The No. 11 University of Illinois Springfield baseball program saw its season come to an end on Friday afternoon in St. Charles, Mo. The Prairie Stars fell to Quincy by a 4-3 score in an elimination game at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament.
 
Pitching dominated the first six innings of the contest. The two teams combined for just three hits over that span, and Quincy had a 1-0 lead heading into the seventh.
 
Kal Youngquist started a rally for the Prairie Stars in the seventh after leading off the inning with a double. Two batters later, Austin Alderman singled him home to tie the score. UIS continued the inning as singles by Chris Mathieu and Bobby Barnard loaded the bases with two outs. Brandon Bannon then came through with a two-run single to put UIS up 3-1.
 
The Prairie Stars could not hold onto that advantage for long. Quincy opened up the bottom half of the inning with a solo homer. A hit and three straight walks knotted the game at three, and a sacrifice fly plated the game-winning run.
 
That was enough for Quincy's bullpen. The Hawks set the Prairie Stars down in order in the eighth. UIS got a two-out single from Nick Mayerhofer in the ninth, but Quincy got a force out for the final out in the game.
 
Chad Saner had a great start for the Prairie Stars. He went 6 1/3 innings and allowed just three hits and two runs. He struck out eight and walked one. Bannon led the offense with two hits and two RBI. Austin Alderman had the other RBI, and runs were scored by Youngquist, Mathieu, and Mayerhofer.
 
UIS ends one of its best seasons in program history with a 37-8 overall record. The Prairie Stars were ranked as high as No. 4 in NCAA Division II, and they won a GLVC Regular Season Division Championship.