The Illinois Springfield baseball team (35-18) secured a 10-8 victory over Indianapolis (33-22) in 10 innings on Thursday to open the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional at UIS Baseball Field. A late-game surge featuring two home runs lifted the Prairie Stars to the dramatic postseason win.
For eight innings, the Prairie Stars appeared firmly in control.
UIS opened the scoring in the second inning when
Noah Caceres singled up the middle and
Johnny Wendling worked a walk before
Brian Daker and
Jesse Contreras followed with RBI singles to make it 2-0.
The Prairie Stars added to the lead in the fourth as
Tommy Atkinson lined a two-run single into center field, stretching the advantage to 4-1. In the fifth,
Kody Morton doubled and later scored on another RBI hit from Caceres to push the lead to 5-1.
Behind a strong start from
Graham Kasey, UIS carried that advantage deep into the game. Kasey worked six innings, allowing just two runs while striking out six batters.
Trailing 5-2 entering the ninth, Indianapolis erupted for six runs, using a grand slam to suddenly grab an 8-5 lead.
The Prairie Stars answered immediately when Caceres ripped an RBI triple into the gap to score Griffitts, who hit a leadoff single, and cut the deficit to two. Daker added a sacrifice fly to make it 8-7. Moments later, with UIS down to its final out,
Drew Ezard delivered a pinch-hit solo home run that sent the crowd into celebration and tied the game at 8-8.
An inning later,
Kaden Griffitts delivered the final blow.
With
Dillon Smail aboard in the bottom of the 10th, Griffitts launched a walk-off two-run homer, sending the Prairie Stars pouring out of the dugout after a dramatic 10-8 postseason victory.
The ending added another memorable chapter to the postseason history between UIS and UIndy after the teams also played a dramatic regional matchup in Springfield during the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Brayden Mayer earned the win after tossing a scoreless 10th inning.
Griffitts finished with three hits, two runs scored, and the game-winning home run, while Caceres totaled three hits, two RBIs, two runs scored, and a triple.
"We're very proud of the resilience that the guys showed," said head coach
Chris Rodriguez. "They stayed in the fight for the entirety of the game until we found a way to win."
"
Drew Ezard was incredible coming off the bench, keeping the game alive. Brayden was big-time in relief, keeping runs off the board with the bases loaded and one out, which led to Kaden putting the game away in the bottom of the tenth.
UIS advances to Friday's 2:00 p.m. winner's bracket game against the winner of Thursday's second regional matchup. Indianapolis will play in Friday's 11:00 a.m. elimination game.
