The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team earned an at-large bid and is playing host to its sixth NCAA Division II tournament appearance, its first since 2023.
Follow this page all weekend for live results of all the games played at UIS.
Sunday, May 17
Game 2
No. 7 Indianapolis 17, No. 2 UIS 14
The Greyhounds outlasted UIS in an offensive marathon to advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regionals.
Indianapolis claimed an 11-3 lead before the Prairie Stars summoned a comeback that was jumpstarted by Drew Ezard’s 3-run home run in the fourth inning. UIS pared the deficit to 14-12 by the end of the eighth.
Kody Morton and Kaden Griffitts each homered for UIS, which ended the season 36-20.
The teams combined for 29 hits. Ezard, Griffitts, Morton, Tommy Atkinson and Corey Boyette each registered two hits.
Gavin Duran, Chase Mason, Garrett Rusch and Nathan Jessup each homered for Indianapolis.
Game 1
No. 7 Indianapolis 11, No. 2 UIS 9
Indianapolis’ Joey Humphrey belted the go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to complete a herculean comeback and force a winner-takes-all regional final that started shortly after 2:30 p.m.
UIS jumped ahead 9-3 after a couple home runs from Kaden Griffitts in the first and Corey Boyette in the second.
Griffitts and Boyette each finished with two hits and combined for five RBIs and four runs. Johnny Wendling and Parker Heistand had two hits apiece as well.
Boyette and Kody Morton opened the ninth with a walk and single, respectively, but Indianapolis catcher Chase Mason made a diving catch behind home plate on a bunt attempt and relief pitcher Aidan Pearson earned the save with a double play.
The Greyhounds evened the score with four runs in the seventh before Humphrey’s dinger.
Humphrey led the Greyhounds with three hits and three RBIs. Bret Perry had two hits, three RBIs and three runs.
Friday, May 15
No. 2 UIS 11, No. 6 Missouri St. Louis 1
Ben Benoit limited the Tritons to just one run over seven innings and Brayden Mayer secured the win without a hit or walk over the final two innings.
Benoit (8-3, 5.14 ERA) struck out six and allowed five hits and five walks.
UIS (36-18) advances to the regional final unblemished and meets the winner between No. 6 UMSL and No. 7 Indianapolis with a one-game advantage on Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m., pending weather. If UIS falters, a second game would occur on Sunday at noon as currently scheduled.
The Stars led 9-1 after five innings following RBI doubles by Tommy Atkinson and Johnny Wendling. Williamsville grad Kaden Griffitts homered in the ninth for the exclamation point.
Atkinson churned out three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Corey Boyette and Noah Caceres had three hits apiece. UIS totaled 15 hits as a team to hand Garrett Brunstetter (6-1) his first loss of the season.
UIS has twice advanced to the NCAA super regionals in program history, the last in 2022.
Thursday, May 14
No. 2 UIS 10, No. 7 Indianapolis 8
Williamsville High School graduate Kaden Griffitts supplied the walk-off 2-run home run in the 10th inning to advance to the regional semifinals.
The Prairie Stars opened with a 5-2 lead until the Greyhounds rallied ahead 8-5 with six runs in the top of the ninth.
Griffitts opened the bottom-half with a single and scored on a Noah Caceres triple. Caceres then scored on a Brian Daker sacrifice fly before pinch hitter and Jacksonville High School graduate Drew Ezard belted the game-tying homer with two outs to force extras.
Relief pitcher Brayden Mayer escaped out of a bases-loaded jam with an infield popout, then Corey Boyette took a walk before Griffitts smacked his homer down the right field line with two outs and a 1-2 count.
UIS (35-18) meets No. 6 Missouri St. Louis (34-20) at 2 p.m. on Friday at UIS Baseball Fields.
Tournament preview
The Prairie Stars (34-18) earned the No. 2 seed and the right to host its Midwest Regional bracket beginning Thursday, May 14, at 11 a.m. against No. 7 seed Indianapolis (33-21). No. 3 Wayne State (37-14) plays No. 6 Missouri St. Louis (33-20) in the other regional contest.
The double-elimination tournament runs Thursday through Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at UIS Baseball Fields with an if-necessary game slated for Sunday at 11 a.m.
Click here to see the bracket (listed in Eastern Time).
The winner out of Springfield then vies for a trip to the NCAA finals in a best-of-three super regional series. No. 1 seed Grand Valley State (44-8) is the other Midwest Regional host.
The UIS regional is a ticketed and credentialed event. Tickets can be purchased here, while games can be streamed at NCAA.com.
This page will be updated with results.
UIS was the No. 5 seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, where it trounced No. 8 Rockhurst 20-1 before falling to No. 4 Drury 8-5 in single elimination. UMSL won the GLVC tournament 13-8 over Missouri S&T on Saturday, May 9.
Three Stars were tabbed all-GLVC first team under coach Chris Rodriguez:
SHG grad stars at UIS
Senior pitcher and utility player Rosie Bartletti led the UIS softball team both ways and collected all-GLVC first team honors.
The Sacred Heart-Griffin graduate finished 12-9 with a 2.07 ERA over 19 starts and 25 appearances this season. She struck out 122 and yielded 41 walks and 76 hits over 104 2/3 innings.
Bartletti additionally appeared in all 52 games offensively and posted team-bests in hits (55) and runs (51) with a .346 average. She had 13 doubles, four triples, and three home runs.
She also set a school record for stolen bases in a season (49) and career (141). The softball team reached the GLVC tournament and finished the season 32-20.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: UIS baseball bows to Indianapolis in NCAA regional final
Reporting by Bill Welt, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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