INDIANAPOLIS – Playing their first GLVC home games of the year, an opportunistic UIndy baseball team came through with a pair of wins over East Division rival McKendree on Saturday afternoon.
 
The No. 10-ranked Greyhounds (22-9, 7-3 GLVC) jumped out to a four run lead in game one and never looked back on their way to an 8-3 win. Game two saw the Hounds score a pair of runs early and twice late while the pitching staff shut down the Bearcats (9-20, 0-10 GLVC) in a 4-1 win.
 
Macy Holdsworth went 3-for-4 with three walks, three stolen bases and four runs scored on the day. Kyle Orloff drove in three runs in game one and Nick Miller hit his first home run at Greyhound Park in game two. The Hounds have now won four games in a row and improve to 12-3 on their home turf.
 
GAME ONE: UIndy 8 – McKendree 3
UIndy took advantage of a critical McKendree error to open the scoring in the bottom of the first. With two on and two out, Orloff hit a grounder to short that Cody Hall came up with cleanly, but hit throw was wide of the bag, allowing both runs to score.
 
Two innings later, an Orloff RBI single and a run-scoring ground out from Conor White stretched the Greyhound lead to 4-0. McKendree got on the board with three straight singles in the fourth, plating two runs and cutting the Hounds' lead in half.
 
The heart of the UIndy order restored the four-run lead in the sixth as Holdsworth and Orloff came through with a pair of RBI singles to make it a 6-2 game. McKendree added a run in the seventh, but run-scoring hits from Dylan Jones and Orloff in the eighth put the game well out of reach.
 
Michael Schalasky (4-2) turned in another quality start for UIndy, retiring the first 11 batters he faced on his way to a seven-inning outing. The sophomore scattered four hits, walked two and struck out six before turning it over to Christian Beard, who worked two spotless innings to earn his first career save.

Brad Henry (0-5) took the loss for McKendree, giving up four runs on five hits with five walks and four strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings of work.
 
GAME TWO: UIndy 4 – McKendree 1
A little UIndy trickery led to the first run of game two. With runners on the corners and one out, UIndy pulled off a successful double steal that saw Holdworth swipe second and Storm Joop come in to score on the throw down for a 1-0 UIndy lead after an inning.
 
The Greyhounds doubled their lead on the first pitch of inning two when Miller crushed a fastball over the right field scoreboard and off the dome to make it a 2-0 game.
 
Jake Shaw was dominant over the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. With two down and a runner on second, Hall broke up the shutout with a single to right, scoring a run and chasing Shaw from the game. On Chris Boettcher's first pitch of the afternoon, Hall was gunned down trying to steal, ending the inning and any potential threat.

In the bottom of the inning, the Hounds once again took advantage of some shaky Bearcat defense, scoring a pair of unearned runs. Joop scored on a misplayed ground ball by Luke Johnson to make it 3-1 and Holdsworth scored from third later in the inning on an errant throw while Lawan Rollins was trying to steal second.
 
It was more than enough run support for the tandem of Boettcher and Dylan Stutsman as the two relief aces made the lead hold. Boettcher worked 1 1/3 innings while Stutsman nailed down his eighth save of the year with a scoreless seventh.
 
Shaw (4-2) worked 4 2/3 innings of three-hit ball to pick up the win. Nick Yung (3-2) turned in five strong innings of three hit ball in defeat for the Bearcats.
 
The two teams will be back at it on Sunday with another double-header at Greyhound Park. Game one is set to get underway at noon.