SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Facing the GLVC leader in runs scored, the University of Indianapolis baseball team's pitchers went to work, limiting the Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars to just five runs over 16 innings of action. Coming into the doubleheader, UIS had only been held to three or less runs in three games of their total 29 games played, the Hounds added two to that total, taking both games of their Friday doubleheader by scores of 4-3 and 4-2.
 
Diego Cardenas and Carter Nowak were the Hounds' starters on the day, combining for 11 innings of work with both picking up the wins in their respective games. The bullpen is where it was truly electric. EJ White and Austin Bestul worked 4 & 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. White earned his sixth save of the year in game one, while Bestul etched his second in the second affair.
 
GAME 1 | UIndy 4, UIS 3
The P-Stars in the series opener looked to do as they had done to so many, attack early. After Cardenas loaded the bases, he was able to escape relatively unscathed, giving just a run to the home team after eliciting a clutch 6-4-3 double play. The Hounds took until the fourth to repay Cardenas for his excellence where Luis Vergara and Easton Good drove home a combined four runs, which ended up being the decider.
 

Hum HOUNDS! ??

Lucho and EG3?? puts the good guys up by a trio! pic.twitter.com/F519kxd2Or

— UIndy Baseball (@UIndyBaseball) April 5, 2024

 
That injection of energy from the Hounds was all that Cardenas needed to continue to shove, as the redshirt sophomore put up goose eggs in the fourth, fifth and sixth. UIS were able to scratch across a pair in the seventh off him, with Bestul coming in to calm the storm with just three pitches.
 
White went to work from there, using 31 pitches to tally six outs and secure the victory.
 
GAME 2 | UIndy 4, UIS 2
Fresh off a big GLVC-baseball victory, the Hounds turned to Nowak, but not before the offense gave him some cushion to work with. Cole Hampton, with runners at the corners, laid down a beauty of a bunt to allow Drew Donaldson to score from third in a textbook squeeze play. Caleb Vaughn, making his return from injury, grabbed his first hit in over two weeks, ripping a ball into center that allowed Zack Williams to score from third and make it 2-0 early.
 
With the lead, Nowak recorded four scoreless, punching out three. His day ended in the bottom of the fifth where UIS, once again, refused to go away quietly as they cracked two across home. Bestul mopped up the last batter of the fifth and then proceeded to silence the Stars, giving up just one baserunner in the final frames for the save.
 
DON'T MESS WITH THE SIDEARMER!
With the save in game one, White retook the lead for saves in the GLVC, sitting one above Jaren Guck of Truman. He's now tied for sixth in program history for career saves with ten, matching Clay Davis from the 1996-96, 98 season and Matt Hayes from the 2004, 06 seasons. His current mark of six this campaign sets him at just one from cracking the top 10 for single-season saves, with his next bringing him into a four-way tie with Dennis Nisbet (2001), Chris Saroff (2011) and Dylan Stutsman (2018).
 
UP NEXT
After moving to 16-3 in conference play, the Hounds will look to make it 18-3 with two more wins in Springfield, Ill. The Hounds and Prairie Stars kick off the second half of the series at 1 p.m. ET with the series finale set to take place thirty minutes after the first game's conclusion.