FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (Mar. 5, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team showed no signs of rust on Saturday afternoon, returning to the diamond after a nearly three-week hiatus and sweeping Rockhurst University 9-1 and 3-2 at Lenz Field. A big fourth inning propelled the Rangers to the win in the opener while a Jake Kolasinski walkoff single in game two secured the sweep.
 
It was a high-octane opener with the Rangers (3-3) piling on 13 hits and capitalizing on five Hawk errors in the eight-run win. UW-Parkside trailed 1-0 after one inning of action before opened things up in the bottom of the fourth, plating four runs and getting RBIs from Zach Cunningham, Juan Bowers, and Troy Bittenbender.
 
A Bowers RBI groundout in the fifth brought in Kyohei Makita who led off the frame with a single to push the Ranger lead to 5-0. Two more runs came in during the sixth, including Trent Muscat off a Makita double while the Rangers pushed across single scores in both the seventh and eighth innings for the final 9-1 margin.
 
Four Rangers finished with multiple hits, including Makita who was three-for-four while scoring two runs.
 
Josh Serio yielded just three hits in eight innings of work, fanning 10 batters for the win. Connor Cunningham handled the final inning, allowing one hit and striking out two.
 
Rockhurst (3-4) again struck first in the nightcap, pushing across runs in the top of the second and the fourth for the 2-0 lead. UW-Parkside answered with a pair of runs in the fourth, receiving an RBI single from Zach Cunningham and a double from Nick Janssen to tie the game.
 
The contest remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh. Zach Thompson collected a leadoff single before stealing second base. Thompson rounded third and scored after Kolasinski belted a two-out single for the walkoff victory.
 
Parkside finished with eight hits, including two off the bat of Makita who racked up five hits over the course of the afternoon.
 
Tyler Jandron earned the win, striking out all three batters he faced in the seventh inning in relief of Mario Samuel. Samuel posted six strong innings on the mound, striking out five.

Saturday's doubleheader was the first action for UW-Parkside since returning from its season-opening Barry University series in Florida on Feb. 14.

The Rangers and Hawks conclude the weekend series on Sunday with a single game getting underway at 11 a.m.