ST. LOUIS -- Wisconsin-Parkside led in both games of a doubleheader against Maryville, but the Saints used a middle-inning rally in each contest to sweep the Rangers in non-conference action on Sunday at Weber Field.
Maryville, which improved to 10-5 on the season, won the opener 3-2 and completed the sweep with an 8-4 win in game two. Wisconsin-Parkside, which dropped to 5-5 on the year, held a 2-1 lead after five innings in game one and led 3-1 after three innings of the second game before the Saints rallied.
Mario Samuel posted another strong pitching performance for the Rangers and
Troy Bittenbender and
Trent Muscat each drove in a pair of runs in the doubleheader.
Maryville took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in game one, but the Rangers would take the lead in the top of the fourth inning.
Zach Thompson opened the inning with a walk and advanced to second when
Jake Kolasinski reached on a fielding error.
Nick Janssen followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved Thompson and Kolasinski up a base.
Bittenbender then delivered a clutch, two-out single to right that scored Thompson and Kolasinski to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
Maryville answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2 and then took the lead at 3-2 when Dalton Schumer singled in a run in the bottom of the eighth inning which proved to be the game-winning hit.
Samuel went 6.1 innings on the mound for Wisconsin-Parkside and allowed just two earned runs and struck out six batters.
Mason Martin pitched the final 1.2 innings in relief and allowed two hits and no runs.
Kyle Schulz,
Kyohei Makita, Thompson, Kolasinski and Bittenbender each had hits for the Rangers in the opening game.
Maryville also took an early lead in game two as the Saints scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the Rangers wasted little time in tying the game.
With one out in the top of the second inning,
Max Widmar singled to begin the comeback and advanced to second when a balk was called. With two outs, Muscat hammered a ball to the wall in right and dashed around the bases for an inside the park home run when Saints outfielder Troy Payton crashed into the wall in pursuit of the fly ball.
The Rangers took the lead with a run in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Thompson drew a walk and advanced to second on a balk. Kolasinski delivered an RBI single to left that scored Thompson giving the Rangers the lead at 3-2.
Maryville responded in the bottom of the fourth inning when Matt Scheibel hit a bases-loaded double that scored all three runners giving the Saints a 5-3 lead.
Wisconsin-Parkside cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth inning by virtue of playing small ball.
Andrew Luscomb singled to left to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Schulz. He stole third base and came in to score when Makita hit an RBI groundout to bring the Rangers to within 5-4.
Maryville responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to stretch the lead to 8-4.
Widmar had a pair of hits to lead Wisconsin-Parkside in game two, while Makita, Kolasinski, Bittenbender, Muscat and Luscomb each had base hits.
The two teams will conclude the four-game series with a doubleheader on Monday (March 13) beginning at 12 p.m. at Weber Field.
