UMSL Wins Twice in GLVC Tournament

Rivermen Set New School Record for Wins; Play Sat. vs. Quincy at 9 am

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL baseball team made it through their first two games in the GLVC Tournament, beating Kentucky Wesleyan 9-4 in the morning game, and then beating Wisconsin-Parkside 21-7 in the final game of the day.

In the first game, the Rivermen poured on the runs early, scoring two runs in the second and three in the third inning for a quick 5-0 lead. In the third inning, Bryan Weiss (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell North) started what would turn out to be a big day for him with a two-run homer to dead center field. After the Panthers scored a run in the top of the fifth, the Rivermen came right back with four more runs in the bottom half of the inning, as Weiss led off with a solo homer to left field for his second of the game. Scott Davis (High Ridge, Mo./Northwest), Scott Miller (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) and Tony Grana (Ballwin, Mo./Lafayette) each had RBI singles in that inning as well. Kentucky Wesleyan would threaten with three runs in the eighth inning, but Josh Green (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) came in to pitch the final 1.1 innings and close out the win.

Greg Bierling (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) picked up the victory, going 7.2 innings and giving up just four runs on 14 hits and struck out four. Bierling improved to 7-1 on the season with the win. Bryan Weiss finished the game going 3-for-4 with two runs, three RBIs, two home runs and a double. Tony Grana also had three hits in the game, going 3-for-5.

With the win, UMSL advanced to face Wisconsin-Parkside in final game of the day, and the Rivermen came up big with a 21-7 victory. The Rivermen, playing as the visitor in the game, came out early with three runs in the first and two in the second. Jim Reiter (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) and Bryan Weiss had back-to-back triples and Logan Hughes (Walnut Shade, Mo./Branson) and Scott Miller each had RBI singles in the first inning. In the second, Weiss blasted a two-run homer to left center for his third home run of the day and a 5-2 UMSL lead after two innings. The Rivermen would tag on 11 total runs in the middle three innings, getting four in the fourth, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth. In the fourth, Jason Barron (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood East) belted a three-run homer and Doug Wiles (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) brought home a run in the fifth with an RBI triple.

Wisconsin-Parkside kept it interesting with two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth, but the four UMSL runs in the sixth ended any hopes of a Rangers comeback. Scott Davis brought home the first run of the inning with an RBI single and later scored on an error. Bryan Weiss and Logan Hughes each added an RBI single in the inning to give the Rivermen a 16-7 lead after six innings. UMSL was not done however, adding a single run in the seventh, and two in the eighth and ninth innings for the 21-7 victory. In the seventh, Scott Miller hit a solo homer, and Jason Barron hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning. The two runs in the ninth inning came on a two-run single up the middle by Josh Thomas (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) for the 21-7 victory. Steven McCoy (Potosi, Mo./Potosi) picked up the win in relief, throwing the final 5.0 innings and allowing no runs on six hits and struck out two, improving his record to 4-3 on the year.

On the day, Bryan Weiss was the star at the plate, going a combined 7-for-9 at the plate, with three home runs, a double, a triple, five runs scored and seven RBIs. Logan Hughes went 4-for-5 in the second game with three runs and three RBIs and Jason Barron had five RBIs in the second game thanks to his two home runs.

With the two wins, UMSL improves to 38-13 on the season and remains in the winner’s bracket of the GLVC Tournament. The 38 wins also sets a new school record for most wins in a season. The previous record was 37 wins in the 1996 season when UMSL went 37-9 on the year. As a results of the rain outs on Saturday, the Rivermen will advance to the championship game against Quincy on Sunday at 2 pm.