The UIS baseball team will head to St. Louis, Mo., on Tuesday for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against the Maryville Saints. This midweek game is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, with the return game scheduled for April 1 in Springfield. Both games are non-conference contests.

Illinois Springfield (11-10, 6-5 GLVC)
The Prairie Stars sit just inside the top eight of the GLVC standings after securing their first conference series win of the spring against Missouri-St. Louis over the weekend. UIS opened the series with a 10-7 win on Friday before falling by the same score in game two. On Saturday, the Stars responded with a doubleheader sweep, winning both games 8-2.

Mark Kattula paced the offense over the weekend, going 9-for-17 (.529) with a .600 on-base percentage. Ivan Dahlberg also had a strong series, batting .500 (6-for-12). Jack Tobin, Adam Lindsey, and Mark Decicco each earned wins on the mound, with Decicco delivering a complete-game performance on Saturday, allowing just two runs over seven innings with nine strikeouts to improve to 1-3 on the season.

Kattula leads the Prairie Stars with a .420 batting average, seven doubles, and a .455 on-base percentage. He is one of five GLVC players with 35 hits this season and ranks sixth in the conference in batting average.

On the mound, Esteban Hernandez, Jack Tobin, Kannon Walker, and Adam Wibbenmeyer are all 2-0 this season. Seth Masters has recorded four of the team's five saves, posting a 0.84 ERA over 10.2 innings pitched across four consecutive scoreless appearances.

Maryville (10-12, 3-5 GLVC)
The Saints split a four-game series with UIndy over the weekend, dropping the opener 11-7 before bouncing back with 5-3 and 7-2 wins. They fell 17-5 in the series finale. Maryville is 3-5 in GLVC play, having lost its opening series to Missouri S&T in mid-March. The Saints also split a four-game series with Drury in non-conference action.

Aaris Stolte leads the Saints with a .328 batting average and 20 hits, while Ambrose Russo paces the team in total hits with 23 and holds a .307 average. On the mound, right-hander Braden Smith ranks third in the GLVC with a 2.76 ERA. He also ranks seventh in opponent batting average (.232) and innings pitched (32.2). Smith is 3-1, including a conference win over Missouri S&T. Ben Gregory, another starter, holds a 5.32 ERA over 23.2 innings pitched with a .244 opponent batting average.

Follow Along
The game will be streamed live on the GLVC Sports Network, and live statistics will be available online.