Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The UIS baseball team picked up a pair of wins over Rockhurst on Thursday afternoon at UIS Baseball Field, taking game one 9-6 and game two 5-1 in a doubleheader sweep. UIS improves to 26-11, 16-5 in conference play.

GAME ONE | W, 9-6

• Esteban Hernandez got the start for the Prairie Stars and worked a clean first inning. Rockhurst opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single, but Kody Morton answered with a leadoff home run to tie the game. Dillon Smail followed with a double, moved to third on a balk, and came home on a wild pitch to give UIS a 2-1 lead.
• The Prairie Stars broke the game open with five runs in the fourth. Jackson Blemler singled in Smail, Ethan Bowers drove in Ty Hollandsworth with a base hit, and Mark Kattula's fielder's choice brought in another. Ivan Dahlberg capped the rally with a two-run homer to left field, pushing the lead to 7-1.
• Rockhurst responded with two home runs in the fifth inning, prompting Kannon Walker out of the bullpen. After the Hawks added two more in the sixth, Walker gave way to Seth Masters, who stranded two runners with a strikeout in the seventh.
• Michael Paule homered in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-6, and Bowers scored on a Paule sacrifice fly in the eighth to extend the lead to 9-6. Masters worked the final 2.2 innings without allowing a run, earning his seventh save of the season. Walker improved to 7-0 on the year.
• Dahlberg went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Bowers finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Smail added a 2-for-4 effort.

GAME TWO | W, 5-1

• Ben Benoit went the distance in game two, striking out five and surrendering one earned run as he picked up his third win of the season.
• Kattula provided the early offense once again with a two-run homer in the first inning, scoring Bowers after a leadoff single. Blemler's RBI double in the second brought in Hollandsworth, and Dahlberg added his second home run of the day to make it 4-0 in the third.
• Rockhurst got on the board with an unearned run in the fourth, but Kattula came through again in the fifth with an RBI single to score Bowers for the final run of the game.
• Kattula finished 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs, and Dahlberg went deep for the second straight game.
   

Up Next
The series wraps up on Friday with a noon doubleheader at UIS Baseball Field, followed by the Senior Day ceremony.