The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team has advanced to the GLVC Tournament Championship game for the third straight time. The Prairie Stars earned a shot at their first tournament title with a 14-2 victory over Drury on Saturday night in St. Charles, Mo.
 
UIS was no-hit through four innings, and the Panthers had a 2-0 lead heading into the fifth. Anthony Deconcilis broke up the no-hitter with a single, and scored after Hunter Phelps followed with a double.
 
Those two hits changed the momentum of the game, as the offense would then explode with 13 runs and 10 hits over the sixth and seven frames. Kal Youngquist had the game-changing hit with a two-run homer to left center that put UIS ahead for good. Phelps also hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and Zion Pettigrew ended the game with a grand slam in the seventh.
 
On the mound, four UIS pitchers held the No. 12 scoring team in the nation to just single runs in the second and third innings. Seth Masters started and threw 4 2/3 innings. He allowed just three hits, two runs, and he struck out six.
 
Matt Blaney stranded a runner in the fifth before Clarke Davenport pitched a scoreless sixth. Davenport earned the win after the Prairie Stars went ahead after that. Mason Coon entered in the seventh and got out of a bases loaded, no-out jam with two strikeouts and a grounder right back to him.
 
Offensively, Phelps finished with three hits, four RBI, and two runs. Pettigrew also had four RBI and two runs. Youngquist drove in three, and Asher Bradd, Brandon Bannon, Brant Vanaman, and Nick Mayerhofer all had two runs.
 
Bradd became the single-season hits leader at UIS with his 87th hit of the year, and Bannon tied the career hits mark with his 198th hit. Pettigrew recorded his 83rd RBI, tying the school's single-season mark in that category.
 
UIS will play in the GLVC Championship game on Sunday against the winner of Sunday morning's Quincy/Lewis matchup. The contest will begin 30 minutes after the first game, and will be approximately around noon. The Prairie Stars will take a 42-8 overall record into the title game.