Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Canton, Mo.- The UW-Parkside Baseball team is off to its best start in conference play since 2004 thanks to a doubleheader sweep of Quincy on Monday. The Rangers limited the Hawks to just three runs in the two games posting 4-2 and 2-1 victories. Parkside improves to 5-8 overall and 4-0 in the league while Quincy, one of the preseason favorites in the GLVC West Division drops to 2-2 in the conference and 5-10 overall.
Quincy grabbed an early 1-0 lead before Parkside tied it in the fourth.
Mike Anderson walked and stole second to start the rally.
Corey Stonelake followed with a walk and
Dave Lojeski moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt. A
Taylor Schwarz groundout then tied the game at one.
The Hawks regained a one-run lead in the top of the seventh against Parkside starter
Jack Olson. This time the Rangers answered immediately and grabbed a lead they would not relinquish.
They relied on small ball to tie the game and the long ball to take the lead. Schwarz walked and moved all the way to third when
Kirk Haviland reached on an error.
Gentry VanAllen's sacrifice fly came next and the game was tied at 2-2. It wouldn't stay that way for long though as
Ben Korman hammered a two-run homer to left and made it 4-2.
"We manufactured a couple of big runs in the tight game," said Head Coach Joel Weaver. "The ability to do that and take advantage of your opportunities is the difference between winning and losing. I think that home run by Ben really took the wind out of their sails."
From that point on, Olson went to work. Despite allowing 11 hits on the day, he retired the final seven batters he faced to improve to 2-2 on the year.
"Jack did his thing again," said Weaver. "I know he gave up 11 hits but he didn't walk anyone and every time he needed a big pitch ... he got. He just continues to do his job.
In game two offense was even more at a premium as Parkside's
Alex Zarek and Quincy's Mike Mueller locked up in a duel. Both teams combined for just seven hits with all three runs coming in the first.
The Hawks scored the first run thanks to a walk, error, and sacrifice fly. The Rangers responded in the bottom half of the inning after two outs were recorded. Stonelake drew a seemingly harmless walk before Lojeski hit his third home run of the roadtrip, this one a bomb to left field, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
"They were trying to get something go and Dave just turned it around with that swing," said Weaver. "That gave us the confidence to just play our game."
And that proved to be all the support Zarek would need as he tossed a complete game allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out five. He faced just three hitters over the minimum in the seven inning contest.
"We answered that run right away and just gave Alex the confidence to settle in," said Weaver. "He just bared down and took control. He was on."
The win locked up a 4-0 trip for the Rangers; a pair of doubleheaders that were supposed to be their first games at home. Now Parkside gets back to town for a couple of days before heading to St. Louis this weekend for games at Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville.
"It's good to get on a roll right now ... it's perfect timing when the games really matter," said Weaver. "We're starting to see how we're going to win. You can see as an individual what you can do to help the team win and we can start settling into those roles. I'm proud of how our guys came out this weekend and we're excited to get back out there."
