Andrew Buescher smacks a grand slam home run in the postseason-clinching win the UMSL Tritons earned over Upper Iowa on Sunday. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Jason Barnes
Staff Writer

NORMANDY, MO — With a week still to go in the 2024 NCAA season, the University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball clinched its first postseason berth since 2014 by winning three of four games over the weekend against new Great Lakes Valley Conference foe, Upper Iowa.

The Tritons are 29-17 on the season and 20-12 in GLVC play. With four games left in the regular season, those 20 conference wins have assured UMSL a spot in the 2024 GLVC Championship Baseball Tournament, which will be played May 8-12 at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Ill.

UMSL will be making its first postseason appearance since 2014. That year, the Tritons went 26-24 and qualified for the conference tournament by winning the final game of the regular season. UMSL won one game in the tournament that season and made it to Day 2 of the event, but was eliminated after losing to longtime rival Quincy twice.

This season, the Tritons have been one of the great turnaround stories in all of NCAA Division II baseball. UMSL hadn’t had a winning season since 2016 and came into this year just hoping to be around the .500 mark when the season ended.

Instead though, the Tritons have been strong competitors in the GLVC all year — especially in the month of April, where UMSL has 13 wins in 17 games. Three of those wins came this past weekend, when the Tritons bombed Upper Iowa and outscored the Peacocks in several high-scoring affairs, 42-36.

Game 1 – Saturday, April 27 – UMSL 21, Upper Iowa 16

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WP: Cody Brooks – UMSL (2-1) LP: Isaiah Maes – UIU (2-4) SV: Trent Anderson – UMSL (6)

Due to weather conditions, the opening two games of the series had to be played at Maryville University’s Weber Field. Weather played a factor in the series opener as well, as the wind was blowing out and allowed the Tritons and Peacocks to combined for 37 runs, 32 hits, and seven home runs.

UMSL sluggers Andrew Buescher and Barrett Rose both homered in the game and had four RBIs apiece. Every Triton player in the starting lineup had at least one hit, led by leadoff man Bryce Kulinski, who had four hits and also scored four runs.

Game 2 – Saturday, April 27 – UMSL 9, Upper Iowa 2

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WP: Zach Haygood – UMSL (7-1) LP: Paxton Gravlin – UIU (1-1)

Game 2 on Saturday began as a pitcher’s duel, with the score tied 1-1 after four innings. But the Tritons took control in the late innings, as they scored five runs in the fifth and three more in the seventh to put the Peacocks away.

The big blows were a two-run double by Buescher that put UMSL ahead 4-1, which was followed by a two-run homer by Mitchell Green that made the score 6-1. The homer was Green’s fifth of the season. Green later doubled in a run that began the rally in the seventh.

Junior Zach Haygood (7-1) got the win on the mound. He allowed just two runs on five hits, with five strikeouts in six innings pitched.

Game 3 – Sunday, April 28 – Upper Iowa 10, UMSL 2

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WP: Brayden Deering – UIU (1-2) LP: Dustin Hagens – UMSL (3-5) SV: Brennan Sefrit – UIU (1)

Sunday’s first game was played at UMSL, but Upper Iowa was the home team on the scoreboard since the series was originally supposed to be played in Iowa.

The Tritons got two quick runs in the top of the third, but the Peacocks answered back with five runs in the fourth, three more in the fifth, and two in the sixth to snap a three-game losing streak.

UMSL managed just three hits in the game and freshman Dustin Hagens (3-5) took the loss after giving up five runs, on three hits and three walks with one hit batter. Hagens did strike out seven.

Game 4 – Sunday April 28 – UMSL 10, Upper Iowa 8

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WP: Nate Zyzda – UMSL (2-0) LP: Thane Meiners – UIU (0-3) SV: Trent Anderson – UMSL (7)

The Tritons were again the visiting team on the scoreboard and again fell behind big, as Upper Iowa scored runs in each of the first four innings to go ahead 6-1. But that’s when UMSL began to rally. And they did it in spectacular fashion, blasting grand slam home runs in the fifth and seventh innings to take the lead over the Peacoacks.

Rose got the explosion started when he launched his 11th homer of the season, with the bases loaded to make the score 6-5. Then, in the seventh, after Upper Iowa intentionally walked Rose to load the bases, Buescher blasted his team-leading 12th homer of the season to put the Tritons up 9-6.

UMSL added an insurance run in the eighth and Upper Iowa got the potential tying run on base in the ninth, but Triton reliever Trent Anderson struck of the final two Peacock batters to close out the game and pick up his seventh save of the season.

For the final weekend of the regular season, UMSL will host Missouri S&T in a four-game series at the UMSL Baseball Field. The series will begin on Thursday, when the Tritons and Miners will play a single, nine-inning game that is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

The teams will also play a single game on Friday (also at 2 p.m.), before closing out the regular season with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch that day is slated for noon.

UMSL TRITONS 2024 BASEBALL SCHEDULE

DateTimeSiteOpponentLocation
May 2, 2024 (Thursday)2 p.m.HomeMissouri S&TUMSL Baseball Field
May 3, 2024 (Friday)2 p.m.HomeMissouri S&TUMSL Baseball Field
May 4, 2024 (Saturday)12 p.m.HomeMissouri S&TUMSL Baseball Field
May 4, 2024 (Saturday)3 p.m.HomeMissouri S&TUMSL Baseball Field
May 8-12, 2024 (Wednesday)TBANeutralGLVC TournamentMarion, Ill. / Mtn. Dew Park