CARY, N.C. – Brandon Bannon, Austin Alderman and Kal Youngquist tallied multi-hit games offensively, but the University of Illinois Springfield baseball team stranded 11 men on base and were battered by a pair of big innings, as the Prairie Stars opened the 2022 Div. II Baseball Championships with an 8-1 loss to Point Loma (Calif.) on Saturday night.

UIS (48-10), wearing its road blues as the No. 7 seed in the championship's eight-team field, batted first and put the pressure on Point Loma (49-8) right out of the gate. Asher Bradd and Bannon put back-to-back singles into center field to lead off the game, putting runners on first and second. After a Zion Pettigrew flyout allowed Bradd to scamper to third base, Alderman delivered his 66th RBI of the season with a single into left field to give UIS the early lead. But with two aboard, any thoughts of a Prairie Star crooked number in the frame was extinguished when a Youngquist grounder led Sea Lion SS Scott Anderson right to the second base bag, where he stepped and fired to first to complete a double play.

In the bottom half, the Sea Lions responded right away, knocking four straight singles off UIS starter Colton Hale to take a 2-1 lead. Hale induced a double play ball of his own that allowed another run, before getting a flyout two batters later to end the inning with Point Loma on top, 3-1.

UIS had opportunities once again in the second and third innings, getting two runners aboard in each frame, but the Prairie Stars couldn't get the big hit and left the runners on base. 

Point Loma put another run on the scoreboard in the second to lead 4-1, but both starting pitchers then settled in and put zeros up all the way to the eighth inning. The first five batters for Point Loma reached in the home half of the eighth, all without a base hit, before the knockout blow came on a two-run single to center that pushed the Sea Lion lead to 8-1. UIS catcher Bobby Barnard, playing in his first game since May 7, executed the back end of a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play, before a second straight strikeout by Luke Fitton ended the inning.

UIS put one aboard in the ninth, but a strikeout ended the game and sent the Prairie Stars into the consolation bracket.

Bannon, Alderman and Youngquist combined for six of UIS' 10 hits on the evening, while Pettigrew notched the Prairie Stars' only extra-base hit, a two-out double in the seventh. Hale lasted six innings, striking out four Sea Lions and allowing four earned runs. Clarke Davenport, Eddie Wilkins and Fitton were each credited with one inning of work out of the bullpen.

UIS will look to keep its season alive on Monday (June 6) afternoon, when the Prairie Stars battle the Tars of Rollins (Fla.) at 12:30 p.m. (CT). Rollins (40-16) dropped a 3-1 decision to Southern Arkansas in its opening game of the NCAA Div. II Baseball Championships on Saturday afternoon. The Prairie Stars and sixth-seeded Tars have never met on the diamond.