The UMSL Tritons scored 39 runs in sweeping all four games of their series against Kentucky Wesleyan over the weekend. (Photo courtesy: UMSL athletics)
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
OWENSBORO, KY — The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team had to endure some rough weather, which pushed back its schedule for four ballgames against Kentucky Wesleyan over the weekend.
But things still turned out mighty fine for the Tritons, who swept all four games of the series over the host Panthers.
UMSL won the games by scores of 4-1 and 7-2 on Sunday, and 7-4 and 21-8 on Monday.
With the four wins, UMSL is now 5-3 on the season and with a week off, the Tritons now have their eyes on their home opener, which is scheduled for next Friday, March 1, at the UMSL Baseball Field against Saginaw Valley. First pitch that day is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Game 1 – UMSL 4, Kentucky Wesleyan 1
| NCAA Baseball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UMSL (2-3) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Ky. Wesleyan (0-4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
WP: Garrett Brunstetter – UMSL (1-1) LP: Wright, Seth (0-2) SV: Jacob Arndt – UMSL (1)
The Tritons jumped on top in the third. Braedon Stoakes led off the inning hitting a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right center for his second home run of the season. Later in the inning Barrett Rose drew a bases loaded walk to bring home Logan McIntyre.
UMSL added to its lead in the fourth. With runners on the corner and one out Zach Beatty stole second and Justin Simard scored from third when the catcher’s throw went into center field to make it 3-0.
The Panthers (0-5) got one of those runs back in the fifth. With two out, Cade Moore doubled to right center and scored on Nick Wimber’s single to left.
The Tritons regained their three-run lead in the top of the seventh. With one out, Beatty walked and scored on McIntyre’s double to left center.
Jacob Arndt pitched out of a jam in the ninth striking out the tying run to end the game and earn the three inning save.
UMSL had four hits in the contest and was led by McIntyre with a pair. Garrett Brunstetter picked up the victory giving up one run on three hits with nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.
Game 2 – UMSL 7, Kentucky Wesleyan 2
| NCAA Baseball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UMSL (3-3) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Ky. Wesleyan (0-5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
WP: R.J. Elmore – UMSL (1-0) LP: Evan Oakley – KWC (0-2)
In the nightcap, the Tritons got on the board first scoring a pair of runs in the second. Cameron Hailstone drove in Logan Mantz with the first run with a sacrifice fly to right. With two out, Garrett Strenger singled to left and scored on Simard’s double to right.
KWC tied the game in the bottom of the frame. Tate VanHooser doubled to right to drive in Braxton French with the first run. Noah Davis drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly to right.
UMSL retook the lead in the third. Stoakes led off the inning with a walk, stole second and scored on McIntyre’s one out single to center.
The Tritons added some insurance in the sixth. Andrew Buescher led off the inning with a home run to right to make it 4-2. Mantz was hit by a pitch and Beatty reached on an infield single. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. With one out, Strenger drove in both runs with a double down the left field line.
UMSL’s final run came in the seventh. Dane Stevenson scored when Beatty reached on an error by the second baseman.
That was all the run support that RJ Elmore needed as he went the distance allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts to improve to 1-0 on the season.
The Tritons outhit the Panthers 10-5 in the nightcap and were led by McIntyre, Beatty and Strenger with two hits each.
Game 3 – UMSL 7, Kentucky Wesleyan 4
| NCAA Baseball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UMSL (4-3) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Ky. Wesleyan (0-6) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
WP: Brady Krile – UMSL (1-0) LP: Austin Baugh – KWC (0-1) SV: Trent Anderson – UMSL (2)
KWC came out swinging in the opener scoring four runs on four hits off Triton starter Nate Zyzda.
UMSL got two of those runs back in the second. Logan McIntyre led off the inning with a single. With one out Zach Beatty bunted up the first base line and the throw went down the right field line. McIntyre came all the way around to score and Beatty ended up at third. Cameron Hailstone drove in Beatty with a ground out to short.
The Tritons got another run in the fourth. Logan Mantz led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Beatty’s single to left. With one out, Hailstone drove in Mantz with a ground ball to short.
UMSL took advantage of three Panther errors in the seventh to take a 6-4 lead. Justin Simard and Braedon Stoakes reached on back-to-back throwing errors to start the frame. Simard scored all the way from first on a throwing error on a bunt from Stoakes to tie the game 4-4. Stoakes scored on Barrett Rose’s single to right to give the Tritons the lead. Beatty drove in the final run of the inning with a single to center scoring Buescher.
UMSL added an insurance run in the ninth. Buescher led off the inning with a double and later in the inning, Stevenson, running for Buescher scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jordan Aguallo.
After KWC put up those runs in the first, Triton relievers Shane Kearbey, Brady Krile and Trent Anderson combined to hold the Panthers to just five hits over the final eight innings. Kearbey allowed three hits and struck out two in four innings pitched. Krile struck out five and allowed one hit and a walk in his 3.1 innings of work to pick up his first win of the season and Anderson recorded the final two outs to notch his second save of the year.
The Tritons outhit the Panthers 10-9 in the contest and were led by Beatty with three hits while Rose added two more.
Game 2 – UMSL 21, Kentucky Wesleyan 8
| NCAA Baseball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UMSL (5-3) | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 18 | 2 |
| Ky. Wesleyan (0-7) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
WP: Dustin Hagens – UMSL (1-1) LP: Nick Judd – KWC (0-1)
KWC jumped on top in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a hit. With one out, Nick Wimber, walked, stole second and scored from second on a wild pitch.
UMSL answered with four in the second and four more in the third. Stevenson drove in the tying run with a single to center and Rose brought home the go-ahead run with a sac fly to left. Buescher drove in the final two runs in the second with a single to left.
Stevenson drove in his second run of the contest with an infield single to third scoring Mantz. Beatty later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-1. Stoakes brought home Stevenson with a sac bunt back to the mound and Kameron Laskowski drove in Hailstone with a single to left.
The Tritons added two more in the fifth. Laskowski doubled home Stoakes to make it 9-1 and Buescher grounded out to second to score Rose.
The Panthers cut UMSL’s lead in half scoring four times in the fifth. The first two runs scored on bases loaded walks, the third one on a sac fly to center and the final on a throwing error by McIntyre.
UMSL scored six runs in the sixth, highlighted by Buescher’s grand slam to right.
KWC added three runs in its half of the sixth on a two-run homer from Wimber and an RBI single from Braxton French.
The Tritons put the game out of reach in the seventh scoring five times highlighted by back-to-back home runs from Buescher and Bryce Kulinski.
UMSL outhit the Panthers 18-8 in the nightcap and had six players record at least two hits led by Stevenson.
Dustin Hagens picked up the win giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits while striking out 10 to even his record at 1-1.
UMSL TRITONS 2024 BASEBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | Site | Opponent | Location | ||
| March 1, 2024 (Friday) | 1 p.m. | Home | Saginaw Valley | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 2, 2024 (Saturday) | 1 p.m. | Home | Hillsdale | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 3, 2024 (Sunday) | 1 p.m. | Home | Saginaw Valley | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 4, 2024 (Monday) | 1 p.m. | Home | Bemidji State | O’Fallon, Mo. / Carshield Field | ||
| March 4, 2024 (Monday) | 4 p.m. | Home | Bemidji State | O’Fallon, Mo. / Carshield Field | ||
| March 8, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Home | Drury | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 9, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Home | Drury | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 9, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Drury | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 10, 2024 (Sunday) | 1 p.m. | Home | Drury | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 15, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Home | Lewis | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 16, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Home | Lewis | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 16, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Lewis | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 17, 2024 (Sunday) | 12 p.m. | Home | Lewis | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| March 22, 2024 (Friday) | 3 p.m. | Away | Truman State | Kirksville, Mo. / Bulldog Baseball Park | ||
| March 23, 2024 (Saturday) | 1 p.m. | Away | Truman State | Kirksville, Mo. / Bulldog Baseball Park | ||
| March 23, 2024 (Saturday) | 4 p.m. | Away | Truman State | Kirksville, Mo. / Bulldog Baseball Park | ||
| March 24, 2024 (Sunday) | 12 p.m. | Away | Truman State | Kirksville, Mo. / Bulldog Baseball Park | ||
| March 28, 2024 (Thursday) | 2 p.m. | Away | Maryville | Chesterfield, Mo. / Weber Field | ||
| March 29, 2024 (Friday) | 1 p.m. | Away | Maryville | Chesterfield, Mo. / Weber Field | ||
| March 29, 2024 (Friday) | 4 p.m. | Away | Maryville | Chesterfield, Mo. / Weber Field | ||
| March 30, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Away | Maryville | Chesterfield, Mo. / Weber Field | ||
| April 5, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Home | William Jewell | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 6, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Home | William Jewell | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 6, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | William Jewell | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 7, 2024 (Sunday) | 1 p.m. | Home | William Jewell | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 12, 2024 (Friday) | 5 p.m. | Away | Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Mo. / Dodson Field | ||
| April 13, 2024 (Saturday) | 1 p.m. | Away | Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Mo. / Dodson Field | ||
| April 13, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Away | Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Mo. / Dodson Field | ||
| April 14, 2024 (Sunday) | 12 p.m. | Away | Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Mo. / Dodson Field | ||
| April 16, 2024 (Tuesday) | 2 p.m. | Home | Harris-Stowe | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 19, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Home | McKendree | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 20, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Home | McKendree | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 20, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | McKendree | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 21, 2024 (Sunday) | 1 p.m. | Home | McKendree | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| April 26, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Away | Upper Iowa | Fayette, Iowa / Robertson Woods Field | ||
| April 27, 2024 (Saturday) | 1 p.m. | Away | Upper Iowa | Fayette, Iowa / Robertson Woods Field | ||
| April 27, 2024 (Saturday) | 4 p.m. | Away | Upper Iowa | Fayette, Iowa / Robertson Woods Field | ||
| April 28, 2024 (Sunday) | 12 p.m. | Away | Upper Iowa | Fayette, Iowa / Robertson Woods Field | ||
| May 2, 2024 (Thursday) | 2 p.m. | Home | Missouri S&T | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| May 3, 2024 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Home | Missouri S&T | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| May 4, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 p.m. | Home | Missouri S&T | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| May 4, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Missouri S&T | UMSL Baseball Field | ||
| May 8, 2024 (Wednesday) | TBA | Neutral | GLVC Tournament | Marion, Ill. / Mtn. Dew Park |