Springfield Box Score

St. Cloud Box Score

Evansville, Ind.- The UW-Parkside Baseball team got its first win on the young season knocking off Illinois-Springfield, 9-6 in a non-conference game on Sunday afternoon. The Rangers dropped the second game of the day against nationally-ranked St. Cloud State 8-0.

Things did not start out well for the Rangers as UIS jumped on starter Jack Olson for five first inning runs ... collecting six hits in seven batters. From there Olson settled down and allowed just five baserunners over the final six innings of his stint.

"Jack really managed the game after that first inning," said Head Coach Joel Weaver. "He really took control and allowed us the chance to win the game."

Parkside began chipping away in the third and would go on to score in five straight innings. Ben Korman knocked in Kirk Haivland on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1. Taylor Schwarz collected a two-out RBI in the fourth to trim another run off the deficit.

Haivland started another rally in the fifth with a lead-off single and again was brought home by Korman to make it 5-3. John Brennan followed with an RBI-single of his own and the Rangers were on their way.

They would finallly take the lead in the sixth with two more runs. Alex Zarek followed up Haviland's third hit with a run-scoring single to right. Korman then provided his second sacrifice fly and third RBI to give the Rangers a 6-5 lead they would not relinquish. In fact Parkside would add three insurance runs in the seventh on a Corey Stonelake triple, Taylor Schwarz single, and finally a passed ball.

"I was really happy with what everyone did offensively," said Weaver. "We had a bunch of guys with multiple hits and even the guys with just one hit the ball hard."

Springfield brought the tying runs to the plate in both the eighth and the ninth but the Rangers were able to snuff out the threats and preserve the victory.

Olson survived his rough first inning to go seven innings allowing five runs to get the win and improve to 1-2. Schwarz came on with the tying run at the plate and two outs in the ninth to coax a pop-up and earn his first save.

The Rangers had their best offensive showing of the year pounding out 16 hits. Haviland and Stonelake each collected three hits. While Brennan, Schwarz, and Zarek each added two. Stonelake continued a torrid week that included that saw him hit .467 (7-for-15) with four RBI, six runs scored and a couple of home runs.

"Corey is starting to get comfortable," said Weaver. "He hit the ball really well in the fall and you can tell he's starting to get confident. He's a guy teams will have to account for and it should open up some things for guys (around him) in the batting order."

In weekend finale St. Cloud scored seven runs in the second inning, four of which were unearned, thanks in part to two errors. The offense was able to muster just five hits on the game and unable to get a runner past second base.

The final game wrapped up a nine game non-conference slate with seven games against Winona State and St. Cloud State, two definite contenders for the Central Region title.

"The teams we've played so far are going to be as good as the better teams in our league," added Weaver. "We can really learn from this and use it to our benefit down the road."

The Rangers will now begin Great Lakes Valley Conference play later this week taking on Quincy University and the University of Illinois-Springfield.

"Despite the start we've had we've got a fresh slate," said Weaver. "I'm excited. We've a got a chance to get off to a good start her the next few weekends and try to get things going."