The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team returns home this week for a four-game series against Missouri S&T. The action begins at the UIS Baseball Field on Thursday at 2 p.m.
 
UIS has won six straight games, and is now 14-2 on the season and 10-2 in GLVC action. After three weeks of conference play, the Prairie Stars have built a three-game lead in the Green Division of the conference. Last weekend, UIS traveled to Kirksville, Mo. and swept a four-game series at Truman State.
 
The Prairie Stars hitters will come into the Miners series with hot bats. UIS scored 65 runs in four games last weekend. Twenty of those runs came in one inning in the first game of the series, as the Prairie Stars had one of the best offensive innings in NCAA Division II history. UIS allowed just six runs in the series, including one run over the final 26 frames.
 
Offensively, Zion Pettigrew is among NCAA Division II leaders with a .481 batting average, .586 on-base percentage, 1.167 slugging percentage, 10 doubles, nine home runs, and 63 total bases. Bobby Barnard is tied with Pettigrew with 23 RBI, and Pettigrew leads the team with 26 runs. Kal Youngquist and Chris Mathieu both open the week batting over .400 for the year.
 
Colton Hale was named the GLVC Pitcher of the Week after throwing a four-hit shutout against Truman State. On the season, he is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA and .200 opponent batting average. He has struck out 28 batters in 18 innings.
 
Each individual GLVC school will determine their own attendance policy for baseball. Please check the policies of the home teams if interested in attending a contest. (UIS)
 
UIS vs. Missouri S&T
Date/Time/Location: Thursday, April 1, 2:00 p.m. – Springfield, Ill.
Date/Time/Location: Friday, April 2, 12:00 p.m. – Springfield, Ill. (DH)
Date/Time/Location: Saturday, April 3, 1:00 p.m. – Springfield, Ill.
Streaming: https://glvcsn.com/uis
Live Stats: https://uisprairiestars.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
All-Time Series: Missouri S&T leads 16-8 (Missouri S&T leads 7-6 in Springfield, Ill.)
 
Missouri S&T is currently .500 on the season at 8-8, including a 4-4 mark in conference action. Last weekend, the Miners split a four-game GLVC series against preseason Division favorite, Quincy.
 
Missouri S&T is one of the top offenses teams in the league. It is batting .302 on the year, and averaging over six runs a game. On the mound, the Miners have a 7.45 ERA, and opposing hitters are batting .329 off of them.
 
Cade Meier has been the team's top starter. He has a 3.49 ERA and .273 opponent batting average. He has a team-best 2-0 record on the year. Eli Gross has appeared in seven games in relief, and has one win and one save.
 
UIS and Missouri S&T have not played a conference game against each other since 2014. The last time they played was in 2018 when UIS won 17-4 in a regular season non-conference game, before Missouri S&T won 5-2 in the GLVC Tournament.
 
Up Next
UIS continues an eight-game homestand on April 9-11 with a four-game series against Rockhurst.