The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team won its first GLVC Tournament Championship on Sunday in St. Charles, Mo. The Prairie Stars played one of their most complete games of the season in a 16-3 victory over Quincy in the finals of the tournament.
 
Cameron Zunkel set the tone early for the Prairie Stars on the mound, and the offense continued its recent formula of catching fire midway through the contest. UIS outhit the Hawks 19-3, and it had one of the top celebrations in program history after Kal Youngquist tagged a runner at first for the 27th out of the game.
 
UIS jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on a Brant Vanaman home run, and a Brandon Bannon single which scored Nick Mayerhofer. Quincy scored an unearned run in the third, but it didn't score again until the ninth inning.
 
The Prairie Stars essentially sealed the title in the fifth with eight two-out RBIs in the inning. That inning included another home run by Vanaman, this one a three-run shot, and a two-run homer by Hunter Phelps. UIS added six more runs the rest of the way to put the icing on the victory.
 
Zunkel pitched into the fifth and did not allow a hit. He gave up just one unearned run, and one walk. Mason Coon earned the win after pitching 1 2/3 innings, and giving up just one hit while striking out four. Brendan Anderson, Ian Delleman, and Luke Fitton each pitched an inning to close out the game.
 
Offensively, all nine starters had at least one hit, and seven had both a RBI and a run in the game. Vanaman had a team-high five RBI and three hits. Austin Alderman finished with three hits, three runs, and four RBI. Zion Pettigrew also added three hits and three run. Nick Mayerhofer collected three hits, two runs, and two RBI. Brandon Bannon became UIS's all-time hits king with two, his last which was the 200th of his career.
 
The win completed a dominant run by the Prairie Stars throughout the conference tournament. UIS went 4-0 and outscored its opponents by a 47-11 margin. In the last three rounds, against teams that finished first or second in their respective divisions, UIS won each game by 10 or more runs.
 
UIS receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Regionals, and will find out its bracket on Sunday at  9 p.m. The Prairie Stars will take a 43-8 overall record into the national postseason tournament.