the bottom of the fifth when UIS went ahead for good. Kal Youngquist hit a RBI double that scored Pettigrew, and proved to be the game-winning hit.
 
The bullpen work by UIS was started by Rece Finck who allowed just one run and one hit in three innings, and he struck out five. Cameron Zunkel earned the win after pitching one inning. Cameron Leff earned three outs and Seth Masters pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the save. Leff and Masters did not allow a base runner, and combined for nine strikeouts in the 11 batters they faced.
 
Offensively, Mathieu had three hits and three RBI to lead the offense. Zion Pettigrew and Brandon Bannon each had two hits and two RBI. Austin Alderman scored twice and had a RBI, and Bobby Barnard finished with two hits and a RBI.
 
UIS improves to 7-1 on the season and 3-1 in GLVC play. The Prairie Stars will hit the road for the first time next weekend with a four-game series at Lewis.