The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team will travel to Quincy for their final week of the 2024 regular season. Both UIS and Quincy are close to securing a conference tournament spot with the Hawks currently in sixth and the Prairie Stars currently in seventh. The series starts on Thursday with a lone game at 3:00 p.m., continues Friday a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m., and finishes on Saturday with a single game at 12:00 p.m.

UIS (26-19, 17-15)

The Prairie Stars earned a vital series win against Southwest Baptist in their final weekend at home. The Stars and Bearcats played doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday, in which UIS was able to get three wins. On Saturday, the Stars won handily in both games. Game One was a run-rule win, 18-7, as UIS scored seven runs in the seventh inning, capped by an Ivan Dahlberg home run to end the game. In Game Two Jacob Newman was dominant on the mound, only allowing 3 hits as the Stars won 8-1. In Game Three, the Bearcats were able to score at will with multiple high-scoring innings. UIS also had their fair share of hits, but wasn't able to plate as many runs as SBU won 15-6 in seven innings. The series finale looked to be more of the same as SBU jumped out to an early lead. Kyle Tyler entered to pitch and would end up going 6.2 innings while allowing just two hits. UIS roared back to tie the game in the sixth inning. The Prairie Stars were able to score two runs and earn a 7-5 win, securing another series win. 

The Prairie Stars are 6-10 on the road this season. As a team, UIS is hitting .331 and have scored 378 runs. UIS's pitching staff currently holds a 7.51 ERA while allowing 288 earned runs. Opponents have a .310 batting average against UIS pitchers. The Prairie Star defense has a GLVC-leading .977 fielding percentage with only 34 errors.

Quincy (21-25, 18-14)

The Hawks earned an important series win of their own last weekend against McKendree as they chase a GLVC Tournament spot. In Game One of the series, Quincy took a huge lead in the first inning and never looked back as they run-ruled the Bearcats, winning 17-7. Game Two was different in that McKendree were able to take an early lead. The Bearcats didn't score as many runs, but were able to hold off a late surge from the Hawks in a 6-3 win. Game Three looked to be lost as McKendree held a lead for most of the game. QU rattled off eight runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a lead and held off a furious Bearcat rally for an 8-6 win. Sunday's contest was a high-scoring affair as Quincy scored in every inning after the first. QU won the slugfest 18-10 as they inched closer to a conference tournament spot. 

The Hawks are 12-5 in their home stadium this season. As a team, Quincy has a batting average of .294 with 319 runs scored. Quincy's pitching staff currently holds a 7.17 ERA while allowing 280 earned runs. Opponents have a .281 batting average against QU pitchers. The Hawk defense has a fielding percentage of .963 with 55 errors. 

The Prairie Stars trail 13-27 all-time against QU, but have won five of the last eight meetings. UIS defeated QU 10-4 to become Super Regional Champions near the end of the 2022 season to highlight the long-lasting rivalry. 

How to Follow

Every conference game of the 2024 season will be streamed on GLVCSN and will have live stats that you can follow. Both the stream and live stat link can be found in the Baseball section on the UIS Athletics website.