Rivermen Sweep Southern Indiana

UMSL One Win Away from Clinching First in GLVC Regular Season

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL baseball team took a conference doubleheader from Southern Indiana on Wednesday afternoon, and moved to within one game of clinching first place in the GLVC regular season standings. The Rivermen won the opening game 5-3 in extra innings, then took the second game by an identical 5-3 score.

UMSL got on the board early in the first game with three runs in the bottom of the first. Jim Reiter (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) had an RBI double in the inning and then scored on a base hit by Logan Hughes (Walnut Shade, Mo./Branson). Scott Sanders (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) then had an RBI single to bring home Logan Hughes for a 3-0 UMSL lead. USI would get those runs back in the third inning. Paul Kohler hit a solo home run and Steve Owen hit a two-run homer to make it 3-3. USI would threaten again in the sixth as Kohler hit a line drive off the arm of UMSL starting pitcher Matt Kueny (Boonville, Mo./Boonville) leaving the bases loaded with one out. Colby Hughes (Walnut Shade, Mo./Branson) would come into the game in relief of Kueny at that point, and proceeded to get the next two hitters to strike out to end the inning and the USI threat and leave the game tied at 3-3. It then went to the bottom of the eighth, when Tony Grana (Ballwin, Mo./Lafayette) reached on an error. After sacrifice bunt moved him to second, Bryan Weiss (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell North) blasted a two-run homer to left center to end the game with a 5-3 UMSL win.

In the second game, it was Southern Indiana who had the big first inning with two runs in the opening frame for a quick lead. The Rivermen would score their first run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Jim Reiter to make it a 2-1 game. USI would add to their lead with a single run in the fourth for a 3-1 advantage before UMSL made their comeback. In the bottom of the fourth, Colby Hughes knocked in the first run of the inning with an RBI single and Doug Wiles (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) followed with a two-run double to put UMSL ahead at 4-3. The Rivermen would add a run in the fifth on another RBI single by Colby Hughes for the 5-3 lead. Steve McCoy (Potosi, Mo./Potosi) picked up the win, going 6.0 innings and giving up three runs on six hits and stuck out two to improve to 3-3 on the season. Greg Bierling (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) then got the final couple of outs for his second save of the year.

UMSL is now 32-13 on the season and 19-7 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will be at home again this weekend when they host Saint Joseph’s for a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 noon, and then host the Pumas for another doubleheader on Sunday at 12 noon.