The No. 14 University of Illinois Springfield baseball team trailed for every inning but one on Friday in Kirksville, Mo. That one inning was a historic one though, and led to the Prairie Stars defeating Truman State by a 23-5 score.
 
UIS trailed 5-3 after six innings, but it chased the Truman State starter at that point. The Prairie Stars then proceeded to score 20 times in the seventh inning against the Bulldogs' bullpen. UIS had 14 hits in the frame, including five home runs. Both Zion Pettigrew and Tyler Acosta had two home runs in the inning, which tied the NCAA Division II record.
 
The 20-run outburst was the fourth time in NCAA Division II history that a team scored 20 or more runs in an inning. The 14 hits and five home runs were both one off the NCAA Division II record for most in an inning.
 
The inning started good for Truman with a groundout, but Nick Mayerhofer and Zion Pettigrew hit back-to-back solo homers to tie the game. The next 18 batters after that all reached base and came around to score with three homers, three doubles, four singles, five walks, a hit batter, and two Truman errors. After a strikeout ended that string, UIS had two more singles in the inning before a groundout led to the third out.
 
In the UIS record book, the 20 runs in an inning was a new school record, four more than the previous-best mark. The 23 total runs were the fourth-most in program history, the 19 total hits were the 12^th-most, the seven total home runs were the second-high total, and the 44 total bases were the fourth-best for a UIS baseball team.
 
Acosta finished the game going two-for-two as a pinch hitter with the two homers and five RBI. Austin Alderman had three hits, one homer, three runs, and three RBI. Bobby Marnard also had three runs and three RBI. Pettigrew finished with four RBI off his two homers, and Chris Mathieu had three RBI. Mayerhofer and Kal Youngquist had the other home runs.
 
Overshadowed by the team's offense in the seventh inning was the UIS bullpen. AJ Golembiewski, Rece Finck, and Cameron Zunkel combined to pitch the final 5 1/3 innings, and they did not allow a run. After Truman State scored five times in the first two innings, they had just three hits and two walks the rest of the way. Finck earned the win after pitching two innings and allowing just one walk, and Zunkel pitched a perfect seventh inning.
 
UIS improves to 11-2 on the season. The Prairie Stars and Truman State will play two more times on Saturday in the middle games of their four-game GLVC series.