INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Vela hit a walk-off RBI single in game one today at Greyhound Park to help UIndy steal a contest over the No. 8-ranked Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars. The Hounds fell in game two by a final of 11-1, moving their overall record 20-24 on the season and 11-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).
RIVAS STRIKEOUT TRACKER
In game one,
Xavier Rivas tallied 12 strikeouts in six complete innings of work, moving his season strikeout total to 112. With this, he is now second all-time on the UIndy single season strikeout leaderboard, sitting only behind legendary Bill Bright who accumulated 148 strikeouts in 1953. Rivas has now added double-digit strikeouts in nine of his 10 outings this season.
GAME 1 | UIndy 9, UIS 8 (8 innings)
The Prairie Stars took the early advantage in the opening frame with a solo home run. However, Vela answered with a solo homer of his own deep to left field in the next half inning to tie the game. Then,
Jared Bujdos collected a walk a few batters later with the bases loaded to give UIndy the lead. UIndy tacked on more runs an inning later after
Denton Shepler smacked a two-run RBI double to right field.
Despite this hot start from the Greyhounds, Illinois Springfield scored runs in every half inning the remainder of the seven inning game which proved to be a key turning point. However, UIndy stayed strong with a run in the fifth (
Drew Donaldson RBI single) and two in the seventh (
Caleb Vaughn sacrifice fly and Shelper RBI single) to extend the game.
UIS blasted a solo dinger in the eighth to eventually take the lead back, but Vela capped things off with a two-run RBI single to right center in the bottom half to win the Hounds the contest.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-UIndy had a game-high 13 hits while Illinois Springfield managed nine.
-Four different UIndy batters had a multi-hit game, led by Vela with his three.
-UIS had six home runs, the most given up by UIndy this season.
-UIndy utilized three pitchers in the game while UIS tossed seven different arms.
GAME 2 | UIS 11, UINDY 1
The Prairie Stars led off the scoring in the second game of the afternoon on a two-run homer in the second inning. Illinois Springfield went on to tack on four runs in the fifth and five in the seventh to put the game out of reach. UIndy added one run on a
Brian Keeney walk with the bases loaded in the sixth.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-Illinois Springfield finished with 13 hits while UIndy had 7.
-DeWitt led the team with three hits at the dish while Donaldson added two.
-Both teams left eight on base.
-The Hounds tossed four different pitchers.
UP NEXT
The series between the two programs will conclude tomorrow with one game beginning at noon ET.
